Listers...
Get your flamethrowers ready... :-)
Laura noted correctly that there are very few women
driving BMW "Z" cars. Personally I'm not surprised.
I don't think the car has much appeal to very many
women, unlike say the 3-series convertible seems to.
The Z is not "cute," like a Miata, it's styling is
very aggressive looking. It doesn't coddle the driver
like a 3-series does, (I own one of them and it's the
kind of car one can make a ton in without paying much
mind to the act) while the Z is a bit of a handful to
drive fast. Refined, yet still demanding.
Putting it in perspective, as I remember it was a
rarity (and I know there were and are exceptions) for
a woman to own and drive a TR6. I recall reading back
in '75 or '76 in either Motor Trend or R&T a review of
the TR6 in comparison to the Datsun Z-car, MGB, Fiat
summarized the TR6 as (not my words) a "man's sports
car," one requiring heavy driver inputs and hard work
to drive at speed.
Two phrases I remember to this day from that article,
describing the '6 as requiring "two arms and a leg to
steer" and referring to the act of stepping on the
brake pedal as "akin to kicking a rock."
Damn, I read that 25 years ago and it still sticks
:-)
A Man's sports car? Ask me today if I think that's a
lot of sexist rot and I'll surely agree. Sure it is.
But throughout the 70's I think I can recall only the
barest handful of women driving TR6s. I think it's
very much the same with the BMW Z3 today.
Spitfires have always had a lot of women
owner/drivers, just as Miatas do today. Both these
cars are very, very different in personality from the
TR and the Z. Personally, I think the TR and the Z
are bred of the same mettle.
The BMW Z platform would make a lousy Spitfire, I
agree. But a TR? Hmm.
Just food for thought. .:BuRp.:.
Fred Marks (ducking and covering :-)
GT6 V6 Conv. Proj. Car
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