My hope is that this will some day lead to a return of the MG to the US. I
know that they will never make another (insert classic MG here), and you'd be
silly to think that, but I happen to like what the marque did in the past as
well as what they are doing now. I'll never sell my Bs but I wouldn't mind
being able to get an MGF or whatever will follow it. As far as modern and
practical cars go, I like what MG is doing. If we are lucky (IMO) then all
this publicity and energy will translate into US sales. The current cars
interest me in a completely different way than the old ones do. The fact of
the matter is that there are very many cool/unique/exciting cars out there that
we can't see in the US because they don't get sold here.
Subaru finally brought the WRX here after only about a decade in production,
and maybe others will start doing the same. This country needs more mid priced
affordable sports cars (witness the miata and its sales numbers). I hope that
manufacturers will one day view the US in the same light that they view Europe
and start selling the same cars in both markets. There are a lot of exciting
things going on in the automotive world right now, but unfortunately much of
that is either missing the US market, or being put into SUVs.
Not only am I interested in the new MGs, but I am excited that the Ginetta G20
will be imported, I'm glad that the WRX is here, and I'm looking foreward to
the hundreds of other sporting and touring cars that we don't get yet. The
americans are great at building cars that go incredibly fast in a straight
line, but don't know thier a** from a hole in the wall when it comes to
handling. Last I checked the highest speed roads in the us were 75mph so I'd
rather have a car that can stay close to the limit in corners rather than
having one that can go 167mph on our high speed highways (oh wait...we don't
have any). Anybody know the what the ticket looks like for 167 in a 75?
For a little more directly MG related content. It saddens me that many people
my age don't know what an MG is/was, and it saddens me when I meet people that
say they loved thier MG but they don't have the time/money/knowledge/energy to
try to keep one up anymore so they bought an average car. I would like to one
day be able to drive an MG into an MG dealer and have it worked on the way you
might a honda. It will never replace the classic cars, but to many those died
when the MGA was released. None of the cars are made like they used to, and
few of them have the character that their predecessors did, but those
manufacturers that have made a continued go of it aren't looked at this way.
Drivers with old 911s may not get as excited about the current ones but I doubt
they say that porsche ought to fold since their cars aren't what they used to
be. I don't think anyone is offended that Dodge is competing in the LMP900
class at lemans. So MG dropped out of the limelight for my entire lifetime,
I'd like to see them return to it. Bently hasn't been to Lemans since 1929, I
doubt anyone is offended that they will be entered this year.
I don't think this is a kneejerk reaction by any means. I think many people
are excited not only that this is 'our' mark but that this mark has a
tremendous race history and they might be getting back to it. Also they have
accomplished many feats of engineering over the years and it is good to see
that continue as well. From what I understand the car is a reworked lola
chassis, with a variation of the 2L engine found in the MGF, so this is a far
cry from calling the 'Liquid Suspension Special' an MG.
--
James Nazarian Jr
71 MGB roadster
71 MGBGT-V8 in need of bodywork
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, May 15, 2001 at 11:13:41AM -0400, WSpohn4@aol.com profoundly declared:
> I feel like the Grinch again, but the Le Mans efforts really have nothing to
> do with our MGs. The company died, they revived the name, they stick it on a
> race car, and expect everyone with a TC to go all limp at the thought? Please!
>
> It reminds me of the guys that bought the right to use the Jensen name trying
> to associate themselves with past models made before the company died (why,
> you ask - sales, he answers). Or the 'new' Bugatti.
>
> Don't you guys feel just a bit 'used' when you deliver the correct Pavlovian
> response when someone says the magic initials, or pastes them on a car
> totally unrelated to the ones we own, know and love? Makes as much sense as
> calling Ralph's Indy car - the 'Liquid Suspension Special' an MG.
>
> There is something that we do enjoy about our MGs. It may be an almost
> indefinable je ne sais quoi, but we owners generally can tell that there is
> an 'MGness' about our cars that isn't there on a Triumph, for instance. To
> reduce that to a knee-jerk reaction when the mantra is repeated (look into my
> eyes and repeat after me - MG, MG, MG......) somehow demeans the hobby, IMHO.
///
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