On the shelf at a local bookstore I stumbled upon a volume called "MG
Buyer's Guide". I started leafing through it and was appalled by how
poorly informed it was on the MGB (only the most popular sports car of
all time!). The very first page I glanced at showed a photo of a 1972-era
recessed grill roadster and labelled it a "MGB Mk. I"; and it wasn't just
a matter of a misplaced photo caption -- the text on the "Mark I"
specificly stated that "the MGB never came with the traditional MG grill
of vertical slats", and referred to the photo! Thus wiping, oh, 200,000
or so 63-70 cars out of existence. If the author was this ignorant of
what one would think would be the easiest MG to research, one cringes to
think of what inaccuracies were buried in the sections on earlier, more
obscure models (PAs, K3s, 18-80 Mk. I Salonettes, etc).
Anyway, my instant book review gives it "two thumbs down", just based on
this point. I have looke through some other volumes in this series
(Triumphs, Ferraris), and while cheaply put together, they seemed to be
written by knowledgeable marque afficionados, with lots of insider
details, although admittedly I have less personal knowledge of these
marques with which to catch them out. But I am frankly shocked that this
extremely obvious error ever reached the state of publication. One would
think, at the least, that one person vaguely familiar with the marque
would be asked to proofread the text before printing. I note with
approval that Moss doesn't carry this title in their book section. But I
think I have seen it in the Classic Motorbooks catalog.
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
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