Listers-
Why did the American Siamese twins travel to England?
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So the other one could drive!
Cheers and Happy Christmas to all of you dear listers out there. Thank you
for all the hours of diversion from the everyday grind that you provide. I
love chops and customs as much as I admire the proper stockers and
interestingly embellished in-betweenies.
As for the young folks vs. the old fogies controversy, I've been involved
with the American Morris Minor Club since the first one formed in
California in 1973. I WAS a youngster then. . . . . Why can't the kids of
today do what we did when we were their age!!! That is to ignore the older
folks, sit is the back of our tatty old Travellers and smoke a spliff and
crank up Clapton pumped through a pair of beat up, walnut skinned, home
stereo speakers!
The only time we generally interacted with the older folks was for
technical advise, and that was only after we'd mucked it up a few times and
were helpless, penniless, and generally clueless.
Of course the old guys (I mean, they must have been at least 40!) found us
a bit suspect but once we were over at their garage and after a few brews
and a good laugh or two, we got to know each other. A number of us were the
same age as these people's children!
The other thing that was different was that it was the older guys who were
uprating and modifying their Minors while the rest of us were trying to
keep them together as reasonably dependable daily drivers. The old guys
were dropping in 1275s, and ribcase transmissions out of wrecked NEW
Midgets and doing disc brake conversions while we were deciding which
crappy old smoothcase on the garage floor would run the longest(kind of
like the cleanest dirty shirt!) or how long we would we able to continue to
run the 950 with the worn valve guides and seals before the cops were going
to pull you over for excessive smoke! Boy, those were the days!!!
As to what happened to the clubs and the hobby in general, alot of us just
grew up. Some got rid of their Minors along with their hashpipes, Fillmore
posters and other artifacts of their college years. Others waited until
the first child came along and there were no proper mounting places for the
baby seat and still others kept their hobby but moved up to Jags and
Porsches as their incomes grew.
The reality is that times change and people change and you have to become
more philosophical about it. If it weren't for the students, hippies and
old guy rodders of the Seventies and Eighties and the Automotive Martha
Stewarts of the Nineties, cutely preserving the breed, we wouldn't have
all of these cars to talk about.
Cheers,
Rick Feibusch
Venice, CA USA
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