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Re: The new MG's

To: mgs@autox.team.net (mgs)
Subject: Re: The new MG's
From: todd@nutria.nrlssc.navy.mil (Todd Mullins)
Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 15:08:31 -0500 (CDT)
Hey, is this a majority opinion around here, or a dissenting view?

TUSLER-with-the-funky-email-address writes [ about the MGF, presumably ]:

>   It's a new car. It rides well. It looks nice. It doesn't break down.
> What's to discuss?  Anyone looking for advice on a complete restoration
> of an MGF?  "The main processor has a glitch, does anyone know the
> the microcode instruction at address 1A2:2FF?"

As if the MGF were nothing more than a glorified PC.  It has WHEELS, it
has PISTONS, it has a TRANSMISSION, it has a STEERING RACK.  Or hadn't
you noticed?

> There aren't even any
> DPOs yet.  I'm not sure they can qualify as a true MG until something
> rusts through, falls off, leaks chronically, requires a bodge, or otherwise
> requires advice, sympathy, and commiseration.

What's going on here?  Are you guys in love with leaky shocks and rusty
sills?  We use the term "MGs" around here a lot, but I don't think we've
all agreed as to its precise meaning.

What do you think Kimber set out to do?  Build a museum piece that
vibrated at speed and wouldn't hold a charge?  Or is it just possible,
perhaps, that the marque represented to him a chance to make some real
sporting machines, able to compete with contemporary rivals, out of a
corporate parts bin?

What do you think Thornley's aim was?  To foist temperamental
carburettors and rusty battery boxes on an unsuspecting populace?  Or,
is there a chance that he aspired to put together the best-handling and
best-looking car he could with the pieces he had at his disposal?

The sum total of all I have read and all I have witnessed regarding MGs
tells me that the intent behind the marque has always been a sort of
jigsaw puzzle:  Take the best bits of various pedestrian autos and
weave them into a synthesis of style and performance, and make it
available to John Q. Public at an affordable price.

How is the MGF any different?

>   Take your brand new MGFs and have fun driving.  The rest of us will be
> here in the garage, nursing a homebrew, gazing at our loved ones, imagining
> how they will be when the restoration is finished...  That's when we're
> not cruising along with an eye to the guages, an ear to the exhaust note,
> and bugs in our teeth from drivin' and grinnin'...

They tell me that when the Austin-engined MGs came along, the XPAG folk
made very similar talk.

-- 

Todd "History has taught us nothing" Mullins
Todd.Mullins@nrlssc.navy.mil    On the lovely Mississippi (USA) Coast

'74 MGB Tourer

"I could go at any time..."

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