Dean,
Both sides of the argument are relevant, but less than 20 miles to the
gallon is hard to defend even in America. However in my case I find
my MGA gets better mileage between Mill Valley and Inverness than my
Audi Quattro. The big difference is the oil consumption!
As the Gulf gets drenched in oil I have the occassional twinge of
guilt as I pour another quart of oil into the top of my engine that I
know will be going out the bottom and into the air. Of course the
"right thing to do" is for me to minimize my oil consumption, and that
will be my winter project. (My first winter owning the car, this last
one, was spent just getting it running and replacing all the rubber).
In the meantime, like you, I get enormous pleasure driving a vehicle
that has been "recyled" since 1957, which may be the most responsible
thing we do. Steel production is one of the most environmentally
costly raw materials to produce, and my car is entirely the original
British steel (with a little aluminium, and some marine ply etc.).
How many other consumer products have you kept out of the landfill for
that long?
My "penny for your thoughts".
Mark
Mark Darley
markdarley@mac.com
415 381 5452
On Jun 29, 2010, at 8:26 AM, Paige, Dean wrote:
> A question we might all have to consider.
>
> My response follows
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: triumphs-bounces@autox.team.net [mailto:triumphs-bounces@autox.team.net
> ]
> On Behalf Of John Macartney
> Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 2:54 PM
> To: Triumph List
> Subject: [TR] What cost to give up your Triumph? (Rhetorical?)
>
> I guess this might seem a stupid question to ask of people in a part
> of the
> world where fuel is so cheap - but is it safe to assume it will
> always be so?
> Earlier this week, I had a long talk with an old friend I've known
> for more
> than 40 years who has been the besotted owner for at least 30 of
> those years
> of a 1930 Speed Six Bentley. Okay, that in itself is a car from the
> collector
> stratosphere - but I was both amazed and shocked to learn he now has
> the car
> up for sale. By his own admission, it's not that he has tired of it,
> come to
> be less interested in it - or even that he can't afford to run it.
> Dave is the
> first to admit that he has plenty of money and he could easily keep
> and run
> the Bentley to his dying day. Knowing him as well as I do, I asked
> him why the
> time had come for he and the car to part company?
> His answer didn't
> exactly surprise me.
> "I've reached a point where I feel it's not only a very selfish whim
> to
> continue to drive it and enjoy it but that I am finding it difficult
> to
> reconcile the cost of filling the tank for a weekend of pleasure.
> I'm extremely lucky to be able to afford to fill the tank on that
> beast, but
> its the principle of paying such an horrendous amount of money for
> what is to
> all intents and purposes an indulgent pursuit that benefits no-one.
> Simply,
> the cost of pouring fuel into what seems a bottomless tank gives
> very little
> "return" in terms of money per mile on fuel used. And at 12 mpig if
> I'm lucky,
> that works out at 45 pence (70 cents) a mile. That figure is just
> plain
> ludicrous, so Its time to let someone else enjoy the privilege.
> It'll break
> my heart to see it go - but the time has come."
> And that conversation reminded
> me of other vehicle enthusiasts I know in similar situations. There
> are
> Triumph and MG owners who are saying"it's been fun but we're not
> playing this
> game any more because of fuel cost" Then there are others of whom
> several have
> shared ownerships in specific vehicles. There's the group of six
> lawyers who
> all have equal shares in a Routemaster Double deck London bus,
> another group
> who lavish care and love on some superb heavy duty trucks - and the
> steam
> engine fraternity who are grumbling (with reason) about the price of
> coal and
> escalating costs for bi-annual boiler safety pressure checks..
> All of them
> are now saying to a greater or lesser extent, "this will have to be
> the last
> year. The costs for enjoyment has got out of reach and this is
> substantially
> dulling the pleasure."
> As of today, one US gallon of gasoline in the UK is selling in
> supermarkets
> for the equivalent price of US$6.71 of which the better part of
> $6.00 is tax.
> Franchised gas stations with BP, Shell or Texaco have higher prices
> and so I
> ask this either / or question of all of you who are inclined to answer
>
> "How high would gas prices have to go in your country before you would
> seriously consider giving up your Triumph?" or "If there was no way
> you could
> buy gas for less than $6 a gallon, what would justify you in keeping
> and using
> your Triumph as you do?"
