I think you are exactly right, David. Valerie emailed me about the
Knudson book, but I seem to recall the Heilig name from the one I looked
at (but didn't buy). I think I would have recognized the name Knudson in
the context of MGs. Rather odd, and a pity, that they would replace a
competent book with a "quickie".
David Littlefield had this to say:
>There are actually two versions of this book out there. One is out of
>print and was written by Dick Knudson, who is well-known in the MG world
>as one of the founders of the New England MG Register and author of
>several books.
>
>The other was published within the last couple of years and was written
>by (I think) John Heilig (sp?). I expect it is the latter version that
>you purchased. I have the Knudson book which is actually a very good
>summary of the history of MG models and their strength and weaknesses.
>Apparently it is a lot more accurate, as well.
>
>David Littlefield
>Houston, TX
>'62 MGA MkII
>'51 MGTD
>'88 Jaguar XJ-S
>
>
>On Thu, 10 Aug 2000 20:40:32 -0700 Max Heim <mvheim@studiolimage.com>
>writes:
>> On the shelf at a local bookstore I stumbled upon a volume called "MG
>>
>> Buyer's Guide". I started leafing through it and was appalled by
>> how
>> poorly informed it was on the MGB (only the most popular sports car
>> of
>> all time!). The very first page I glanced at showed a photo of a
>> 1972-era
>> recessed grill roadster and labelled it a "MGB Mk. I"; and it wasn't
>> just
>> a matter of a misplaced photo caption -- the text on the "Mark I"
>> specificly stated that "the MGB never came with the traditional MG
>> grill
>> of vertical slats", and referred to the photo! Thus wiping, oh,
>> 200,000
>> or so 63-70 cars out of existence. If the author was this ignorant
>> of
>> what one would think would be the easiest MG to research, one
>> cringes to
>> think of what inaccuracies were buried in the sections on earlier,
>> more
>> obscure models (PAs, K3s, 18-80 Mk. I Salonettes, etc).
>>
>> Anyway, my instant book review gives it "two thumbs down", just
>> based on
>> this point. I have looke through some other volumes in this series
>> (Triumphs, Ferraris), and while cheaply put together, they seemed to
>> be
>> written by knowledgeable marque afficionados, with lots of insider
>> details, although admittedly I have less personal knowledge of these
>>
>> marques with which to catch them out. But I am frankly shocked that
>> this
>> extremely obvious error ever reached the state of publication. One
>> would
>> think, at the least, that one person vaguely familiar with the
>> marque
>> would be asked to proofread the text before printing. I note with
>> approval that Moss doesn't carry this title in their book section.
>> But I
>> think I have seen it in the Classic Motorbooks catalog.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Max Heim
>> '66 MGB GHN3L76149
>> If you're near Mountain View, CA,
>> it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
>>
>
>________________________________________________________________
>http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.
>
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
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