Hello again all;
Thanks again to everyone who responded to my question about brake light
switches. As always, response from this list was quick, educational and
accurate.
In the year that I have been monitoring and occasionally contributing to
the Tiger chatter, an interesting & welcome "attitude" about these great
cars amongst the cognoscenti has become obvious: Tiger owners in general
are quick to embrace "improvements" to their cars that leave any
semblance to originality in the dust!
I have other car and motorcycle interests, and it seems to me common
amongst their enthusiasts an almost pathological pursuit of originality,
often to the discomfort and negative safety impact on the owners.
I have an MGB that was constructed from the dead hulks of three or more
cars that could never individually run again in their former glory. But
the parts of these cars made one new, non-original example capable of
roaming the roads once more. I felt, (and feel) in this instance, quite
free to modify this car to my personal taste, interest and satisfaction,
because it could never be, and never will be, a concours car. But the
grief I get from many MGB enthusiasts about the non-stock parts I
install on this car borders on the sacrilegious.
Obviously, concours examples are valuable and desirable components of
any marque community, but there just aren't enough to go around, and
many of the original examples have had an "interesting" and full life on
the road and track, and in the process are modified in many cases beyond
reasonable hope of ever being restored to concours condition. Its great,
really, because they provide the rest of us with the opportunity to
drive these fabulous old cars in the manner in which they were intended,
rather than locked up in a hermetically sealed and air conditioned
capsule for the ultimate preservation of history.
I just wanted to say how refreshing it is to experience the much more
realistic climate in the Tiger world from other disciplines that aren't
quite so user friendly!!
Cheers,
Dave Munroe
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