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That's funny. The reason why I bought my first BJ8 in 1985 was because my
mom gave me her California gulp valved '79 MGB when I was in high school,
and it was too slow.
It was a fun car to drive but was an absolute gutless wonder and coolant
always had a penchant for leaking onto the distributor. A particular
favorite was the Stromberg carb had multiple avenues to leak fuel onto the
red hot catalyctic converter, so going on trips longer than 100 miles
usually resulted in more than a 50/50 chance of engine fire. Luckily I
always carried a fire extinguisher and never let the engine fires get past
the damage phase. I almost died in a head on after I realised the car was
not able to really pass another car doing 55 on a two lane country road.
Of course knowing what I know now, I would have removed the cat, put dual
SUs on it, removed the gulp valve and air pump, and probably removed the
rubber bumpers too if I could.
The other option was buy an old BJ8 and throw lots of money at it over the
decades. I chose the latter.
On Mon, Sep 14, 2026 at 9:06=E2=80=AFAM Stephen Hutchings <s.hutchings@roge=
rs.com>
wrote:
> I decided to treat myself because I had a significant birthday this year,
> and I rented an MGB for most of last week in Provence. My daughter lives =
in
> Marseille so my wife and I usually visit in September.
> I could have had a Healey (BJ7) but I wanted to try something different,
> and the MG was a little cheaper.
> I missed the grunt of the Healey at times, but I loved the steering and
> handling of the MGB, and the roads are terrific=E2=80=A6the rental agreem=
ent states
> that you=E2=80=99re not allowed to venture onto the main motorways and th=
e speed is
> restricted to 60 mph, but who cares? The BMC 1800 BMC engine feels like
> it=E2=80=99s revving quite high at 50 in 4th gear=E2=80=A6too bad only 20=
% of them came
> with O/D.
> The stable my car came out of also had a few other British sports cars,
> and a couple of genuine Porsche Speedsters=E2=80=A6I would not want to be
> responsible for the flawless black paint on one of those Speedsters! You=
=E2=80=99re
> bound to be threading some narrow village streets with local drivers comi=
ng
> the other way, and giving no quarter.
> Anyway, a great experience, and much cheaper than shipping the Healey
> over, I highly recommend it!
>
> Stephen, BJ8
>
> Sent from my iPad
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<div dir=3D"ltr">That's funny.=C2=A0 The reason why I bought my first B=
J8 in 1985 was because my mom gave me her California gulp valved '79 MG=
B when I was in high school, and it was too slow.=C2=A0 <br><br>It was a fu=
n=C2=A0car to drive but was an absolute gutless wonder and coolant always h=
ad a penchant for leaking onto the distributor.=C2=A0 A particular favorite=
was the Stromberg carb had multiple=C2=A0avenues to leak fuel onto the red=
hot catalyctic converter, so going on trips longer than 100 miles usually =
resulted in more than a 50/50 chance of engine fire.=C2=A0 Luckily I always=
carried a fire extinguisher and never let the engine fires get past the da=
mage phase.=C2=A0 I almost died in a head on after I realised the car was n=
ot able to really pass another car doing 55 on a two lane country road.=C2=
=A0 Of course knowing what I know now, I would have removed the cat, put du=
al SUs on it,=C2=A0 removed the gulp valve and air pump, and probably remov=
ed the rubber bumpers too if I could.<br><br>The other option was buy an ol=
d BJ8 and throw lots of money at it over the decades.=C2=A0 I chose the lat=
ter.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br></div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_q=
uote_container"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Mon, Sep 14, 2026 =
at 9:06=E2=80=AFAM Stephen Hutchings <<a href=3D"mailto:s.hutchings@roge=
rs.com">s.hutchings@rogers.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class=3D=
"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(2=
04,204,204);padding-left:1ex">I decided to treat myself because I had a sig=
nificant birthday this year, and I rented an MGB for most of last week in P=
rovence. My daughter lives in Marseille so my wife and I usually visit in S=
eptember.<br>
I could have had a Healey (BJ7) but I wanted to try something different, an=
d the MG was a little cheaper.<br>
I missed the grunt of the Healey at times, but I loved the steering and han=
dling of the MGB, and the roads are terrific=E2=80=A6the rental agreement s=
tates that you=E2=80=99re not allowed to venture onto the main motorways an=
d the speed is restricted to 60 mph, but who cares? The BMC 1800 BMC engine=
feels like it=E2=80=99s revving quite high at 50 in 4th gear=E2=80=A6too b=
ad only 20% of them came with O/D.<br>
The stable my car came out of also had a few other British sports cars, and=
a couple of genuine Porsche Speedsters=E2=80=A6I would not want to be resp=
onsible for the flawless black paint on one of those Speedsters! You=E2=80=
=99re bound to be threading some narrow village streets with local drivers =
coming the other way, and giving no quarter.<br>
Anyway, a great experience, and much cheaper than shipping the Healey over,=
I highly recommend it!<br>
<br>
Stephen, BJ8<br>
<br>
Sent from my iPad<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
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Archive: <a href=3D"http://www.team.net/pipermail/healeys"; rel=3D"noreferre=
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<br>
</blockquote></div>
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