Chris,
Morgans flash Morgans, I believe. Veteran Bentley's would be quite
acceptable too, even though I seem to recall that, in their day, various
members of the Morgan Family used to delight in trying to blow their
doors off in the Malvern Hills. I don't get the deference to Jags. When
I was in the U.K. in the sixties visiting various upper middle class
titled relatives of my then girlfriend, I seem to recall that Jags were
regarded as cars driven by lower middle class types with new money;
flash cars, in other words. (No pun intended.) Pimps drove Jags too.
Vanden Plas Mini's and Princesses were O.K. So were Astons and
the like.
Juan Carlos of Spain drives a Morgan. Can you think of any other
sports car driven by a king?
When I'm driving a Morgan in the U.K., the general population appear
to automatically regard me as a "good fellow". It works for room
upgrades at hotels, good conversation, and in one case while
driving all around the centre of Oxford looking for a place to park,
a tall, attractive young lady in a long flowery dress and straw hat
recognised the plight of the little yellow 4/4, and waved madly to
attract my attention so that we could have the spot she was vacating
with her little estate, (station wagon). Not a bad spot either, in the
centre of a square and three blocks from "The Mitre". Morgans
just seem to make people smile.
In any case, while driving a Morgan I would certainly flash or wave
to acknowledge anyone at all who waved at me. It would be very
bad form to do otherwise. But I would not be at all crestfallen to
be snubbed by a Jag. We all drive Morgans for the very unique
experience. I wouldn't flash the latest TVR roadster although I
think it is the best looking and driving thing they have ever built.
William G. Lamb, III
Land Rover Specialist
NAS 4.0 Litre Plus 8
MSCC #9096
At 11:53 AM 5/9/99 -0700, Christian Ness wrote:
>In all these cars I knew where I was on the social order and when I was
>obligated to wave or flash first and vice versa. Personally I put the
>Morgan near the top but do know it still occasionally meets a superior being
>to whom homage is owed. I ran into a difficult situation a few weeks ago.
>I was driving south in Oceanside on Coast Highway (old Route 101 which is
>now going through a nostalgia revival as did Route 66). Going north was a
>beautiful condition early XKE roadster. I thought about it and finally
>waved, first. Didn't actually receive a return wave although the driver
>nudged his wife/companion in the passenger seat and pointed at me - well at
>the Morgan - so I guess I wasn't snubbed. Anyway, the point is I wouldn't
>have waved first at a later XKE but figured the earlier ones deserve a bit
>of respect. I think it must be like this for royalty - the higher you get
>the more nuanced the ranking.
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