First let me express my deepest apologies for misspelling privilege in my
last post. The spell checker must have taken the post off. I can assure
my fellow MGA drivers that it will never happen again.
Second, a little while back Mr. Bob Allen insulted MGA's. I have been
working very hard and sleeping very little lately so it has taken until now
for me to realize what he did. Frankly I am a little disappointed in my
fellow MGA custodians that no one else exposed that TR-6 driver's
comeuppance and set the record straight. Unless of course others did reply
in a private fashion in order to spare the list further tirades in which
case I applaud your discretion.
In an case, Mr. Allen stated something to the effect that MGA owners
considered the lack of obscene power output to be a feature because
ridiculous levels of torque could upset the delicate balance of torsional
body stiffness and light weight for performance. You know, when you say it
that way it doesn't sound so bad. In any case, the MGA was an optimized
design in which all aspects were considered when any one portion of the
design was set. So yes, adding gobs and gobs of horsepower could upset
that balance and make it's body seem more flexible than it now does. The
fact that TR-6 owners don't worry about this just shows that they were not
exactly built like a bank vault to begin with. In fact, I have heard that
some TR-6 owners use the gap between the door and the scuttle to crack
walnuts over railroad tracks. Is that true Bob? The gap there on an MGA
is much too small to fit a walnut due to the superior build quality at
Abingdon and besides, the A's don't flex that much.
Friday I was driving home from work and there was one of Fridley's finest
following me. He was going to turn right at a corner where I was going
straight. Suddenly he changed his mind and closed right up behind me.
Sure enough a few seconds later I hit the jackpot and get the light and
sound show for a second or two. I pull over figuring that I had finally
been pinched for driving a car with collector's plates to work and trying
to come up with a better story than "but it's Friday and it's nice out."
The officer walks up to the car and offers the usual pleasantries then says
"Don't your remember me? We met at an MG club gathering." Well in fact he
had me confused with the other red MGA owner who works at Medtronic but to
make a long story short, he pulled me over because he too owns an MGA and
just wanted to talk cars. He had just bought a coupe and was considering
restoring it while he kept driving his Mk II tourer. I tried to hide my
relief as we talked MG for a few minutes then we waved and parted. He
never even mentioned the collector's plate so I didn't bring it up either.
Regards,
Bill Eastman
61 MGA which attracts police for different reasons than my Cor**tte did
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