In a message dated 3/13/03 6:06:50 AM Pacific Standard Time,
owner-mgs-digest@autox.team.net writes:
> I edited my original reply as I started to wax poetically about driving the
> 1973 low compression, Marina powered (Bill) CB MGB. If anyone is
> interested
> in a fuller version of my prose including the experience of my driving
> style
> reverting back twenty years upon hearing the whine from under the hood,
> please e-mail me privately.
>
Now Kelvin, the 73 wasn't bad at all. The CBB had decent engines.
The one I refer to as a Marina convertible had the same engine as the Marina:
single Stromberg carb
single valve springs - don't need anything more when you have:
(non) - super-cam (from 1975)
low compression
high suspension
about the same power as an MGA 1500 had in 1956
They took a fine car, and they turned it into a joke, because they didn't
want to spend the money to do a proper redesign, nor compete with their
favoured Triumph models.
The styling is a matter of taste, but the performance of the late cars is a
matter of fact. If anyone says they don't mind the wimpy late engines, drive
an earlier car in good running order _the same day_ and see if you feel the
same way.
I've driven a RBB that was lowered and had an early engine (I forget what
they did with the brake booster), and it was a nice car. I still prefer the
early styling, but that's just me, I'm a reactionary. But every time I drive
an unmodified RBB I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The only way anyone
could love one of those pathetic beasts is if they simply didn't care about
performance (a valid stance, though probably rare among enthusiasts), or they
didn't know the difference.
In my experience, aside from the ladies and a few guys who fall into the
'don't care' camp, and are just happy driving them the way they came,
everyone that has an RBB is busily scheming to somehow improve them, while at
the same time practising self-denial about just how bad they are.
If you want an MGB as the factory intended them to be, you can start with an
early car, or if you prefer, or already have, a late car, start with that and
a whack of money (or of course, just live with them the way they are).
Even the factory-backed racers in the 70s that I talked with referred to them
as 'that piece of sh_t', and complained about how much extra work it was to
start with the current bodyshells and suspension. And if BL hadn't 'arranged'
to have them allow backdating on engine stuff, can you imagine a single carb
SCCA MGB being blown off by all the 948 Bugeyes down in IP - I'm sure THAT
would have sold a lot of cars.....
Bill
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