After reading Larry's response to my hopefully inflammatory comments,
I rest my case!
If they were building more MGs or were going to build more then I say
"have at it" race 'em all. But they aren't and "all raced-up and
tricked-out" MGs are just someone else's idea. They have little
value to another - as the hot rod crowd is finding out when they go
to sell the "prize" on which they've blown tens of thousands of
dollars. It's pointless saying that something is a "little modified"
and can be "put back". It won't be - and another one is gone.
Making a 30 or 40 year old car go really fast isn't rocket science -
but the only thing authentic about it is probably the MG badge on the
boot lid and that is probably blushing with shame. "Safety Fast" was
a commercial slogan for new cars. One questions the point so many
years later.
Mind you, I have no problem with formal vintage racing provided the
race part doesn't destroy the vintage part and there's the rub!
John
Snip:
>
>On Thu, Feb 13, 2003 at 03:06:46PM -0700, John McEwen wrote:
>>
>> Maybe we're flogging a very dead Lucas electrical system. Maybe many
>> of us are tired of hearing from the list hot rodders whose only goal
>> in life is to take a perfectly decent 30 year old sports car and turn
>> it into a "modern" car so it can "keep up with today's traffic" and
>> all of the other nonsense which goes with this so-called improvement.
>> Maybe we're tired of learning that our old dynamos should be replaced
>> with alternators and that our Lucas parts should be replaced with
>> junkyard Japanese bits - and while we're at it we should pitch the
>> old pushrod four for a newer OHC unit from a Toyota along with the 5
>> speed it's bolted to.
>
>I'm not sure whether I should take exception to this paragraph or
>not. I've spent most of my free time over the past several months
>working on making my '69 MGB go faster, in large part because I'm
>tired of anything faster than a kid on a Schwin blowing my doors of
>down the straight at the race track. I seem to be succeeding, this
>morning I saw 5400 RPM in 5th gear, which matches its previous best
>top speed run, and I still don't have the blower dialed in.
>
>On the other hand, 24 years ago, I'd take my Austin America (1300) out
>on the backroads to see if the latest change I made, made it go any
>faster. Making these things go faster as been the whole point of their
>existance since Cecil Kimber was hired as a consultant to Morris, and
>I have the BMC Special Tuning guide to prove it.
>
>> Maybe too many of us haven't realized that making a silk purse out of
>> a sow's ear really only gives us something which is neither - no
>> charm and no time-machine - just a very average car with a whole lot
>> of shiny bits which looks silly.
>
>I beg to differ. I had an '83 Rx7 GSL that would blow the doors off my
>MGB. I also had a beater '71 240Z that would blow the doors off either
>of them. Why do I still have the MG and sold the others off long ago?
>Because the MG is a lot nicer to drive. It's perfectly balanced,
>responsive, and well behaved at the limit. I can make my MG dance
>around racetracks better than almost any other car I've driven on the
>track this side of a Formula Ford. The MG is also a "reasonably
>practical" daily driver, and a joy to drive on my commute over the
>Santa Cruz mountains. I could have taken the money I've spent on
>adding the supercharger and bought and built a Miata that would
>probably beat the MGs lap times, but I seriously doubt that I'd have
>nearly the number of strangers (or is that new friends I hadn't yet
>met) coming up to me out of the blue to say what a nice car I have.
>
>And to be honest, I get more positive comments about my supercharger
>than the 20/20 paintjob.
>
>> When was the last time you saw a stock MGB at a car show? It's
>> joining that other extinct species - the stock Harley-Davidson. How
>> about a car which must by now be completely extinct. I refer to the
>> stock Sunbeam Tiger. This generation of LBC-losers, oops I meant
> > lovers, has managed to leave nothing original for future car buffs to
>> discover and enjoy. Just a load of LBHRS - Little British Hot
>> Rods.
>
>At the moment, apart from the roll cage, there aren't any mods to my
>MG that couldn't be unbolted and replaced with stock parts. There's a
>chance that I may have to sacrifice my battery boxes for the sake of
>locating my rear end, but that still wouldn't be visible without
>looking underneath the car.
>
>> Of course, on some lists if I were to make a statement like this, the
>> list police would inform that it isns't my car it is their car and
>> they can do whatever they want with it. Some people shouldn't be
>> allowed to buy nice old cars. Let them destroy junk and leave the
>> nice ones alone! Even MGAs aren't safe anymore or are TRs. How many
>> stock displacement engines are left? Not many I'll bet.
>
>Considering that you generally have to rebore the cylinders every
>60-100,000 miles, I'd bet that you're right.
>
>> One of the groups which has seemed rather successful in Canada is the
>> British Saloon Cars Club. Fortunately, most of the saloon cars seem
>> to have avoided the same fate as the sports cars except for Jaguar
>> saloons where there is an increased number of lumps. Small block
>> Chevs just don't look or sound good in Jaguar saloons. Sorry guys.
>> If you want to own a Jaguar and you can't afford to fix the engine -
>> sell the damn thing to someone who will or don't buy it in the first
>> place.
>>
>> I think that at the club level in the smaller centers, a British car
>> club for single marques or an exclusively British car club just won't
>> fly any longer. What may be needed is a
>> common-purpose/common-interest car club for Euro and Brit cars or
>> even just for old import cars. I've just been involved in the
>> startup of a new club in our area. The emphasis is on really small
>> cars of all kinds. We're calling it the "Nothing over 999 Club for
>> Weird Little Cars" The 999 refers, of course, to displacement.
>> We're encouraging everyone with everything from Messerschmidts to
>> Suzuki Swifts to join for activities. So far we've got Minis and a
>> Fiat Abarth 850, a BMW 600, two NSU Prinz, three Panhards, a Lloyd
>> Alexander, a Triumph Herald, a DKW, an early Midget, a Chevy version
>> of a Suzuki, and some fellows looking. There were lots of those cars
>> sold here and in North America generally over the years - especially
>> from 1955 to 1970 or so. Where are they? We're hoping to find out.
>
>Check out the Arcane Auto Society: http://www.arcaneauto.org/
>
>> John - who would be happy to chat with anyone about anything related
>> to old cars of any breed but who likes British cars (although I own
>> the Panhards and the Lloyd).
>
>There are many different facets to the "old car hobby". At one end of
>the spectrum you have the Concourse crowd who argue about whether the
>ashtray should be screwed down centered or 1/2" to the left of center,
>with the answer being "Was it installed by John or Nigel?". At the
>other end of the spectrum you have motorheads like myself who are less
>interested in the "purity of the parts on the car" and more interested
>in the original intent of the car. For my sake, I'll point out that
>the motto of the MG car company is "Safety Fast" not "Preserve the
>originality of the car for future generations". MGs come from an era
>when you could drive a car to work during the week, and take it out to
>the racetrack and compete with it on the weekend. That's the tradition
>that I honor and if it takes the rear axle from a Ford Granada to get
>me LSD and rear disk brakes at a price then I can afford, then the
>purity of my rear end is in mortal danger.
>
>--
>I've found something worse than oldies station that play the music I used to
>listen to. Oldies stations that play the "new" music I used to complain about.
>lrc@red4est.com http://www.red4est.com/lrc
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