--- On Thu, 7/10/08, Murray Arundell <arundell@ghs.com.au> wrote:
> MGs could never be termed a "Kit" car. For a
> start you could never order
> them as a kit and assemble them at home. So am surprised
> at your description.
My description is based on the fact that like all British car
companies of the era, MG itself *made* very little. They bought
gauges from Smiths, electrical components from Lucas, wheels
from Dunlop, etc. Drivetrain components were derived from a
standard assortment produced by their parent company. The
same ash tray that was in my MGB was in my MGA, and it was
in most Jaguars as well. (They didn't even make their own
body panels.) You'd never see that kind of parts
interchangability between Mercedes and BMW, or Ford and
Chevrolet, and the inability to control suppliers may
have been a big part of the cost-containment problems that
led to the death of the British car industry. The closest
analogy today is the Boeing 787, and they've been having
some very British-car-company-like problems synchronizing the
arrival and assembly of parts sourced from suppliers all over
the world.
_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
Mgs@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/mgs
http://www.team.net/archive
|