In a message dated 2/13/98 8:31:20 PM Eastern Standard Time,
gt0003a@prism.gatech.edu writes:
> I'm training to be an engineer, and by default I'm one anal little
> fool(I build things; no anality=building falls down, people die).
Jay,
I'm an ex-engineer (retired), and by force of law, I was "one anal little
fool." I designed instrumentation and control systems, including the main
control room complex, for Nuclear power plants. I don't have to tell you the
consequences of an error at a nuclear plant (Three Mile Island was the result,
to a great extent, of errors in the design of the control room). My work was
so rigidly controlled by procedures and policy that it was stifling. It was
incredibly difficult to apply original thinking to the job. You just can't
imagine how happy I am to be working on my LBCs, doing EXACTLY what I want to
do, when I want to, and how I want to. At this stage in my life, the thought
of doing something to any preset concept is repugnant to me.
> Of course most of you don't intend on selling your cars, but still, I
> feel original is better, in most cases.
I've never owned a car in my life that I didn't modify in some way. To me,
that is one of the biggest joys of owning a car. I change things some times
for no real reason other than I want to. Hopefully, I've never made a car
worse for my efforts. I have absolutely no problem whatever with any one who
wants to retain their car in its stock configuration. In fact, I relish it -
I very much enjoy looking at a car in that condition. I just don't want to do
it myself. If someone wants to trailer his car to a show and spend the rest
of the day with a q-tip cleaning the grooves in the tires, more power to him
-- I'll enjoy the fruits of his efforts, and I'm not being facetious. I
occasionally attend a Corvette or a Mustang get-together. You want to talk
about anal? These guys get points taken off if the paint overspray pattern on
the freeze plugs in the engine block is not at the same angle as it left the
factory! Even though that is not for me, I still can get excited looking for
errors of this type in their cars -- but not in mine!!!
As far as butchering a car, they can be butchered in restoration as well as in
modification. I don't regret at all putting a GM alternator in my car, and I
think the installation looks as if it could have been original. The original
Lucas just didn't cut it. And the Ford V8 I'm putting on my TR6? Probably
the less said about that, the better.
> Oh well, I am rambling.
Yeah, me too, but what the heck! At least we are talking about LBCs. Enjoy
your car!!
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition, slated for a V8 soon!
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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