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Bummed out. #1
Ted	Posted: August 25, 2000 09:02PM

Just went to the local cruise night, put on by a small villiage as part of a festival. Cruise tonight, show Saturday. There will be over 400 cars there. Anyway when lining up for the cruise (mostly hot rods and some really neat Vettes and Mustangs etc.) I spotted a gaggle of B's (or is it flock), so I saddle over, man what attitude, I guess their chrome bumber replacement panel wonders did not want to be seen with a RB. Hell a guy in a Midget seemed to snub me. I thought everyone in a LBC was friendly, I did meet a guy with a Europa who was cool (but he had a French motor). Oh well, on a positive note, it's funny, there was some really expensive machines there, and the B got as many smile and waves as any of them. I think it's because people remember their youth, and owning or having a ride in a B, and how much fun it was. My wife thinks it's because people can't believe my son and I can fit in a car so small. I'm going with my theory.

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RE: Bummed out. #2
Tom Bedenbaugh	Posted: August 25, 2000 09:23PM

Trust me Ted,there are some real AH's that call themselves British car enthusiast. Their usually the ones who have car haulers. They think their car is way toooooo valuable to be driven. GIVE ME A BREAK PLEASE. Short of a C type Jag or an SS Jag their just cars. I deal with those type off and on. The way I deal with them is stay the hell away from them. Sounds like you had a good time. That's all that counts.

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RE: Bummed out. #3
sam c	Posted: August 25, 2000 11:04PM

I'm putting my 71 gt in a local show tomorrow. About 4 blocks from my house. I will probably be the only Brit car there. In fact, I may have the only foreign car there. A lot of hotrods and non-original American muscle cars. I drove the bgt up to the rest stop on US 23 on the Ky/Va border where a lot of the cars were congregating this evening. I knew a few of the car owners. Several people looked over the bgt and spoke about British cars they drove or rode in years ago. Surprisingly, the most interest was shown by teenage boys who kept coming back to study the car and ask questions. Perhaps we have some young folks tired of their dad's souped up S-10 pickup or Mopar SuperBee. Encouraging, but I doubt bringing home any hardware tomorrow. There's really not a category for a 71 mgb unless they want to make one.

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RE: Bummed out. #4
John D. Weimer	Posted: August 25, 2000 11:17PM

Don't be too surprised if you win something. I've shown at 9 Rod & Custom shows as a '70 and later Street Machine and got 8 firsts and 1 second place. That was the only class my car fit and that was only because of all the modifications. If it was stock I wouldn't have had a class to go in. Nearly forgot. One of those shows was unclassed and that was one of my firsts.

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John #5
sam c	Posted: August 25, 2000 11:31PM

I would qualify as stock I'm sure. There is a 62 Impala with a $4000 paintjob. There is a stock 1930 Ford Model A truck with an inline 4 cylinder, mechanical brakes, and dually rear tires and wooden bed. Looks like that truck on "The Waltons".

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RE: John #6
John D. Weimer	Posted: August 25, 2000 11:41PM

Don't worry about what a paint job cost someone. My do-it-yourself carport paint job has beat probably a hundred expensive pro jobs. Mine has it's flaws, but I don't tell anyone what they are and no judge has ever spotted one. Some flaws I see come out of paint shops are so blatent I'm surprised the owner can ignore them.

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RE: Bummed out. #7
Peter Cummins	Posted: August 25, 2000 11:45PM

We've got a few of those AH's (not Austin Healeys) down here too. What I get tired of around here are all the negative comments I get from parts guys and some of their customers. The one I got this morning at pep boys after paying for a new radiator cap was "If it's British, it leaks". I smiled thinking "ya, ya, ya, up yours,that's so original, guy" and walked away. But when people actually see the car they love it.

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RE: John #8
sam c	Posted: August 25, 2000 11:50PM

There are some visible flaws on the bgt's paint job. Nothing major. I have no idea of this car's history but somebody did a very nice restoration on it. Way up under the dash and on a couple of other places you can see that it was originally blaze red(ORANGE). I wish my paint man would hurry up and get the roadster turned glacier white from orange.

