Well since there has been an uprising of lamentation over the loss of Scott
recently, I went through my archives and found this older posting. I think
that it is pertinent to the questions at hand. I spoke with Scott recently,
he confirms our fears, it will be quite a while before he has net access
again.
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Subject: Re: Help me convince my wife
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 92 11:10:18 PST
From: sfisher@wsl.dec.com
I am happy to report that I succeeded in my quest to convince
my wife to sell the Champ and invest the money in the MG!
Good for you! And welcome to the club of everyday MG drivers!
Unfortunately, none of the arguments that were so generously
given to me actually worked. She has an inherent belief
(founded only on circumstantial evidence) that an MG, especially
my MG, cannot be a reliable dependable car.
Well, I'll tell you. If I were looking for an MG to be a reliable
dependable daily driver, an MGC wouldn't be the first one I would
think of -- but it wouldn't be the last by a long measure. Not
that there's anything inherently less reliable about the C than
the B (which would be, and is, my first choice for the car that
has to get me to work every day), but the 2-year C was produced in such
comparative rarety that parts availability is going to be a little
tougher than for the half-a-million MGBs made over an 18-year period.
If reliability is an issue, it's comforting to know that I can get
nearly anything I need over the counter from a couple of local shops
so that I can buy the parts on Saturday, install them on Sunday, and
still make it to work Monday morning.
But you know all that, and presumably you have a parts source. Besides,
the iron parts on these cars last forever; it's the electrical and rubber
things that give you grief, and they're probably commonised across a
couple of product lines.
As a couple of people have suggested, the trick to eternal happiness with
a British car as a daily driver is never to let anything go too long
without attention. There are some fundamental differences in the assumptions
that go along with owning a British car, assumptions that have changed in
the last thirty years. And make no mistake, the MGC is thirty years or more
old, in spite of the fact that it was built in 1968 or 1969: its components
were mostly ten years old when it was assembled (in spite of the redesign
of the C series engine).
Maintenance with an MG serves more than just the mechanical attention to
detail that keeps a device functioning well. It's also, and perhaps more
critically, a chance to take a front-to-rear look at the car on a fairly
regular basis, to keep in touch (literally) with the car's components and
subsystems. Lubricating the front end forces you to inspect it for wear;
a chassis lube on The Green Car uncovered a badly worn suspension bolt that
I was able to replace before it snapped. Tuning the car forces you to
look at the engine, inspecting it for leaks, breaks, loose connections
and other potential problems so that you can address them before they
become serious. Lubing the handbrake cable forces you to get under the
rear of the car where you can inspect the axle seals, spring mounts,
shocks, and other components. If you maintain an MG properly, you should
never have a failure that you can't identify in short order. (I'll explain
more about my most recent lesson along those lines in another posting.)
The key to happiness is to remember that all British sports cars are
meant to be tinkered with; they're NOT meant to be perfect. This is
part of what I mean, whenever a friend who's considering buying a sports
car, by saying that old cars aren't new cars. For one thing, all the
components are old (someone else mentioned about replacing all the parts
of a system when one part wears out); for another, all the components
were designed with a different mindset. In Britain of the Fifties,
when the B series engine was being designed, the anticipated annual
mileage was much lower than today, maintenance was expected to be
higher, and owners were assumed to do much of the work themselves.
But there are some basic rules that make old-car ownership a lot less
stressful. I'll try to list them here.
1. Old cars aren't new cars. I know I said it above, but it bears
repeating. Unless you replace all the rubber, electrical, and
moving parts (and the way MGs vibrate, every part is a moving part)
all at once during a complete restoration, some component or system
on your car is going to be up to 24 years old at any time.
2. If you know what's causing a failure, it's not a problem. I got
by with the flaky fuel pump for a couple of weeks because I knew
what it was. I'll manage with the flaky oil pressure gauge for
another few weeks because I know what it is (see future message).
If you know why the car is acting weird, it isn't weird anymore.
Some people don't understand this, and think that it's a Big Deal
when my starter makes that whirring noise and doesn't turn the
engine over. I know why it does that (a missing screw on the
solenoid, which means I sometimes have to rock the car in gear
to get it to engage properly) so it's not a problem. Yeah, I'll
probably fix it one day, but till I do, I know what it is and it's
not a problem. This is quite possibly the most important rule
of old cars.
3. Expectations define satisfaction. If you expect the car to be
something that it can't be, you'll never be satisfied. All MGs
rattle, clank, bump, and require attention in a lot of little
areas. If you expect the car to be perfect, rattle-free, never
need attention -- and if you're disappointed with the car when it
does these things, as inevitably it will -- you'll be dissatisfied.
4. There's a big difference between being unreliable and never needing
work. The green car has been the second-most reliable car I have
ever owned, including Japanese, German, and American cars as well
as British. (I didn't own the Alfa long enough to get a feel for
it, and of course it was delivered with some required warranty
fixes; see rule 3.) In over three years, I've *never* had to have
the car towed, I've missed work once, I've taken it down for unscheduled
repairs three times. I haven't even spent all that much money on it.
But I've poured a lot of the Universal Solvent -- owner's sweat -- into
that car in the last three years, whether on big things like repairing
the front suspension or on little things like verifying that yes, it
*is* the oil pressure sending unit that's making my gauge act flaky.
5. If you plan to drive when you must, then you need to work when you can.
A few nights and weekends of preventive maintenance can save you a lot
of hassles by the side of the road; do the scheduled maintenance, or a
little more, gradually improving the car a piece at a time and driving
it when you need to get somewhere.
6. Going to the store to buy milk in an MG is more fun than driving a
Honda Civic around Sears Point. (Sorry, Larry, I appreciate the loan
of Ricercar that day, but I think you'll agree.) When we all went to
Orlando over Christmas vacation, nothing we did in Disney World was as
much fun as commuting to work in The Green Car. It's one thing to own
a British sports car, but using one every day really makes you appreciate
them.
That's not a bad set of rules. I'm sure I can think of more, but these
will get you started.
In the end I convinced her by making puppy dog faces and promising
to ride my bike if the car wasn't running. I did get her to admit
she likes riding in it! She may even like driving it eventually.
Heh. My first MG -- well, that's another thread too, isn't it?
Thanks again,
Will
Again, good luck and welcome to the club.
--
Scott Fisher DEC Western Software Labs
sfisher@wsl.pa.dec.com Palo Alto, California
--
Miq Millman miq@wv.mentorg.com miq_millman@rainbow.mentorg.com
Mentor Graphics 8005 Boeckman Rd, Wilsonville OR 97070 503 685 1492 C2148
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