I just read a post from JH Gindle on the Rebirth of his 'B ... Congrats,
JH! I know that feeling, when your baby comes home from having been in
someone else's arms for a while. I usually spend a lot of time sitting in
her, listening to the radio and reading to her, but I'll save that neurosis
for later...
A point JH made in the post went something like...
<snip>
...paint shop, returned to its original British Racing Green splendor. Gone
was the metallic burgandy applied by the DPO--a nice guy, but not much on
originality.
<snip>
... and I was wondering, what's the opinion out there about originality?
I'm not talking about concours showings; from what I've read of them, they
want T-total originality in the cars and this counts for points. Maybe it
does at regular shows, too...I've never won any awards, and never thought to
ask anyone why I didn't since that's not why I was there in the first place.
My 75 MGB is far from original; under the bonnet I've removed the sacred
smog controls, installed a Weber in place of the Z-S, stainless braided all
the hoses, put non-standard yellow/black wiring on the Lucas distributor
(which isn't original since it's a 25D and came from a 74 car), and painted a
few key components red for easy identification; what the hell, it's a 79
motor anyway. Outside, I've gone with a Robbins bisque top and the 50th
anniversary gold badges and trim because I thought they looked nice with the
colour scheme.
The offspring wants a B when she gets her license, and that not being
very far off, we're looking at candidates now. But: she wants it painted
metallic purple (duck), she wants some fairly non-standard speakers
installed, and she wants me to figure out a way to fit it with an airbag.
(I'm not too sanguine about that last, and I've told her so.) Though I
suspect those who have not fainted at this colour choice are at this moment
taking my name in vain, I must insist that she is enthusiastic about lbc
ownership, intends upon making it a lifelong hobby, and will (from her
budding motorhead tendencies) no doubt be in as sad a state as the rest of
us, with a deep emotional attachment to what might objectively be called
'just a car'.
From that rather windy springboard, let me ask the assembled worthies:
What is your opinion on originality in our vehicles? Mechanically or
cosmetically, is there a real advantage (not including resale value ... What?
Sell my child? Are you daft?) to having an original car?
For my own part, I like to remain as closely lbc as possible, dickering
around with colour scheme a little and tweaking performance to produce a
friendly, fun, 'safety-fast' daily driver. I use almost all British
components (where I can reliably get them) and have no intention of ever
trying to shoehorn a Plymouth 318 under the hood of a CGT, but with a quiet
nod to Abingdon, I'll not settle for a strictly production vehicle if I can
improve on it, for my needs, in any way.
And yes, I'd like a last Camel before I'm shot, thanks. Anyone else?
ckr
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