In a message dated 08/06/2001 16:54:06 GMT Daylight Time,
bholland@hayes.ds.adp.com writes:
> Why did it not come top of the heap against that competition? The Morgan
> may have more style (depending on your perspective) but the Datsun is IMO a
> better car than the TRV and TR4.
> Brian
>
Good question Brian - it all came down to the 'Japanese thing'
The cars were tested on a military testing track used by McLaren for testing
their F1 road car.
Phil Bell, the main writer, ran the 2000 to the limit for about 12 laps
compared to just 5/6 laps in the other cars which he'd already tested. He
came back, grinning from ear to ear, and I was really looking forward to the
piece, expecting that she would come out top. At the end of the day he even
had himself photographed in the Datto (no other) for the summary piece.
When the mag came out, the whole piece was nothing like I, or a couple of the
other owners, had expected - Phil said later that it all boiled down to
alienating the readership by choosing a Jap car as the favourite - in which
case why write the article at all?
The other guy, I don't remember his name, came from something like Practical
Gardening magazine before he joined PC. Enough said.
Conversely, Phil told me that the reason an MGB wasn't included in the
comparison was because they had received a stack of letters around that time
from readers saying that if they featured another MGB/Jag E-Type or Morris
Minor then they would cancel their subscriptions.
(It's difficult spreading the word when everyone's tone deaf).
Rob
<A HREF="http://www.datsun.org/fairlady/intro.htm";>The Classic Fairlady
Roadster Register</A>
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