[s-cars] Re: Now British cars/NAC (belated response as demanded)

[GreenBugeye at aol.com]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
My Dear Mr. Hart:

A quick re-read of the posts regarding British cars will show that I started
the whole thing by mentioning specifically that those who drive only modern,
fuel injected, computer-controlled cars are missing out on a lot of the fun
that is motoring in it's most basic form (i.e. British roadsters).  I
specifically mentioned gudgeon pin failure, loss of electricals at speed in
the dark and a host of other uniquely British character-building experiences.

I'm 34, and have owned at least one running (though perhaps not fully
functional) sporting British motorcar car since 1987, when I was 19.  For
five years, I had two of your nation's finest infernal contraptions in my
garage, which is now an EPA Superfund site due to the chemicals they left
behind.  As I mentioned to Paul K the other day, my Triumph was in fact a
rolling superfund site, marking its territory like an overexcited puppy
wherever it ventured.  In other words, I got it baaad!

I recently suffered through a skunk hit with my Bugeye (you'd call it a
Frogeye)  Sprite.  You will of course recall that the Bugeye Sprite is a
beast that rides so close to the ground that a straddled skunk stands no
chance of survival.  In fact, the floorboards do a fine job of turning it
into a skunk roll-up, dispatching out the rear of the car a long, furry
reeking cylinder of skunk pieces.

And, as would be true of any British roadster owner, I beamed with pride upon
hearing from my neighbor, after a weekend of scrubbing and deodorizing, that
my garage indeed again smelled more of gasoline than of skunk!  Success!

This thread (which still has no earthly business on this particular list) was
intended to demonstrate the depth of committment necessary to live with
multiple cars that are older than their owner.  This committment does not
wane, regardless of the current level of popularity of our beloved LBCs
(Little British Cars) amongst those more trendy than ourselves.  Despite
waning interest in them by the young hipsters with their show-offy full heads
of hair and their inexplicable preference for Civics with white tailights and
coffee can exhaust tips and paint schemes resembling kites, we remain
committed stongly to the preservation of your old Marques.

So, pretty much like everything else British, they only survive today because
of U.S. intervention on their behalf.  And if the occassional mocking of the
prowess of your engineers offends you, I'd invite you to come visit our
purple mountains and fruited plains and learn that in the U.S., nothing is so
sacred that it cannot be ridiculed.  And no one has felt the sting of that
ridicule more than than those of us who insist on exercising the freedom we
earned from you by motoring about our vast, open spaces in your charming,
underpowered, underengineered, insanely frustrating motorcars, which are
perfectly unsuited to the task.  And speaking of ridicule, I'd draw your
attention to the email address with which I'm subscribed to this list, which
is (usually) dedicated to German sports sedans.

As I always say, the British built the greatest terrible cars ever!

;-)

Chris Eck
Akron, Ohio
93 S4 TQ
59 Bugeye Sprite
(ex) 59 TR3A
(ex) 71 Midget

In a message dated 9/16/02 5:56:49 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
s-car-list-request at audifans.com writes:

> Sirs,
>
> I write with regard to recent assertions published on your esteemed list,
> in
> which the reliability of sporting motor cars manufactured in Great Britain
> was called into question, and in a certain mocking tone.
>
> Frankly, I find these statements insulting in the extreme. Is there no
> gratitude in your country for for the efforts made by our engineers? With
> minimal resources and working by candle-light, these masters of automotive
> technology have striven to design machines with which to build character in
> our cousins across the sea. Clearly, Sir, on your list there is no respect
> for these altruistic ideals which have fostered self-reliance, and in a
> backward and underdeveloped land, provided a very basic education in
> mechanical and electrical skills.
>
> It is testament to the success of those fine men at Triumph, Jaguar, and
> the
> other place, that to this very day individuals such as your Paul Krasusky
> endeavour to solve puzzles first set in steel fifty years ago.
> Mr Adrian Charles Edward Hart
>
> ;-)
>
> 1971 TR6 PI, 1991 ur-q 20V, 1994 100//S4, MTM+1. No money for new clothes.