I've tried to stay out but I can't help myself.
There are three types of people in the world, those who are good at math
and those who aren't.
Seriously, though, there are two types of car owners in the world. Those
who get a great feeling of accomplishment from fixing a problem and those
who just want to drive and find problems to be nothing more than an
annoyance. (Actually there is a whole spectrum with these two extremes at
each end) In the sense of recommending an LBC to a person that falls into
the latter group I agree with Kai. This will only lead to frustration and
another black eye for Brit cars. I think where Kai went wrong is in trying
to predetermine who falls into which catagory. Being exposed to LBC's in
younger days through family and friends is no guarantee that one will
become a fixer. Lack of same likewise does not assure that one will become
an annoyed person. In the subcatagory of teens with their Japanese cars
with the boom boom stereos there are those who just want to boom boom down
the street and don't what to lift a wrench to keep the motor running. But
then there are also those who fit the audio systems because they like to
tinker and since the drive trains don't need tinkering and this is what is
most available. This second group is the group we need to reach. There
very well could be some who would relish the challange of reserecting and
maintaining a 30 year old car.
Also consider the baby boomer entering his second childhood looking for the
little British car he drove in college. After spending most of his first
life driving minivans he (or she) may have little inclination to be a
wrench monkey. Even though he has age on his side, even though he has fond
recollection of British cars from his youth, and even though he has a track
record he would make a poor candidate for LBC ownership. This is the
person who should look for a Miata or a Z3.
But trying to catagorize people based on some superficial characteristics
is not an accurate way to approach it. There may be someone with
previously undiscovered propensities toward old car fiddling that has never
held a wrench, simply because the opportunity has not presented itself
before. There may be those who have slogged though problematic cars for
years that are just fed up with it.
British cars are not for everyone. They are not for everyone who has a
history of british cars, nor are they not for no one without.*
Dave
* Yeah, yeah, I know that sounds like a double negative but it isn't.
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