That was meant more about losing coolant, and the block overheating and seizing.

 

 

>The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."
>Lucas is the patent holder for the short circuit.
>Lucas - Inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
>Lucas - Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
>The three position Lucas switch - Dim, Flicker and Off.
>The Original Anti-Theft Device - Lucas Electrics.
>Lucas is an acronym for Loose Unsoldered Connections and Splices
>Lucas systems actually uses AC current; it just has a random frequency.
>"I have had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never had any trou..."
>If Lucas made guns, wars would not start.
>A friend of mine told everybody he never had any electric problems with his Lucas equipment. Today he lives in the countryside, in a large manor with lots of friendly servants around him an an occasional ice cold shower...
>Back in the 70's, Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which did not suck.
>Q: Why do the British drink warm beer? A: Because Lucas makes their refrigerators
>Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone.Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb. Joseph Lucas invented the Short Circuit.
>Recommended procedure before taking on a repair of Lucas equipment: Check the position of the stars,kill a chicken and walk three times clockwise around your car chanting:" Oh mighty Prince of Darkness protect your unworthy servant.."

 

Definitely a British car. No German flag mirror caps or roof graphics as OEM accessories tells me it is British.

But I love German cars too! (owned a Jetta TDI, and a New Beetle TDI)

 

Depending on when that list was written, the author may have been referring to the fairly-common phenomenon I was thinking about. It goes like this:

1) Lose a little bit of coolant, for whatever reason (leaking heater control valve, etcetera)

2) Since the temp sensor for the automatic choke is right at the top of the radiator, it becomes uncovered and no longer senses coolant temperature.

3) The carburetor now thinks the engine's always cold, and keeps the mixture at full-rich all the time.

4) As a result of the excessively-rich mixture, the exhaust manifold starts to glow red-hot.

5) The carburetor (conveniently located about six inches above the glowing exhaust manifold) gets all of its seals & gaskets baked to a brittle crisp.

6) The now-leaking carburetor starts dumping raw fuel all over the aforementioned red-hot exhaust manifold.

7) *whoooompf* (the "fires of hell" mentioned in the original list)

 

That list was actually written by me yesterday

But I know what you're talking about. The first mod I ever did on my 75 MGB, was tossing the single ZS, and back dating to a pair of HS-4s.

 

Makes you wonder, what was worse the leaky Zenith carb or the red hot catatonic converter under it.

Glad to hear you've backdated to a better setup.

 

My B never had a Cat on it. Big YAY on that one.

 

Dodged a bullet there.

 

You all are going to get my knickers in a twist picking on MG's. I collect and restore them and currently have a 1966 MGB Roadster. a 1966 MGB-GT, a 1973 MGB Roadster and a 1976 Triumph TR-6. I have driven one or the other of them from Denver to Sonoma, California, Olympia, Washington, St Louis Missouri, Gatlinberg, Tennessee, Tucson, Arizona and Red Wing Minnisota for national events. The cars have performed wonderfully and are a joy to drive. What other 40 year old cars can still be used and enjoyed so inexpensivly? Certainly nothing German, Jaoanese or American?

You pick on British car engineering but how many Vega's Pinto's or Gremlins or even BMW 2002's are still on the road being used regularly today? How about Celica's or 240z's?

And Yes, My 2009 MCS is British and proud of it!

bob g
1966 OEW MGB
1966 OEW MGB-GT
1973 Green Mallard MGB (supercharged)
1976 Inca Yellow Tr-6
2009 Laser Blue MINI Cooper S
MG2009 - MGs in Breckenridge - chairman
http://www.mg2009.com

 

From what I've seen here no one is picking on MG's. Fine cars with many faults that owners like you & others have learned to overcome. The fact that you guys are keeping those cars on the road is great, good on ya!

As a former MG owner all I can say is the cars will live on as long as there are enthusiats to repair & drive them.

I won't be here in 40 years, but my thought is there will still be MG's being driven as well as Mazda Miata's.

 

Who's picking on MG's? I have a 1975 MGB, and I have restored a 1968 MGC-GT and 1969 MGC. Celebrating their little "quirks" is a part of accepting the zen of British Car Ownership.

