Returned last week from nearly 3 weeks in the UK and I'm finally getting
caught up on my correspondence (nearly 400 e-mails waiting). I have the
following to report:
Visited the Museum of British Road Transport in Coventry. Actually,
this is a misnomer. It should be the Museum of Coventry Road Transport.
I asked if there was an MG room, because I didn't see a single MG. The
answer was "MG wasn't built in Coventry." The museum was OK, but not
enough sports cars for my liking, especially Jaguars. Rootes exhibit
was fun to see, but no Tiger. Closest thing was Rosemary Smith's race
prepared Alpine with the strangest rear body I've ever seen. Primary
purpose in the visit was to see the Jensen ledger and get a photocopy of
the page with B9473298. Just my luck that room was off limits due to
asbestos removal. I left my request at the front desk and hoped for the
best. I've received a letter with all the numbers in the ledger for my
Tiger. They won't photocopy the page because the records are already
beginning to deteriorate and many of the numbers would be illegible on
the photocopy. Bummer. I did find one thing of value in the bookstore.
It is a volume with photocopies of 23 article about III-V Alpines and
Tigers from various publications. If anybody wants a copy you can order
one from Unique Motor Books (011-44-1702-207384). And I'll e-mail a
bitmap of Rosemary's car to anybody interested.
We drove 1500 miles around England in Scotland. Our rental car was a
Renault Scenic, a really terrific little car - and I don't even like
Renaults. Best way to describe this car is it will be a Chrysler
mini-van when it grows up. The car felt remarkably familiar, even with
the steering wheel on the right side. Very comfortable and roomy. Good
pick-up too. Would cruise on the M roads at 80 mph with no trouble.
Driving in the UK is interesting. The roads (other than the few
interstate-like M roads) are very narrow. And the English believe the
strip down the middle is purely decorational. We never clipped mirrors,
but I did hit the curb 3 times trying to keep as far to the left as
possible. Scotland was much easier - many of the roads are single track
- you just drive down the middle! Got to see an XK-E up close and
personal on a single track road near Loch Ness. We both came to a
screeching halt about 10 ft from each other after we rounded a turn.
Saw many interesting cars in the UK. Besides the abundant XK-E's in
fabulous condition, I saw a DB3 (minus James Bond), numerous Mini's (a
personal favorite) and 4 Super 7's (too bad you can't import these
anymore). But no Tigers or Alpines. They have some interesting new
cars too not available in the US, such as a Miata like MG.
This last bit is for Colin Cobb's benefit. While touring Sterling (the
castle and the William Walace Monument) we saw Morgans everywhere.
Every parking lot had 2 or 3 Morgans in it. Finally we spotted a sign
for M.O.G. '99 and followed it to the gathering point. It was early
Friday afternoon and there were only about 25 Morgans there, but I'll
bet there were well over 100 by the end of the weekend. Very
impressive. Maybe I'll get to SUNI someday.
Guess that is enough Miscelleous Ramblings for the moment (with
apologies to John R. Bond).
Jim Pickard
Lafayette, LA
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