[Mgs] Diminishing returns

Tue Nov 15 05:36:17 MST 2022

I recall back in the ‘80s people saying exactly the same thing about the EFI and fuel injection that started showing up in new cars. They would say these cars can’t be fixed, modified, hopped up, whatever due to the complex electronics.

The kids of today will find a way. It’s a different skillset to be a “tuner”, or replace the engine management system on a modern engine with something aftermarket, but folks are still doing it. And they will find a way in the future.

Steve West-Fisher

N4IK

From: Mgs <mgs-bounces at autox.team.net> On Behalf Of Richard Lindsay
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2022 6:54 AM
To: MGs <mgs at autox.team.net>
Subject: [Mgs] Diminishing returns

Hello MG friends,

   I recently attended an 'All British Car Show' in a neighborhood called 'The Woodlands', here in South Texas. It was a fun show with MGs ranging from a single 1934 PA through to many MGB Tourers, all dominating the collection of British marques. Just guessing, I estimate about 30 or so cars in total were on display.

   Two issues came to mind, one obvious from talking with the owners, and another a worrisome trend.

   Firstly, almost all of the MG owners and restorers were gray haired old men. Now, I won't make any gender related comments but it is obvious that our hobby and passion lives on, mostly in old people. That's just fine because retired people have more free time to pursue the hobby. But where are the younger people? Will there be replacements for us as we fade away? And what will happen to our cars? I already see too many cars left languishing or worse, decaying in garages and storage. 

   Secondly, I wonder about the whole car hobby in general. What cars are being restored today? Sixties 'muscle cars' may always be popular but so many of them are resto-mods, not restorations. But what newer cars can be restored?

   I recently gave away a rough Jaguar XK8 because it had a failed CAN buss, and therefore couldn't pass safety and emissions inspection. Most of the repair parts for that car are still available, if at better-than-gold prices, but how many hobbyists can diagnose, repair, and restore serial computer networks like the Jaguar's CAN buss?! BTW, a CAN bus is a serial computer network not terribly unlike the old strings of Christmas lights where if one lamp goes out, they all go out! Well, except in the XK8, if one component like the transmission reverse safety switch goes out, the whole network goes down. Everything from the engine to the seat position computers! And do you think Jaguar sells the diagnostic tool to find the 'burned out bulb'? Yea right.

   My point isn't to criticize Jaguar. Rather, it's to make the point that modern cars, especially the interesting and exotic ones, just aren't really restorable - not by hobbyists like the next generation of potential enthusiasts (or us?!). So is ours a dying hobby? I fear so. And in the extreme, do you want your grandson attempting to restore a 400 volt electric car? Yikes. 

   So what should we do? Well, first of all I think we should save all the old British cars that we can. Wait! Don't we already do that?! My wife says that, "I never met an 'old junk car' that I didn't love!" I also think we should introduce our cars and our hobby to younger people, especially kids. Car shows and tech sessions help with that. Not only might that exposure help to preserve our cars, maybe, but also there's lots to learn pulling spanners that wiggling an X-Box controller just can't teach! There is a kind of perverse value in 'busted knuckles'.

   As we say, 'YMMV' but my grandson loves my old cars and he can handle a Whitworth spanner quite expertly. My granddaughter likes the cars too but 'My Little Ponies' are more fun, for now.

Yes, YMMV,

Rick

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