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Too scared to buy a British Car

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Jerry said:
this guy somehow thought the cars were maintenance nightmares also. He thought that a yearly allowance of $5000 for repairs might be needed. Oh well. I guess he needs to buy a Miata.
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Ha, my Midget was non-functional and needed some TLC when I bought it, and over the years I've put in a new clutch, brake master cylinder, brake lines, new Smith's dual gauge, new radiator, water pump, one new front shock, alternator, and the list goes on. At last count, I think I'm still only about $2800 in parts into it over 17 years.
 
I drove my Elan as the daily driver for over a decade. It got a full, frame off restoration in '75 and went into service. Lots of folks who *think* they know about LBC's don't believe me. And it galls me when some "expert" spouts off about Joe Lucas & Sons making inferior electrical systems. Problems were usually the result of owners doing their own poor repairs or domestic mechanics' disdain for "them ferrin cars" and bodge the wiring.
 
"Gentlemen don't motor about after dark." Joseph Lucas or so it's said.
 
Have a friend who bought an MGB a couple years ago. He has owned full sized trucks for many years, but owned a TR6 briefly when he was young. His wife has a full sized SUV. They are both scared to drive the MG and hardly take it out at all, in fact they are trying to sell it.

Over on the website Jalopnik they have a daily feature, Nice Price or No Dice, where you look at a car ad and vote and comment on whether it is a good deal. The guy that writes it is "one of us", has had Sprites and many old unusual european cars. But I digress, anyway whenever there is a car older than about twenty years featured there Is a small but vocal minority that will call it a deathtrap and unsafe at any speed. I imagine most everyone of those people are under 40 or so.

The perception of safety is a very relative thing. I remember when I got an RX7 after years of driving 60s British roadsters. I felt like I was driving in a little fortress, with it's closed cabin and three point seatbelt. I am sure many would have thought the RX unsafe then, and even more now. I bought a Sprite about 15 years ago. Cars had gotten taller and trucks and SUVs more prevalent. Have to admit I felt a little exposed in it, but I feel fine in my "big and tall" TR250. Everybody has very different feelings about car size and safety.
 
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I guess it's a matter of personal opinion, but I feel safer in an MGB or a Lotus than I do in the Benz. Agility is a BIG part of the equation IMO. And situational awareness. LBC's have kept me from being hit many times.
 
Benz do handle well, justice heavy. Had a 1500 Spit and took wife for top down ride. When we pulled up to light on highway there was a semi on her side. When we got home she wanted nothing to do with a car as big as a semi's tire. It was gone soon. She did drive a GT6 to work for 10 yrs. Said it had a hardtop, made a difference. I took a fellow worker to Pizza for lunch one time. As we were sittting at a stoplight on a busy highway, he had his arm out the window and he heard air brakes. He turned around and all he could see was a concrete truck front bumper, pulled his arm in and yellled, he drives from now on.
 
We were getting ready for a tour a couple of years ago. We were parked in a lot, and a Lotus 7 parks next to us. I was strange being in the Healey and seeing someone lower than us.
 
When somebody blathers about safety of my Jensen I just tell them it's safer than my motorcycle.
 
Hey Doc! Remember the old TR6 British Leyland commercial. TR6 heading for a brick wall and zooms past. "We strive to miss those things!"
 
My point, precisely. If you see it coming, avoid it. Managed to do so in more than a couple occasions. If I'd been in a domestic or Euro-lump, I'd be either crippled for life or dead. In the Elan, rear-ended with a pickup truck at a red light, or a head-on in the Alfa Spider at another...

I drive "offensively". Every other vehicle out there is out to kill me.
 
Precisely. With the distractions must be on the offensive from everybody. Can't be passive, they'll get us.
 
Gotta agree... drive it defensively, and offensively when need be... all the motorcycle rules apply in an LBC. My biggest fear is being rear ended at a light due to the gas tank sitting so close.
 
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