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Re: MG 1100's and Vanden Plas

To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: MG 1100's and Vanden Plas
From: thorpe@kegs.saic.com (Denise Thorpe)
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 96 11:14:10 PST
Glen said:

> I've never revealed this before because many of you may die of envy, but I am
> the owner of an MG 1100 cap (Connaught Green) that I had made for me at the
> Carlisle, PA show last spring.  Pretty classy...

Gasp!  I'm dying of envy!  My '67 1100 that is registered as a '63 (Shhh...
don't tell the CA DMV) is also dark, dark green.  Other people think it's 
black.  This is the 1100 I'm going to restore and I'll be putting in a '63 
dash out of the car that donated its number plate.  The only other 
differences between the '63 and the '67 I've found are the mounting position 
of the fuel pump--inside a cavity in the trunk for the '67--and the mounting 
of the grill.  

and also said:

> There are lots of those Vanden Plas Princess 1100/1300's in England as
> there's always a few up for sale in the British mags and the BMC 1100/1300
> club magazine (called "Idle Chatter" after the sound of the characteristic
> sidewinder A-series engine rattle) often has them featured.  But I've never
> seen or heard mention of that MG Princess with the VP grille anywhere but in
> the sales brochure I have.

_Now_ you tell us there's an 1100/1300 club somewhere.  So how does one join 
this club?

Earlier he said:

> My 1100 is a '67 and it has the 1098 cc engine (hence the name).  I don't
> think any 1300 cc sedans made it across the pond.

There used to be a black '67 MG 1300 running around San Diego.  I was told 
that it was a 1300, but the person who said that may have meant that it had 
had a 1300 (1275) engine installed in it.  This is a common conversion 
because the Midget 1275 engine bolts right up to the 1100 transaxle.  It was 
LHD, so if it really was a 1300, it might have been individually imported 
from another country that drives on the right (in both meanings) side of the 
road.  BUT, I have a factory service manual for the 1100/1300 that includes 
dealer bulletins aimed at North American MG dealerships which implies that 
the 1300 came here.  The bulletins and service info in this book were updated
through '67, so I'll have to dig it out and see when the 1300 started being 
made.

<snip>
> P.S.

>     I'm cringing in fear at the prospect of contradicting the Lord High
> Goddess of the 1100 and Chief Potentate of SPAM, but I don't think I buy that
> bit about the MGB engine in the Austin America.   The America had the 1275 cc
> engine with semiautomatic transmission.  Wasn't it the Austin Marina that had
> the B-series engine?

You're probably right.  The B engine I saw in a front wheel drive car was 
oriented longitudinally, not sideways, and there isn't enough room in the 
1100/America engine bay for that.  I wasn't too worried about being right.  
Nobody else was saying anything and I figured if I spouted enough 
misinformation, someone would have to speak up and correct me. ;-)

Denise Thorpe
thorpe@kegs.saic.com

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