Re: alfa-digest V8 #491

[Will Owen <nashwill@domain.elided>]

Charlie in LA wrote:

"Anyone here recall what you had to do to change the
clutch on an MGB? You had to take out the engine. 
This may be a fairly straightforward way to go about
things, but it shows that the designers approached the
situation 
with the idea that the car's owner had a fairly
limitless amount of money and/or the people working on
the car worked for peanuts -- IOW, the ancient
paradigm 
was based on the idea of cheap labor supporting an
elite crust, the latter being the ones the cars were
intended for."

Nice analysis, but I think a wrong one. You're
forgetting that yer average car-loving Englishman is
the original Mr. DIY. Remember when American gas-pump
jockeys would routinely ask if they should check the
oil? Not only was this practice unheard of in the UK,
it would have been perceived as an insult: any PROPER
driver certainly checks his own oil! Daily, if not
hourly! And tyre pressure, coolant level, brake fluid
etcetera... 

Hasn't changed that much, either. I read English car
magazines on a regular basis, and am constantly
impressed at what they consider to be a good candidate
for restoration. There'll be a photo of two frame
rails and a door handle, and the caption will say,
"This eminently restorable Tiddley-Winkham Marmoset 10
has just been discovered after having unaccountably
been abandoned in a Shropshire sheep shed ca. 1922.
Its lucky new owner intends to have it back in daily
service in time for his next holiday in France." And,
you know, he probably will...and he almost certainly
is not some rich aristocrat or rock star, but probably
a grocer or fireman or something of that sort.

Most of the MG (and other Britmobile) owners I've
known over here have been cut from the same bolt. The
first guy who tried to teach me flat-pickin' on a
guitar apologized for not offering me any refreshment
- all his dishes were dirty, and the sink was occupied
by the engine from his Morris Minor. Another guy, also
lacking garage space, took out the front seats of his
Hillman Husky and rebuilt his engine in there while
sitting in the back. And I spent a few sessions doing
major surgery on both of my Minis as well, though
usually in a borrowed garage. In fact, the first thing
that made me sure I was gonna love Alfas was the
extent to which my first Berlina had obviously been
assembled by guys using hand tools, since so much of
it came apart that way! 

Will Owen
Pasadena, CA
Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games
http://sports.yahoo.com

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