DLancer7676@cs.com wrote:
> But in terms of
> upkeep, garage-time (I am told), Midget/Sprite simplicity, and basic cost of
> all factors, including rebuilding, I will take the Midget/Sprite.
Purchase price aside, my E-type as been very cheap to own
so far. I've had the car over a year and I've rebuilt the clutch
slave ($4) and changed the bonnet buffers ($6). The rest has
just been maintainence, fluids, cooling hoses that didn't look
healthy, etc. (and a lot of gasoline)
Maintenance parts for e-types are fairly affordable, what
kills you is non-wearing parts that aren't made as spares and
aren't stocked by dealers. There aren't many e-types sitting
in junkyards, so if you need a trim piece or a non-wearing
part like a bracket, you might pay a pretty penny. For a spridget
you just trundle to the local junkyard and pick and choose.
> I have
> never driven an E-type, but I can't imagine they would be MORE fun to drive
> than my Midget is.
I wouldn't call it categorically more fun, that's why I keep
them both. (all, if you include the ZB magnette, a car that
makes a 1275 midget look zippy!)
It's a different kind of fun, it's nice to go back and
forth. Some of my favorite roads on the midget are just
too slow for the E. The Ottawa River Parkway is a beautiful
road for the Spridget but the 60kph speed limit enforced
by the federal RCMP is pretty choking in the E type.
In town driving is generally more fun in the spridget
too, you can accelerate enjoyably without breaking major
laws or doing stupid things, the lane-to-lane fighting
is a little more enjoyable with 11 feet of cheap car
than 14 feet of megabuck car.
However, on a twisty road, the E-type shows incredible
poise and can drift through corners at speeds the
Midget would be just thinking about as it struggles
to accelerate out of the last corner.
As well, the high speed smoothness of the E is pretty
sweet, feel like crossing the city top down at 120mph? Take
your license in your hand and let it go!
Feel like driving all day at 75mph while still chatting
with your companion and regular voice with the top down? Sure.
...and if "getting attention" is a measure of anything,
the spridget might as well be invisible. We often go downtown
in the E to park on the street and eat in one of the cafes
overlooking the street. I tease my wife that if she lay naked
in the spot beside the E type, she'd only get noticed when
people were backing up to get a better picture of the car
and stepped on her.
--
Trevor Boicey, P. Eng.
Ottawa, Canada, tboicey@brit.ca
ICQ #17432933 http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
"Was Casper truly as friendly as they say?" - Ajax
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