>In the end, me dear wife Ann doesn't like the thought of two-seater sports
>cars. Not that she doesn't like them, but with two little boys she
>figures she would never get to ride in it with me...
Should you be interested, I'll be happy to tell you where you can see
a picture of a small two-seat British sports car in which 5 people are
riding (2 adults, 3 kids). The car is a Sunbeam Alpine (or Tiger if
you can afford it). The area behind the seats is much larger than in
any other 2-seater I have seen. This area is often referred to as
the "occasional seat" and the Rootes Group specifically marketed the
Alpine toward the family man who wanted a sports car.
My father-in-law had both an Alpine and a Tiger, and my wife has many
fond memories of family outings in them. Of course she always rode in
the occasional seat. In fact, this family history is a large
percentage of the reason I ended up buying an Alpine instead of a TR6
(shoulda bought that '71 TR6 for only $1900 a coupla years ago; can
you say 'the one that got away'?).
Alpines don't have the get-up-and-go of MGs or Triumphs, so if you
want to do any racing, this is not the car for you. Otherwise, it has
all the advantages of any other British 2-seater: tractor engine,
external lubrication, Lucas electrics, etc. But for commuting to
work, cruising the back roads on the weekends, or just running to the
grocery store, the fun quotient of the Alpine is the same as that of
an MG or Triumph.
On a related note, the wife is expecting our first baby in January.
I haven't looked closely yet, but I'd like to be able to quickly and
easily install/remove the child safety seat (required by law in
Alabama) in this "occasional seat" area. Hopefully without doing too
much damage to the interior, etc. of the car. Anybody out there done
anything like this?
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T.J. Higgins uunet!ingr!higgins (UUCP)
Intergraph Corp. M/S IW17A5 higgins@ingr.com (Internet)
One Madison Industrial Park
Huntsville, AL 35894-0001 "Well-weathered leather, hot metal
(205) 730-7922 and oil, the scent of country air"
-Rush
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