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

[George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, Andrew, as someone who has owned both a TR-3 and a Jaguar XK-140 
(though both, many years ago) as well as a Guilia Sprint, and  a GTV-6 
and has driven countless other British and Italian sports cars, 
including Aston Martins, E-Types, AH 3000, Lotus Esprits, various 
Ferraris Maseratis, Lancias, and yes, even Fiats, I'd have to say that 
when it comes to sports cars, nobody did it better than the British - 
except the Italians. Whether we are talking about the golden era of 
sports cars (the 50's) or now, today, the Italians just seem to do it 
better than anybody else. There is something about the way an Italian 
car feels, that, while almost indescribable, is instantly communicated 
and once you've driven an Italian car, you notice that 'something' in 
every other Italian car, no matter how humble, and you miss it when 
it's not there.


Don't get me wrong, I would love to have my old XK-140 again, it was a 
hell of a car. Totally, unreliable, of course, but when it ran right, 
it was, to quote Dick O'Kane, "a car to challenge all the gods and 
poets to a game of life and love."  I truly miss it. It was quick for 
it's day, handling was vintage, but fun, and the engine was a joy just 
to look at - and the sounds it made, The loveliest burble from the 
exhaust, ever. My current paramour, the GTV-6 doesn't burble like that, 
but at seven grand on the clock it makes this spine-tingling, sound 
like the ripping of calico in front of a PA microphone that is worth 
seeking out tunnels and streets with high walls beside them just to 
hear it. The Alfa further rewards me by being as reliable as the Jaguar 
was not, by having a fully functional heater and air conditioner (mine 
has the Tropic-Aire option) where the Jag had this laughable circular 
device under the dashboard with two doors on it called a Smiths 
"heater" (I could never figure out how a car that ran so hot -even in 
winter- could have such an anemic heater??!!). My Alfa is also faster 
and quicker than the Jag. What it ain't is as pretty as the Jag. The 
Jag turned heads everywhere, the Alfa only turns the heads of the 
knowledgeable. Anyway, I digress. Forgive me. The British and the 
Italians are the two countries which invented the sports car. The 
Germans dabble in it occasionally, and when they do, they produce 
admirable cars (Porsche, MB. BMW etc.). But the British cars have soul 
and character, and while different from Italian cars, are every bit as 
much fun - if you don't mind laying on your back by the side of the 
road occasionally with the knock-off hammer banging the hell out of a 
stuck S.U. fuel pump!

George Graves
'86 GTV-6 3.0 'S'


On May 21, 2004, at 2:47 PM, alfa-digest wrote:

> Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 11:34:40 -0400
> From: "Watry, Andrew (LNG-SFR)" <Andrew.Watry@domain.elided>
> Subject: [alfa] qualified defense of British cars (No AC)
>
> 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
>
>
George Graves
'86 GTV-6 3.0 'S'
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