Never heard this one... I must say the part about the carburetors seems
extremely unlikely -- I can't imagine they re-engineered the entire
intake system to save the weight of about half of an SU...
In thinking about it, I don't see how the weight of a car has any bearing
on a dyno test, either. My understanding is that the carb switch was in
order to meet smog restrictions, directly, by providing an automatic
choke and/or other features, not by weight-saving. And I have heard the
"TR7" story before, although the timing seems a little off. Judging from
the sales figures for 1971-73, one would say the GT was dropped in NA
because of declining sales -- except that sales shot back up for the 1974
model year. Perhaps the decision had already been made at that time --
but then why bother creating and importing the much-modified 74 1/2
model? Interesting...
Emjaxfl@aol.com had this to say:
>Hello Everyone,
>
>I recall that the reason that the BGT was withdrawn from the US market was
>that the greater weight of the car caused a greater resistance setting on
>the
>EPA emissions dyno-type machine. This was also used a part of the
>explanation
>for the conversion from twin Suus to the single Stromberg. They were trying
>to reduce the weight of the B. Does anyone have the same recollection?
>
>Eric Markley
>1974 MGB
>
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
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