Scott Gardner wrote:
I don't know
> about *YOUR* 'B', but mine has this stupid kludge of a steel bar
> cutting the windshield in half, and while I don't have to look at my
> bonnet while I'm driving, I *DO* have to develop X-ray vision to see
> traffic lights when I'm stopped with the top up (it does rain
> occasionally here in VB, so the top's not ALWAYS down.) God help me
> when I get the seats rebuilt! No car is perfect, and if your'e going
> to continously harp about being able to see the hood from the
> driver's seat,... Eighteen months after
> having my 'B', I *still* can't see stop lights unless I stop twenty
> feet back from the intersection.
> Scott
> P.S. Don't even get me started on the Rube
> Goldberg/mousetrap/origami folding top on the MGBs, either...so
don't tell me that MG couldn't have come up with
> anything better in 1962, or later, when they redesigned the tops.
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Are you sure you're driving an MG?
Although there is a minor 'blind spot' to the right, at least you see
the road when you look straight ahead in the B. The Miata I drove
took up about 1/3 of the bottom part of the road view-- and that was
with the headlights down! I found it unnerving-- and I expected to be
impressed.
Since I helped to start this thread, I'll try to end it. I have
nothing against the Miata. If people like it, great. I just found it
rather tinny and disappointing; I don't have any need to corner at
high speeds, I guess. The reason I brought the issue up is because I
was getting tired of Miata fans continually bashing British cars about
their lack of worksmanship. This is especially evident now in the auto
press with their reviews of the new Miata models. They can't refrain
from Brit bashing, and it's getting boring.
Having owned my 74 B since it was new, I know that all the talk about
"oil leaks" and "Lucas unreliability" are lies. My B has been
marvelously reliable. Later Leyland products weren't so lucky, but
neither were most other makes. Critics of British Cars don't know what
they are taking about, because most of their experience with LBC's--
if they've had any-- involve over tinkered and aged relics. I'm tired
of the cliches about British roadsters, and I am especially weary of
the apparent fact that most Miata fans have a need to engage in
defamation more than us "opposition".
By the way, I have no problem with the Michelotti top on the MG. I
find it an elegant design, and quite easy to fix. I think the way the
manufacturer instructs top lowering to be, in a word, charming. What
can I say? I like the three windshield wipers, too.That's why I bought
the car, and I'm glad I did.
I wonder if the Miata gives its owners as much pleasure about these
kinds of little things as the B has given us? I somehow doubt it.
Jim
74B
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