>
> I've already sold both of my
> Triumphs because I simply could not justify the cost of re-fuelling
> either of
> them for the simple entertainment value they gave.. With two cars in
> the
> family, we now put fuel economy at the top of the list and that's
> why our
> household has converted over the last three years to modern high-speed
> turbo-diesels of less than 2000cc. They're boring, they're absolutely
> reliable, they're fuel efficient and both are returning +50mpg with
> extremely
> low emissions. That's what matters, that's how our motoring will be
> in the
> years to come - and not because of inclinations towards a 'greener'
> environment. Running a classic car that does little more than 25mpg
> (because
> it was never designed to do it) is simply throwing good money after
> bad. And
> that's exactly how my friend with the Bentley feels which is why
> he's selling
> it - and it's a view being ever more widely propounded throughout
> western
> Europe. The price of fuel is slowly killing the hobby.
>
> Jonmac
>
>
>
> Here's my take on the subject.
>
> As for me, my 1973 TR-6 has not been a hobby for most of it's
> lifetime. It's
> been an avocation. For most of the TR's life it was a daily driver
> and then
> some. The Red Car as it came to be known has been across the country
> from
> Chicago to Key West, to New York City, 200 miles into Baja, and in
> 1976 from
> Illinois to it's now home of California. Together we hit the 325K
> milestone
> and the 37th year just two weeks ago. My late wife the inimitable
> Helena once
> claimed that I had touched more parts on the TR than on her. This of
> course
> was a gross overstatement but it is evocative of the time I spent
> keeping the
> Red Car and us on the road.
>
> As Helena (H) and I and the Red Car rolled up the Ventura Highway
> through
> Montecito and into Santa Barbara top down on a fabulously sunny
> morning, with
> the Pacific on the left, the exotic scent of jasmine in bloom in the
> air a
> week after Thanksgiving in 76 all I could think was WOW "What a good
> Idea it
> was to pack it up and move to Santa Barbara!" As it turned out it
> was a GREAT
> idea. With $1700 in our pockets we made our home in SB. Both H and I
> earned
> our degrees at U. C. Santa Barbara and the Red Car most always got
> us to where
> we needed to be. Most of those years we were broke and the Red Car
> at times
> suffered for lack of maintenance. The discovery that Moss Motors was
> located
> in Goleta was a blessing. Actual parts were available something that
> was near
> impossible in Chicago.
>
> After a number of years of neglect of crucial maintenance I slowly
> started
> bringing the Red Car back to health. Many obstacles were overcome,
> many
> problems were solved and improvements made. Rarely did I have to
> resort to
> professionals to keep us on the road. It was my responsibility alone
> to do the
> work that kept us rolling.
>
> The Red Car carried us from Santa Barbara to the High Sierra's, to
> the mud
> flats of Morro Bay, to the Baja, to San Francisco, to Oregon and any
> new
> country road we could find. In all the years there were very few
> strandings.
> Details such as a cracked rotor on a late night trip from Santa
> Barbara to
> L.A. were about the worst of it.
>
> Lo, these many years later in Santa Rosa, the Red Car and I continue
> our
> Journeys. The ghost of H rides with me on these sojourns along with
> a the new
> woman in my life the impeccable Maria Pia who surprisingly loves her
> roadsters
> dearly having owned an Alfa Romeo and now owning a BMW 325 CI. We
> ride with a
> host of British car owners of all types on a two week basis every
> Saturday
> through the wine country, up and down the coast and points north,
> south and
> east. The Red Car has never looked or run better. It still sports its
> Silverstone mags and as of a couple of weeks ago it is the proud
> recipient of
> a Herman van den Akker Toyota 5 speed transmission conversion.
>
> The Red Car is not just a machine to me. It is a portal to the past
> and an
> opening to the future. Our travels together spin tales of love,
> triumph, loss,
> hope, adventure, tears, joy, and heartbreak.
>
> The cost of fuel is irrelevant in this scheme of things. As long as
> I am able
> to turn a wrench I will look after my long term partner the Red Car.
> I will
> treat it as a member of the family and look after it accordingly. I
> will not
> let the Red Car just sit in the garage. I'll fill the tank and hit
> the road
> when the call of the highway beckons.
>
> And for me... That's the truth of it.
>
> Deano
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Triumphs@autox.team.net
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Suggested annual donation $11.47
> Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
> Forums: http://www.team.net/forums
> Unsubscribe:
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/triumphs/dpaige@ci.santa-rosa.ca.us
> _______________________________________________
> Nobbc mailing list
> Nobbc@autox.team.net
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/nobbc
_______________________________________________
Nobbc mailing list
Nobbc@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/nobbc
|