David Knowles wrote:
>
> Snip
>
> <<<I suppose the old saying is true..."Education is the key." I wonder
> if the folks on the TR-7 list sit around and say "You know, my car is
> ugly, a mechanical nightmare, AND the decline of BL." I guess it all
> comes down to perspective...Like Garfield once said, "Funny is in the
> eye of the beholder."
>
> - --
> Michael S. Lishego
>
> >>>
>
> Very true - I certainly am not going to suggest that we should have the
> arrogance to dictate to TR7 enthusiasts about whether or not they should
> care about their cars. IMHO, the car enthusiast cadre should take in
> everything - warts and all.
>
> The danger, however, is that people will attempt to "re-write" history -
> something Joe Stalin was so good at; we'll get people saying that it
> "isn't true" that the TR7 (or at least the people behind it) lay at the
> heart of the roller coaster ride to destruction of the British sports
> car business, or that the Speke built cars were "quite good". They'll
> tell us that the critics were all wrong and the TR7 is such a wrongly
> maligned car.
>
> I realise that a fresh generation, who weren't around when the battle
> between MG and Triumph was in full swing, will have a less cynical point
> of view and will be more ready to view the TR7 for what it is (or has
> become) rather than what it stood for in the eyes of many. Good for you
> I say.
>
> I will admit that by the time the TR7 convertible came on the scene, and
> natty alloy wheels and attractive colour schemes were on offer, it had a
> lot to offer. I looked at one recently, in a dark metallic red, and I
> could see much to appreciate in it. There are fewer on the roads today,
> and we need to ensure that they survive.
>
> But then my mind turned back to the thought that if the MG factory (and
> its supporting factories, primarily at Swindon and Cowley) had been
> granted a fraction of the TR7/Speke budget, what might we have seen
> instead?
>
> David Knowles
I remember the TR7 advertising campaign saying that it was "the shape of
things to come". Twenty years later, practically every new car on the
road from any country has a sloped nosed, radically sloped windshield
and a high deck on the rear. And most are powered by tranverse mounted
engines driving the front wheels as pioneered on the Mini 25 years
before that! Seems to me the british cars were too far ahead of their
time...
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