Scott Fisher <sfisher@wsl.dec.com> goes "New" Car Shopping:
>
> The Brand New 1971 MGB...
>
> [MORE ROMANTIC STUFF HERE]
>
> This is the highest quality MGB ever built: Priced in the low forties
> Let us create this dream car for you!
>
> Low forties, low forties... What I can't imagine is who they think
> their market is. [...]
>
> Well, all right. I just sat down with the calculator and plugged in some
> guesstimates of the cumulative cost to build an MGB from brand-new parts,
>
> The ad says "Brand New," however, so new it shall be...)
He said "New". (Didn't he say New?) Yes, I think he said "New".
> [more interesting figures on the "cost" of a new MGB]
I'm sure that you realize that you left off a few minor details, like the
modifications to the engine, and the new PI mainifold, and the ECU, and the
catalytic exhaust system that you'd also have to design and build to get it
to meet new (there's that word again!) regulations. Oh yes, then there'd
be the structural changes to the body & bumpers, the addition of the "cyclops"
rear light, the necessary sheet metal modifications... Oh yes, then you'd
just need a few $Million to get it certified by the EPA et. al., before you
could license it.
> But the real question, which I don't address, is --
>
> Who would pay $42,000 for an MGB, even a handmade, brand-new one?
> And if anyone would, why?
Actually, Scott, I know that you don't really want a "new" MGB - what you
really want is a '68 MGB that has never been driven before and has been
stored for the past 25 years in a hermetically sealed garage filled with
dry nitrogen.
And what I also didn't address is what a new MGB is *worth* - only what
it might *cost*!
Pat Vilbrandt John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. Everett, Washington USA
UUCP: pwv@tc.fluke.COM or: { uunet, uw-beaver, sun, microsoft }!fluke!pwv
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"Read dozens of books about Heros and Crooks, and I learned much
from both of their styles."
- J. Buffett, Son of a Son of a Sailor
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