I'm going to leave most of this alone, since the words I have shouldn't be
expressed on this list.
The one thing I will say is this, I have had my 'B' since I was seven years
old. In those 15 years I have less than 2k invested in it, and I am very proud
of that. For most of that time I didn't have the money to buy new parts, so I
bought the cheapest ones that I could find.
I won't dispute the fact that for the money people put into these cars they
could buy something newer and (illegidly) more dependable, but think for a
moment about the fact that some people might enjoy working on cars. I for one,
came of driving age long after the days of carburators and non computer
controlled vehicles, thereby missing the "good old days" when you had to tinker
on your car. I have owned many new cars and you can't work on them anymore,
half the time you can't even fix them when they break, these cars are reserved
for days when I am tired and grumpy and don't feel like driving the B.
I would say that it is people like you that give the hobby a bad name. I would
be a fool to buy a part from 'A' if I could get it from 'B' for less. There is
no shame in calling around for pricing in that vein. As for calling in, asking
for quotes, and never calling back that is rude but I have dealt with many
suppliers that don't deserve the courtesy of the second call. If you took
anywhere near the tone with a customer that you took with this list, I would
laugh at them for ever calling your shop again.
I am in this hobby for one reason, because I enjoy working on cars. Thus far
that has included an E-type, Healey BJ-8, a Bugeye, Chevy Blazer, a dozen MGs,
and a very hotrodded MGB-GTV8. I have always found people to be kind and
courtious and have had many people lend time, money, and parts to help me when
I was in a jam. Typically even the people that don't know how to fix something
will volunteer to help if they can. The only people I have ever encountered
that were rude and discourtious were parts dealers.
Perhaps if MG owners are too cheap for you, you should have been selling
Ferrari or Maseratti parts, they certainly draw a higher premium, and some of
the owners will undoubtedly be rich enough not to care what they cost.
--
James Nazarian Jr
71 MGB roadster
71 MGBGT - with V8 parts
01 Impreza 2.5RS
A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have
evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine.
On Tue, Mar 20, 2001 at 10:49:23PM -0500, Kai M. Radicke profoundly declared:
>
> First, the reference was "modern-era MGs" meaning in this case MGBs and
> Midgets. It was not a reference to the age of the owners. This is not an
> age-biased discussion, I'm equally critisizing most MG owners.
>
> Kai
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