GOFASTMG@aol.com wrote:
>
> Agreed, a T type or earlier is inappropiate for a modern highway. Who
> cares!!?? If you're driving a T-type, MGA, B, Midget, whatever, you most
> likely avoid the bloody Interstate anyway. These cars weren't built with
> long stretches of high speed boredom in mind.<SNIP>
> Rick Morrison
> Life's too short to drive boring cars - especially on boring roads!
I think I'd extend that comment even to B's and the like, Rick.
Couple of days back, I was at a stoplight trying to change lanes, to get to a
small bypass
cloverleaf. Car in the other lane wasn't interested in letting me in. Light
turned green, and I
floored it. I shifted at about 4200rpm, all the way up through third; the car
next to me
accelerated away from me like I was standing still, smooth and even with no
hard revs and no lag
between gears. Of course, she had a high-compression six cylinder with variable
valve timing,
auto tranny, computer-controlled electronic ignition and fuel injection, so I
didn't feel too
bad. And all six kids in the back waved as they went by.
Yeah, it was a Dodge Minivan.
Let's face it: Detroit has learned a lot from Nascar in the last twenty years
or so. I've got no
OD on the B, and I can comfortably make 65 mph (the legal) if I put up with a
few rattles. I can
make 75 for some stretches, though it sounds like I'm torturing the hamster to
do it. The last
time I was on I-95, doing 75 in the middle lane, I got passed like I wasn't
moving by over 2/3 of
the traffic. I can jump Rags up to 85 or 90, for a little bit, but
consistently driving her like
that will mean many and more frequent rebuilds. Most of the cars passing me
were NOT sports cars,
per se, but passenger cars. Oh, and a couple of 18-wheelers. ::shudder::
I don't have an airbag (and don't want one), ABS, side-impact guards, computer
controlled
anything, or even a modern suspension. The B is great, I truly don't want to
drive anything
else, but in all seriousness, it's a dinosaur compared to the cars they're
cranking out now.
The only consolation I've got there is that 20 years from now, these cars won't
be here, and my
car will. It used to be the case (and still largely is) that used cars worked
well for folks
with less money, because they could (marginally) keep them running for less
than the cost of a
new car. I don't think that's the case any longer, since the auto manufacturers
seem to've caught
on to this trick and now make the repair/replacement parts prohibitively
expensive. Leasing or
purchasing a new car seems to be less expensive than maintaining one that's
seven or eight years
old, and I expect this'll get worse as time goes on. Prices and parts for the
B seem to be
holding at just a tad above inflation; in fact, if you inflate 1975 dollars to
1997 ones, I think
I've got less in Rags now than when she was new. Someone check my math, but a
1975 car that cost
$4200 new would be somewhere around $22,500 now (using the inflation indices
I've got here).
Something that cost 10% or so of the car's value then (the motor, say) should
cost somewhere
around $2200 these days, and I know they're not quite that high. Of course,
parts made out of
(as someone recently posted) unobtainium (love that word!) will drive the price
up, but we're
quite a ways from that with B's.
Whether or not we'll actually be able to legally drive them, or have roads on
which to do so, is
another matter. My crystal ball's no better than anyone else's.
Cheers,
Corey
75 MGB 'Rags'
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