Wow!
Over a hundred replies to my input of yesterday. Thought it might stir
things up a bit. Even got about 10 comments from the Healey guys and
I didn't post to Healeys at all - so they must really harbour admirations
about
Triumphs.
Virtually all of you seem to broadly concur with my feelings and I loved
the response from one lister when I talked of a high beam and some rope.
All his reply said was "Make sure the high beam hasn't got Lucas written on
it."
To try and squeeze out the hysteria on my part (which one or two commented
upon) I'd like to take a bit more bandwidth to further develop.
I'll be the first to admit we all have to move with the times in a global
market and
this means the old way of doing things may well have to give way to the
new. I'd be delighted
to see any former British sports car name resurrected by Rover/BMW - but I
think
it would be extreme folly to make that car in another country outside UK
and
certainly outside Europe. I don't think BMW would make that mistake -
though this
cannot be guaranteed. I certainly think it would be most unwise to use an
original or
re-worked BMW design based on the Z3 or whatever.
On the longer term, no-one has to try and work out why BMW really bought
Rover in the first place.
Essentially they did it to acquire Land Rover - so no probs there.
What concerns me is the current car range outside of the Mini and MGF.
Granted, Rover cars have (had?) a prestige name, but they are now becoming,
IMHO, rather too
common for comfort. The success of 'old' Rover in days gone was that it was
a car
buyers aspired to buy because it had an important degree of uniquity. As
things stand, its far
from unique and I really don't see where current Rover fits in with the
current BMW range but
this is probably a hangover from the earlier relationships with Honda.
So this leads to the long term question of where will Rover really dovetail
into the BMW organisation
if we put Land Rover to one side? IS there likely to be a major shift
towards a different type of car
from that produced by Rover over the last 20 years?
I hope so.
The R40 is due out fairly soon and while it doesn't appeal to me
aesthetically, I suppose it will find a
meaningful market niche.
Then we turn to MG.
Arguably, MG is the first name people think of when they talk of British
sports cars - even though A-H
and Triumph competed very successfully there as well, in a budget market
where Jaguar was not a player.
As an individual and certainly a traditionalist, I can't see why other
former names aren't in a pipeline
somewhere and in a sports car form. To my mind, it would certainly make
sense AND give BMW as a global entity
if it re-jigged its product profile. In this respect we would be looking
towards a manufacturer of superb high
performance cars (BMW's), small and specialist British saloons (Rovers) a
widening range of 4WD's (Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Freelander)
and then the SPORTS CARS.
These to my mind, should be British designed (warts and all) and preferably
they should be made here.
Finally, a few years hence, Rolls Royce will be in there too and such a
scenario WOULD be impressive.
With BMW's undisputed quality and build standards, what a delight it would
be to see a range of sports cars
bearing MG, Riley and Triumph names. Personally, I'm not too sure about the
Healey name because there
could be legal implications from past encounters. A pity, but there we are.
The most important thing is none
of these future cars have to be opulent and state of the art in technology
terms.
After all, you still have to wait 5 years in the UK to buy a Morgan so
no-one can say the car has to be a super
modern UK equivalent of the MX5/Miata. Above all, it has to be affordable
and most important of all - 100% FUN.
Do we really want power soft tops, power steering, auto boxes and all the
rest.
Not really - at least from my point of view and Westfield Sports Cars seem
to be enjoying formidable success in
that general area with such recipe leaning vaguely towards the original
Lotus 7.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of seeing my younger son acquainting
himself with a Frogeye Sprite -
and he loved it. Okay, it was loads slower than his Suzuki Jeep and most
modern Euro shopping cars.
What appealed to him was its essential character - basic, two seats,
unyielding suspension, wind in the air,
FUN and DIFFERENT. Isn't that really why we all bought them originally and
have things truly changed that much?
I doubt it and I think the impulse to buy a slightly more modern version
based on an older theme would fill
an order book overnight.
All this finally brings me to the memory of a cartoon I once had framed
above my desk at work. It was a very good drawing
of a jet fighter with its two air intakes on either side of the cockpit. In
this case, each intake had half a Rolls Royce radiator
shell in front of it, with the Spirit of Ecstacy mascot on the nosecone.
Standing beside the aircraft, is the picture of the archetypal British
Civil Servant in bowler hat and 3 piece with 'bedtick' trousers, carrying
a briefcase.
He's saying: "I quite agree aerodynamics are important - but then, so are
traditions."
There, that's a British viewpoint. Now I'll shut up and go back in the
corner.
John Mac
John Macartney
"Life at Triumph" in print - unique pictures and lots more. See info at
http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/triumphbook/
ORDER LINE STAYS OPEN UNTIL SEPTEMBER 30, 1998.
You can order your book through:
UK THE AUTHOR: jonmac@ndirect.co.uk
The book will NOT be available from shops - only from the Author and Agents
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