Hi all,
I'm fully refreshed afetr my 3 week break in the U.K.....mild temperatures,
lots of rain and loadsa lbcs.
Firstly, the day before i left (xmas day) I got the rebuilt motor in the midget
connected up totally. It turned over and everything, but would not start! There
was the smell of fuel on the end of the plugs, and i followed instructions
to test te coil, i finally gave up in the freezing weather after starting to
test the spoark at the plugs...I thought I could see a spark, but it may have
been my frozen brain playing around. Anyway, I'cve decided on the luxury
of letting the local import garage getting it started for (also its
currently -20 outside at the mo, dipping to -40 windchill, mmmmmmm).
So of I popped to old blightly. Noticed lotsa TR6's, not many Bs suprisingly,
and literally 1000's of moggy thous'....everybody seemed to have one. There
were a couple of nice red convertable heralds outside my friends flat as well.
Anyway, the lbc highlight of my trip was going to the Morgan factory in Malvern.
Its funny, I lived 15 miles away from it for 18 years and never got round to
visiting....now i don't live in the country i made a beeline for it. Anyway,
they are beautiful cars. The only photo I have is in the dispatch dept. where
about 30 or so are lined up ready for delivery (all left hand drive interestly
enough), the rest of the factory was too dark, and io didnt have a flash.
When the photies get developed I'll see 'bout uploading them to the public
ftp thingy.
We had a bit of a whistle stop look around...your allowed to go anywhere you
want apart from the spray booth and wood shop. I didn't realise they still
had wood frames. I had a good look at the 3.9 litre engine they shoehorn
into the eight....man that thing must shift with a curb weight of around 1000kg.
We didn'tt have time to take the guided tour unfortunbately, so most of the info
I have is visual. I did get a pricelist and catologue and was suprised at the
low cost...approx. 13500 pounds sterling (without VAT) for the basic model.
In bucks thats around 21600, I wonder what the inport taxes are like?? How
much does a basic new model from one of the two dealers in the states cost??
Other lbc funnies included going out for a spin (literally) in a friends mini...
jeese, I forgot how tiny they are , but hell, they can accellerate and loose
it out of a corner well enough!! My 'mercun friend with me fell in love
with it, and is now interested in getting hold of one!
In all the hullabaloo of visiting family/friends I didn't get round to buying
body panels I needed...oh well. I did buy enough antique china to sink a battle-
ship buts theres no lbc in that!
We, its only semi-nice to be back...this weather should sod off back to Alaska
where it belongs! As soon as some of this snows gone a bit I may be able to
locate the Midget in the back lot, dig it out and get it towed to the garage!
Happy new year by the way,
Marcus
|