[alfa] qualified defense of British cars (No AC)

["Watry, Andrew (LNG-SFR)" <Andrew.Watry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We're getting kinda far afield here from Alfas, but I'll come to the defense
of British cars, to a point.

I have a 1959 MGA Twin Cam that my dad bought new, which I've been driving
and maintaining since 1975.  The car is not the horrorshow to own most
people think, and my dad raced it and commuted in it, including such drives
as from LA to Las Vegas weekly on old 395, and later daily commutes to the
Pentagon, for more than 10 years.  It has never given us the kind of
problems, electrical or otherwise, people ascribe to British cars, largely I
think because we didn't monkey with it incessantly.  The engine has been
rebuilt twice (1969 and 1990), then second due to poor rebuilding from Air
Force base auto-shop grease monkeys the first time, at a time when Twin Cams
were worth less than Berlinas are now.  So I don't hold with the idea that
British cars are inherently trouble.  As with older Alfas, I think the main
problem with British cars is uninformed tinkerer owners. They can't keep
their hands off the car, especially the electrical system, and the car
suffers.

I rescued a green 1172cc flathead 105E Anglia in the early 90s that I then
drove for about a year.  Really fun to bip around town in, but it was not a
good car for US distances, could not keep up at freeway speeds, and had the
largest gap between second and third gears (3-speed manual gearbox) I've
ever experienced.  Plus vacuum wipers that go slower the faster the car
goes.  It was not running when I got it, but after a tuneup and brake
rebuild, it never gave me a moment's trouble.  Cuter, to my mind, that a
Mini, old or new.

I had a 1969 Rover 2000TC 15 year ago that was so overly complex, to no good
purpose, that it really was tough to own.  In its defense, it had been
poorly maintained for decades by the time I got it.  But it seemed to have
been designed by former Bristol aero engineers, who created a lot of trick
stuff that didn't work any better, and was a lot tougher to maintain, than
more traditional cars.

All that said, I'll take an Alfa any day over something made in England.
They just suit me better.  But there are many who feel differently.

Andrew Watry
Berkeley, CA
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