> As to your comments on the English Three Wheeler club... yeah, they are a
> snotty inward-looking group. Send them a letter with your comments. I'm
> about to do likewise. BTW, don't expect either quality service or quality
> parts from them, either. This is a cottage industry and some of the material
> I've received was very, very poor. I've had better luck making drawings and
> taking them to a local machine shop for fabrication. Costs a lot more but I
Carl et al,
Lets be careful here. I had a very enjoyable time last May when I dropped in
on the Midland section of the
MTWC for their HFS run. (Keep in mind that I'm not a member and I didn't call
ahead.) All seats were full in
the handful of three-wheelers present, so I followed along in my rental car and
chatted and checked out the
cars at the various stops along the way. All members present were friendly to
me and Dave-the-section-leader
gave me a short ride in his F-type after we went to The Kettle Sings for tea
and a great view out from the
Malvern Hills.
Next, while my own experience restoring a '34 SS chassis several years ago also
included some frustration with
lousy parts from a vendor advertizing in the MTWC publication, I don't think
its right to jump from one bad
vendor to "a snotty inward-looking group". Lets not feed the stereotype that
Americans send in orders at the
last minute and want the lowest-price-best-quality parts yesterday while
knowing full well that they are
dealing with a cottage industry.
Based on my experiences with UK Morgan (4 - whl) and Rover clubs and getting
parts from UK vendors, it pays to
get to know other members (in the US or UK or both) who are familiar with the
various vendors. It doesn't
hurt to pick up the phone and call the UK (its not that expensive anymore,
especially if you pick the right
rate plan) and chat with a vendor or a knowledgable club member.
Also, I would say that some UK three-wheeler owners are more focused on keeping
their cars in good mechanical
order to run them regularly in all sorts of weather and in sprints, trials and
circuit racing. They may be
less focused on keeping the cars completely original, so parts that "do the
job, but could be better" may be
more accepted. On the other hand, I have seen plenty of beautifully restored
3-whl Morgans in England too.
Hope this doesn't seem like too much of a rant.
Regards,
Steve Manwell
Melrose, MA, USA
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