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RE: Bummed out. #9
sam c	Posted: August 25, 2000 11:59PM

Pete, one thing about the boondocks here in the central Appalachian mountains is that hardly anyone has seen a Brit car, except a new Jag driven by a doctor, since the 60s and 70s when there were a few around. Back in the early 70s, one of my best friends(now a doctor with a new Jag but not local) had a nice new TR6 and an aluminum body Jag XK 140 or 150 which he finally dismantled in order to restore. He never put it back together again. People around here remember the old lbc's and many have a story about one. My mgbs are the only ones I see on the road here these days.

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RE: Bummed out. #10
Peter Cummins	Posted: August 26, 2000 12:08AM

You really are the "Lone Wolf". No other B's to wave at.

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RE: Bummed out. #11
sam c	Posted: August 26, 2000 12:12AM

I wave at Land Rovers.

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RE: Bummed out. #12
Gary Lloyd	Posted: August 26, 2000 12:27AM

What I always laugh at is when I say I'm restoring a 'B and people say well a friend of mine had a TR3 and he had such and such a problem------you know them British cars!! Now if they had compared a Ford to a Dodge everybody would laugh at them. Isn't that about the same comparison?? I've kind of come to the conclusion that most people are pretty ignorant!

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REon't Be Bummed out. #13
Jerry P	Posted: August 26, 2000 12:44AM

Ted,
It seems like no matter where you go you're occasionally going to run into a-holes (as others here have already said). Most British car enthusiasts, or any car guys really, are generally a pretty good group.
Think about the young guys coming back for another look, not the idiots who think they are so superior. And like the tv commercial says (Nissan?) "Enjoy the ride." :-)

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REon't Be Bummed out. #14
sam c	Posted: August 26, 2000 12:54AM

Nice point Jerry. I'm going to take some MGB books to the show. I'm not looking to win a trophy, my car is reward enough. I WILL try to encourage and educate people of all ages about what fine vintage sportscars MGBs still are and try to warp their mind into thinking more about our lbcs.

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REam #15
Jerry P	Posted: August 26, 2000 01:29AM

Go with that attitude & you will be a winner, whether or not you also take home a trophy. I think we all need to do what we can to promote the hobby and bring young people into it. Our local club has 100+ members and I am one of the youngest (nearly 39). There is an Army Capt. about 5 years younger, another guy about that, & 2 guys in their early 20's & most everybody else is 50+

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REon't Be Bummed out. #16
Mick M	Posted: August 26, 2000 06:56AM

Seems everytime I go to my garage to work on mine there always is a couple of young guys who wanna stop in and look.They start with "what is it?" then on to "bet it cost a lot".I take the time to tell em mine didnt cost a fortune ,its fun,easy to work on,and you dont see em all the time.So I know for young folks there is a intrest but they need guys like us to driving LBCs daily to show em.Out of maybe 5 kids that stop by I can always spot that one whos eyes just lite up the way mine did at his age when I saw my first one.Makes it worth while

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REon't Be Bummed out. #17
John D. Weimer	Posted: August 26, 2000 10:53AM

The guys down at the store couldn't figure out why I mess with LBCs until I started having VB send my catalogs there. When they saw the parts prices they were amazed at how reasonable and easy to get they are. I told them, "That's just one source, there are at least 6 real good ones."

I just missed a hell of a buy on a '77 B roadster, called this morning and it was sold. I've seen it daily on the streets for a couple of years and I think all that got wrong with it was the exhaust mainfold. I've got two or three of them. It just goes to show that when you spot an interesting car you may want you'd better jump on it like a sparrow on a horse turd or it will be gone.

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RE:sparrow on a horse turd #18
Mick M	Posted: August 26, 2000 04:31PM

Oh John that lil jewel is a keeper!!!You gotta write a book !!!

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