At 03:02 PM 12/14/97 +0000, you wrote:
As for 'gluing on a badge', that is how it all began anyway, and the modern MG
>saloons replicated that albeit not from a discrete workforce, but they
still have
>a loyal following. How many detractors have owned one themselves, I
wonder? The
>MGF has a direct parallel with the MGB - purpose designed body containing many
>corporate parts. The days of a discrete workforce designing and building
the car
>and all its components are long gone, but does that make the MGA and MGB
any less
>worthy?
Cynicism, or rose-tinted spectacles, may well hamper the viewer from
appreciating
>worthy products.
PaulH.
No, no, no: everyone is missing the point, or applying intent where it was
not. There are many GREAT cars that aren't MGs. But what is a marque? Is it
simply a badge. Stick one on and there, that's done, another MG. Could MG
use a sport-ute? Stick a badge on a Freelander and presto, MG sport-ute?
Or is a marque a tradition, a baton of design philosophy passed from one
'generation' of designers and builders to another? Which of the MG badged
cars had no imput from someone with solid ties to Abingdon or Morris
Garages? That car is simply a 'whatever' badged as an MG.
The MGF is a superb car, that was never questioned by me. In fact I think
it is quite possibly an MG in the truest sense of the marque. But for there
to truly be an MG marque considered alive and well, there MUST be some
continuity. I'm not saying that there isn't. I don't have a clue as to how
the MG company is set up within Rover. What degree of autonomy does it have?
I understand that there isn't enough MG production by modern standards to
justify a team of designers who work on nothing but MG products. But is
there ANYBODY in Rover who thinks they are primarily MG, rather than a Rover
guy/girl who works on MGs? In the days of the B on back, there were people
who considered themselves MG people, not Leyland/BMC/Morris people.
If there is, then we have the beginnings of MG living again. If not, then
we're allowing ourselves into being duped. What we'd have would be a couple
of good/very good cars that happen to have an octagon stuck on. It doesn't
detract from the quality of the cars -- it simply means that there isn't a
Marque, in the traditional sense. It would take very rosy glasses indeed to
see one where it ain't.
Michael, New Bern, NC
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