Interestingly, Lucas Aerospace is now part of TRW Aeronautical Systems.
In the seventies, Lucas decided to diversify. They started making vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they ever made that did not suck.
Thank you, I will be here all week, try the veal.
I saw a greyish-blue chrome bumper MGB GT on the homeward commute today. The driver was smiling.
Your car breaks my heart.
My brother got a 67 mustang for his 16th birthday. I was a year and a half behind him and at the time, could get a teal blue, black interior, chrome luggage rack MGB for about $1500, much less than the Mustang. I just knew I was going to get one.
I got a pair of reebok tennis shoes. My brother trashed the Mustang.
I’ve never forgiven my Mom and I’ve never had a mustang. maybe in my second 40 years.
I did own a Triumph Spitfire for about 3 hours, I guess technically, I still own it. The guy I bought it from needed to “finish up” some stuff before I picked it up. I had test driven the car and it was peppy and ran beautifully, when I picked it up, he had switched out engines in it (he had many triumphs) and the car wouldn’t go above 15 miles an hour and was pouring gas out.
He ran to the bank and cashed the check, I tried for months to get my money back.
Please drive that car once for me. Make sure the top is down and the stars are out. You are a lucky person.
Blah, that should read I’ve never had an MGB.
There is one for sale almost exactly like I’ve always wanted. Sadly, it isn’t in the cards.
Tell me, are they really that unreliable and expensive to maintain?
I’ve listed the problems I had upthread. And really, those are the only problems I had. My mom used her MGB for years, and after she and my dad divorced it was the only car we had until she got a new Toyota in '72. I can remember, though not specifically, a couple of times when the '66 wouldn’t start. But the engines are very simple. Fuel + Air + Spark. Unless something breaks, it should go. I never thought anything about making a cross country trip in one of the cars.
Like any car, the manual has a maintenance schedule that lists a raft of things that need to be done. I never did anything but give my '66 an occasional tune up and change the oil. The dashpots in the carbs have to be topped off from time to time, but I never did. I remember checking them with their little dipsticks, and they were fine. I never had to synch the carbs. The '77s had single carbs.
One good thing about MGBs is that they made half a million of them. Used parts are easy to find, and they seem to be fairly inexpensive. New parts are available from Moss Motors and Victoria British. Except for the transmission, which is available for any year as rebuilt and warrantied, and the engine you could pretty much build a ‘brand new’ MGB from brand new parts – including the body. Individual parts don’t seem to be outrageously expensive. (But add them up, as on my rebuild, and… ouch!)
I think one of the reasons production lasted 18 years is that they were reliable given the standards of the time. Compared to a modern car, maybe not so much. Remember that the newest ones are 27 years old. How reliable and expensive to maintain is any 30 or 40 year old car? It depends on how well it’s been maintained or how well it’s been restored or rebuilt. Most of the offerings I’ve seen have 60,000 to 90,000 miles on them. Back in the day (I have the impression that) engines needed to be rebuilt after 100,000 miles. Modern cars can go much further. My Jeep has 160,000 miles on it and it’s still going strong.
So: ‘Are they really that unreliable and expensive to maintain?’ It depends. It’s going to require more maintenance than a new Honda. The engine will wear out faster than just about any new car you can name. There are no computers to keep it going when something needs adjusting. Many parts will not be locally available and will need to be ordered. But look at how many 40 to 40 year old airplanes there are flying around, and consider that their engines are a much older design than the B’s. They’re subject to regular rebuilds and inspections, and they are maintained to a high degree. Maintain a car the same way and it will probably last as long. (And a car is much less expensive to maintain than a Cessna.)
Once I’ve broken in my ‘new’ car and have ‘shaken out any bugs’ I’ll have no worries taking it on long trips. But I wouldn’t rely on any decades-old car as a primary source of transportation by choice. If I did, I’d be sure to follow the maintenance recommendations. And I still have alternate means of transportation.
Rick, are you there?