Wish I'd kept the MGC's and sold the ex-wife.

 

I just get a little sensitive about all the Lucas and leaking jokes etc. I bought my first MG new in 1971 and have loved British Cars ever since. When taken care of they are as reliable as anything out there.

bob g
1966 OEW MGB
1966 OEW MGB-GT
1973 Green Mallard MGB (supercharged)
1976 Inca Yellow TR-6
2009 Laser Blue MINI Cooper S

 

Wow that's a good one. I like Brit cars too, but no MG is as reliable as anything out there.

 

I'd call it a merger. Minis are obviously British. BMWs are obviously German. When we took Euro delivery on a BMW in March, '01, BMW had a huge exterior factory wall painted to advertise the new MINI. This was (apparently) before it had been released to the European market. We were told BMW bought the Mini marque, but waited until it could upgrade safety features.

 

My MCCS is now 2 weeks old. Here's what the sticker indicates:
The below parts content does not include final assy, distribution, or other non-parts costs.

US/Canadian Parts Content: 5%
UK Parts Content: 30%
France Parts Content: 25%

Final Assy: Oxford, UK
Country of Origin: Engine - France; Transmission: Japan

The interesting thing is that if you add up the parts percentage that is identified above, you get ...60%. The sticker is written from a US perspective listing the "foreign" parts as those from UK & France. So...if that is true, then where does the other 40% parts come from ? Must be Germany and...Japan. The transmission is from Japan but no parts % appears on sticker. My estimation is that the remaining percentages are - Germany: 20%; Japan: 20%.

Back eons ago, when I was in my first year of college (1967-68), I had bought a 1961 MGA. I had the car for about 6-8 months and although I loved the car and it's handling, as a college student with a part-time job, I just could not afford to continue to fix the horrendous number of deficiencies I inherited from the previous owner. Being just out of high school and buying the MGA with a friend who knew how to drive a manual...but I did not..and then getting "taken" by a car that had a lot of issues, it is a wonder that here I am buying a car that is "built" in the UK. But I hold no grudges ! LOL
I remember...I bought the MGA for $550 and sold it 6-8 mos later for $325 ! I had a good mechanic that did not overcharge me and worked a ton of time on this car... For starters.....learning how to drive (manual) on my road...back in those days in Levittown, Long Island, NY...I ran out of Gas !!!!
The fuel gage went from full to empty...about a 10 second warning ! After this happened a second time, I then realized that not only was the fuel gage broken but gas mileage was not so hot ....3mpg !!! Fuel tank gage unit replaced and SU carburetors (both of them) overhauled and then had to be set/tweaked to match the wrong fuel pump that Previous Owner (PO) must have installed. Oh ! PO must have done a ring job and messed up one piston...mechanic installed an oil plug inplace of one of the spark plugs so that it would fire. Result...went from 3mpg to 25 mpg !! Great !
But...then the TWO batteries (6 Volt each) expired and needed replacement, also the parking brake froze and 2 front shocks replaced. The shocks in the rear also needed replacement since I was bouncing a lot but the mechanic indicated that if he replaced them, he might as weel just take the car from me for payment....He was able to tighten these special lever style shocks instead and saved me some dough. I wound up selling it to a guy that was going to strip it down and rebuild it totally !! Did I say I loved that car ! Just could not afford any more repairs !

 

The way I interpreted the question, is of what nationality is a MINI's soul? If you go by the sticker, the answer is all over the map, and each model is different--even cars within a model run.

Mercedes is undeniably German, but it has a manufacturing plant in Alabama, as do Honda and Hundai. Incidentally, if you get a chance, the Mercedes plant has an interesting tour. It's between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, right along the interstate (at Mercedes Drive, of course).

 

This has been discussed on and off for several years and will continue to come up because of the nature of the new MINI. I tend to think of it simply as a British car made by a German company. All things considered, it's not a bad thing.

 

If the MINI was a movie, you'd have to give the "based on an original story by" credit to the British, but the screenplay, producer and director are all German, filmed on location in Oxford.