Hey Digest-ers,
Once thanks again for the WHY BRITISH? responses. We are going through them
and going to contact some of you for
photos of you with your cars as the article percolates
(and I find someone interested in printing it). I'll email
direct. There will be a digest of responses on the digest
after they all come in and I have time to edit the whole
mess.
Again THREE CHEERS for Mark and all of the time and work
he puts into OUR entertainment on these digests. He should
be granted some PBS funding grants as this is way better
than TV!
A few lingering thoughts:
I remember a few Austin Cambrias in San Francisco back in the Seventies. An
elderly lady used to drive an immaculate black one around the Mission
District and another Smoke Grey (actually a kind of a light greenish-blue)
example could be seen from time to time in the Marina. (Damn, I'm starting to
sound like my grandfather!). For some odd reason I remember these cars also
having 13 inch wheels (just like a Metropolitan) and little hubcaps like a
Bugeye (Frogeye if
ya don't speak 'merkan) without the A - H pressed into
them, rather than the 15 inch wheels found on most
Austins of this size. Could this be? One of my friends
says that I have a wheel fetish (but the wife says it's
OK as long as I don't bring them to bed).
Went to a Datsun Zcar Club meeting last night. I also
work for Zcar Magazine and write about old Datsuns.
It's called paying the mortgage. Anyway, what a great
bunch of folks. Very much like LBC club people. Some
of the cars were bone stock right down to the hubcaps
while others had Corvette V8s and wheel arch flares and spoilers out to
THERE! Most were in between. One guy
had fitted a late model Nissan 3000cc twin-turbo V6 and 4-speed automatic
into a stock looking white '71 240Z.
What a rocket! The Chevy V8 power guyz were complaining that this thing
would blow them away. Funny thing was
that the Chevy stuff fit in easier than the Nissan
powerplant.
The big news is that thr factory will be endorsing and marketing restored
early Zs through selected Nissan dealerships. They showed a stock silver '70
to die for.
When I asked the factory guy about the stock hubcaps,
he said that they have some NOS for $100 apiece! These remanufactured dars
should sell for between $20-40,000. Well, when you staet with $100 hubcaps.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Too bad we don't have an LBC manufacturer who is still
in the US market who could do the same. Very cool for a heartless
International corperation. I mean, Moss markets
the British Heritage MGB body shells but, hey, that's a lot
of work! I still think that you buy a running, rust-free B
in SoCal for less than the shell but then you have to take
it apart before you put it together.
See you on the Funway!
Rick Feibusch
Automotive Journalist/Appraiser
http://www.EnglishCars.com/rick.html
mailto:RFeibusch@aol.com
61 Minor pickup
60 Minor Saloon
59 Minor Convertible
69 Chevelle Malibu 350
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