In a message dated 8/15/01 10:13:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
spritenut@Exit109.com writes:
<<
Wait a minute.
Go back 40+ years and think about engineering.
LBCs had disc brakes
The Mini, look at the rest of the world now with front wheel drive.
My 58 Magnette (the MGZB was truly the ORIG 4 door sports car - and
advertised itself as such and 'ow dare that Johnny come lately Maxima infer
otherwise...) had child-proof locks which were touted by Volvo as long ago
as '994 as an innovative safety feature...
The Brits were also firm belivers in radial tires when the big 3 were still
pushing nylon tires that thumped until they warmed up unless you lived in
minnesota....
Not only disc brakes, but ferodo metal impregnated linings.
The K series big 6 cyl MGs had superchargers that even the Germans envied and
copied.
The dinkiest of the Midgets (the M-type sporting about 670 cc's) could run
circles around the hottest Fords of the era.
And the 49 Y Type - its innovative independent front suspension system
(virtually identical to the MGB, and somewhat similar to the Spridget) was
considered by SAE to be the second most important automotive innovation of
the postwar forties (second only to GM's overhead valve V8 engines). Everyone
copied it to some extent, and when the big 3 replaced the sturdy kingpin with
ball joints, the Brits stuck fast to their guns and kept the breed pure....
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