[Healeys] Tulips and other obscure terms

[Rich C]

Peter,

Well stated! That was a most accurate and comprehensive description of what 
is all too often happening today in the hobby re the gradual but all too 
effective changing of history. Of course one can always haul out the thought 
today of "to each their own" but over the decades the true flavour of these 
cars is becoming lost.

Rich Chrysler

Peter wrote: <snip>>
> I have no problem with the building of replicas.  It gives us a chance to 
> see
> and realize the full potential of these fabled, rip-snorting high 
> performance
> cars.  It also allows us to see the Austin-Healey the way the Healey 
> family
> always saw them, from an engineering development and tuning perspective,
> rather than the more mundane production cars.
>
> What I DO object to is the fuzzification of history.  We assume when we 
> see a
> re-stored car that there is some sort of allegiance to history, the way 
> these
> cars were in the past.  Unfortunately, history means nothing to an awful 
> lot
> of people.  It only serves to vaguely inspire something current, using
> technology we have available to us now ( like the wonderful Australian 3.8
> litre alloy blocks) .  And when its all done, you look for something to
> legitimize your 2009 creation.  And you look to history, because that's 
> where
> the real value ( $$ ) lies- in provenance.  And so to provide a tenuous 
> link
> to the past, you use words like "in the spirit of...", "or "a tribute 
> to..."
> or "to model...".  The auction catalogs are full of this type of language.
>
> The trouble is this is an easy way to distribute misinformation.  Already, 
> our
> noted contributor Alan has asked about information on the Tulip Engine, 
> when
> there IS NO Tulip Engine !  Down the road someone else will say, "I've 
> heard
> on the internet that there was a Tulip engine, maybe I'll buy one, I hear 
> the
> Australians make them".  Somehow, insidiously, history is being rewritten.
>
> So lets not lose track of the genuine, legitimate mark these cars have 
> made on
> automotive history, by not forgetting the way they really were, instead of 
> the
> way we can make them now.
>
> Best regards
> Peter