Japanese Cars are just great. I worked for Toyota between 1978 and 1983 and
one of my major writing accounts is the Toyota Carculture website
<www.carsandculture.com> and they let me put alot of my personal LBC
interest into my work with no complaints (my editor, oops producer in web
terms, also is an LBC guy). Check it out.
Robert Goldman has taken over much of the direction of Moss and has
concluded that if Moss is to survive into the next century, they are going
to have to build and market "new" cars or pick one or two that are most
like the British cars that we all know and love/hate. Years ago Victoria
British in Kansas took on 240Z parts and has done ok but as Nissan recently
found out, the "light" construction out of bend stressed sheet metal that
is about as thick as cooking foil does not hold up to years of use or
moisture. Nissan has all but dropped the Classic Z project because of lack
of restorable body shells and unless they want to start remanufacturing
shells as Brit Heritage does for the MGB, Midget, Spit and TR6, their plan
as intended would have used up all of the "good" cars in two or three
years.
Vic Brit has added a line of classic truck parts to augment the Brit/240Z
stuff. This will be the only way that these folks will be able to help us
in the future.
As for the Miata, it is a fine little car for smaller folks and has about
as much British character as we can expect from any manufacturer, even
British, when we consider what US and EC requirements are today and the
standards and materials that are used in contemporary cars.
The reality is that as the BritCar universe gets smaller, the MG (Triumph,
Jag, etc.) folks are less and less marque sensitive and have become
British car zealots and participate in British car events, and within a few
years, as the British car hobby contracts, we will be going to classic
sports and import meets that will include eveything from old 'vettes and
T'birds to Alfas and Porsches as well as the wonderful cars from the misty
isles. If you look at photos and footage from American events from the
early days of sports cars, you will get an idea of what it will look like.
I recently saw a documentary on the actor James Dean, who had quite a
racing carreer in front of him, start racing the Stearman biplane of early
sports racers, the MGTD and move up to a 356 Porsche as the marque became
more available and competitive and then up to the 550 Spyder that he died
in. People were racing all kinds of stuff back then.
As for garb, here in California, most car folks, no matter what they drive,
seem to wear t-shirts, jeans and tractor hats and save the tweeds for club
officer instalation meetings and Halloween. As a concours judge I am
required to wear my blue blazer over grey slacks but I usually loose the
tie by noon and wear by Marina del Rey boating mocs with no socks.
I think Robert's collumn was right on and his vision is the only one that
will serve the hobby of the future.
Rick Feibusch
Automotive Journalist/Appraiser
Venice Beach, California
310-393-6605
Fax:396-1933
1959 Morris Minor Convertible
1960 Morris Minor Saloon
1960 Morris Minor Pickup
1961 Morris Minor Pickup
1969 Chevy Malibu Sport Coupe
1969 Chevy Malibu Convertible
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