----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Hargreave Mawson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > That is my experience too. Mind you, I've yet to meet an owner of a > wire-wheel-equipped car who would happily be without the feature either.
Well you've met one now! Wire wheels are an absolute maintenance nightmare. They were a real pain to clean on my MG BGT, the added weakness of the short Triumph splines makes them quite undesirable on an everyday car. And yes, I do currently have a Triumph equipped with wires - I'm debating at the moment on whether to keep them. > What I am getting at is the fact that overdrive was (and is) an optional > extra (however desirable), and that when one is trying to run an old car > on a tight budget, spending money on optional extras is possibly not the > most far-sighted decision one could make, even if these extras didn't > add to the list of potential problems. If it's a choice between making a Spitfire more driveable as an everyday car versus buying an additional vehicle (or even a REPLACEMENT vehicle), then it makes perfect budgetary sense to spend a few hundred pounds on the overdrive conversion. In real terms it will make the car more economical which is another budgetary offset. > I also have a theory that > within, say, ten or twenty years, there won't be a single example of an > original, non-OD, Spitfire left on the road, which would be a great > pity. Indeed, but by the same measure there will be no pre-1964 cars left without the (optional) seatbelts fitted, because owners felt the need to make their cars more practical :-) I like original cars, but I would rather see them being used than being laid up because their owners considered them unsafe or impractical, Cheers, Bill. -- Rarebits4classics .......just what you've been looking for PO Box 1232 Calne Wiltshire SN11 8WA United Kingdom http://www.rarebits4classics.co.uk /// [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list /// Send admin requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool /// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive /// Send list postings to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// Edit your replies! If they include this trailer, they will NOT be sent.