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Re: MG Buyers Guide - The Book (not!)

To: mvheim@studiolimage.com
Subject: Re: MG Buyers Guide - The Book (not!)
From: David Littlefield <dmeadow@juno.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 09:53:33 -0500
There are actually two versions of this book out there.  One is out of
print and was written by Dick Knudson, who is well-known in the MG world
as one of the founders of the New England MG Register and author of
several books.

The other was published within the last couple of years and was written
by (I think) John Heilig (sp?).  I expect it is the latter version that
you purchased.  I have the Knudson book which is actually a very good
summary of the history of MG models and their strength and weaknesses. 
Apparently it is a lot more accurate, as well.

David Littlefield
Houston, TX
'62 MGA MkII
'51 MGTD
'88 Jaguar XJ-S


On Thu, 10 Aug 2000 20:40:32 -0700 Max Heim <mvheim@studiolimage.com>
writes:
> On the shelf at a local bookstore I stumbled upon a volume called "MG 
> 
> Buyer's Guide".  I started leafing through it and was appalled by 
> how 
> poorly informed it was on the MGB (only the most popular sports car 
> of 
> all time!). The very first page I glanced at showed a photo of a 
> 1972-era 
> recessed grill roadster and labelled it a "MGB Mk. I"; and it wasn't 
> just 
> a matter of a misplaced photo caption -- the text on the "Mark I" 
> specificly stated that "the MGB never came with the traditional MG 
> grill 
> of vertical slats", and referred to the photo! Thus wiping, oh, 
> 200,000 
> or so 63-70 cars out of existence. If the author was this ignorant 
> of 
> what one would think would be the easiest MG to research, one 
> cringes to 
> think of what inaccuracies were buried in the sections on earlier, 
> more 
> obscure models (PAs, K3s, 18-80 Mk. I Salonettes, etc).
> 
> Anyway, my instant book review gives it "two thumbs down", just 
> based on 
> this point. I have looke through some other volumes in this series 
> (Triumphs, Ferraris), and while cheaply put together, they seemed to 
> be 
> written by knowledgeable marque afficionados, with lots of insider 
> details, although admittedly I have less personal knowledge of these 
> 
> marques with which to catch them out. But I am frankly shocked that 
> this 
> extremely obvious error ever reached the state of publication. One 
> would 
> think, at the least, that one person vaguely familiar with the 
> marque 
> would be asked to proofread the text before printing. I note with 
> approval that Moss doesn't carry this title in their book section. 
> But I 
> think I have seen it in the Classic Motorbooks catalog.
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Max Heim
> '66 MGB GHN3L76149
> If you're near Mountain View, CA,
> it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
> 

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