2004_Summer_5.pdf

BRITISH MOTORING

Mini Shootout:

New ‘03 vs. Classic ‘67

• New Tire Tech For Classic Cars • Rubber Rub-Out: MGB Chrome Bumper Swap

• California British Extravaganza Action

• TR2-TR3 Value Guide

Jaguar XJ–S:

Last Of The Great V–12’s? www.britishmotoring.net

POPULAR WEAR PARTS ON SALE! UP TO 20% OFF!

MOSS MOTORS LTD. | VOL 22 | NO 2 | SUMMER 2004

Header

MOSS MOTORS LTD.

VOL 22 | NO 2 | SUMMER 2004

www.britishmotoring.net

TECHNICAL

16 Modern Tires For

Classic Sportscars

The ups and downs of

retroﬁ tting modern radials

EDITOR

Tom Morr

CONSULTING EDITOR

Ken Smith

24 MGB Chrome Bumper

Conversions

Putting a new face on 1974 ½ –1980

rubber-bumper cars

ART DIRECTOR

Gary Smith, PerformanceDesign,

www.performancedesign.net

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Kathi McCallum

35 British Value Guide:

TR2–TR3

Fun, punchy, and affordable—

if you can ﬁ nd one for sale

TRAFFIC MANAGER

Christine Knight

CONTRIBUTORS

Scott Dahlquist, Bill Delaney,

Kelvin Dodd, Leonard Emanuelson, Rick

Feibusch, Robert Goldman,

Lance Lusignan, John Rettie

FEATURES

12 Jaguar XJ-S

Celebrating the last of the classic

British V-12 sportscars

EDITORIAL ADVISORS

Giles Kenyon, Eric Wilhelm, Harry Haigh,

Mike Chaput

20 New Mini vs. Classic Mini

Has BMW bred the Britishness out

of our hottest new hatchback?

ADVERTISING

Automedia 2000, Inc.

5285 Kazuko Ct. Unit B

Moorpark, CA 93021

(805) 529-1923 x209

tom@automedia2000.com

28 British Extravaganza

Moss Motors and VARA throw a

high-performance bash for the

ninth year running

British Motoring is published four times per

year for Moss Motors, Ltd., by Automedia

2000, Inc. It is distributed with the

understanding that the information presented

within is from various sources from which

there can be no warranty or responsibility as

to the legality, completeness, and accuracy. All

materials, text, illustrations, and photographs

are the property of British Motoring and

cannot be reproduced in whole or part or

altered without the written consent of Moss

Motors, Ltd.

SUMMER SALE

37 Wear Parts Priced To Go

Save up to 20% on hard parts

for hard driving

DEPARTMENTS

3 Editorial

4 Reader Letters

6 Readers’ Cars

7 Tech Q&A

8 News

10 Hot Products

31 Car Mart Classiﬁ eds

38 Events Calendar

Editorial inquiries are welcome, but we

recommend that contributors query in

advance. Moss Motors, Ltd., reserves the

right to use materials at its discretion, and we

reserve the right to edit material to meet our

requirements. Send contributions to British

Motoring , 440 Rutherford St., Goleta, CA 93117,

USA, editor@mossmotors.com.

ON THE COVER:

Often overlooked, the Jaguar XJ-S

represents exceptional bang-for-the-

buck sportscar fun. Scott Dahlquist

photographed a pristine V-12 example

of this breed. Photographer Bill Delaney

documented our quest to ﬁ nd the best-

vintage Mini.

2 | Summer 2004 • British Motoring

Editorial

Taking Our Pounding

Header

By Fred Lynch, VP Sales & Marketing

Moss Motors ferrets out the best possible

prices for our customers, even when that

means squirreling away less proﬁt.

increase. This manufacturer now

wants to raise this price to £120 or

$221. Our total increase then will

be $142 to $221 or 56%–in just two

years.

We held off raising prices as long

as we could, hoping that the situation

would improve. But that didn’t

happen. It’s depressing. It’s enough to

make you want to sell your British car.

Porsche prices are ridiculous. The

slogan “Nothing Even Comes Close”

apparently also applies to the cost of

their spares. If your sportscar was made

in Italy–Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa, Fiat–

even if you could ﬁnd it, you probably

couldn’t afford it.

If it has to be born in the USA–

Mustang, GM A-body, Mopar–the

cost of your parts is volume-related.

Mustang parts are cheap, but parts for

the lower-volume cars are expensive.

(“Lower volume” in this case means

production greater than any seven

British cars combined.)

I suspect that there will be a lot

of mail on this. Let’s be thankful that

our hobby is still affordable and look

forward to things improving.

enough instability, now we have

to deal with instability in parts costs.

Everyone knows by now that the costs

of all imported goods, not just parts,

are increasing.

The value of the dollar abroad has

declined and is still (at this writing)

showing major signs of instability

against all currencies. Most of our

products come from England and the

value of the dollar against the pound

has taken a real…well…pounding.

What isn’t as immediately visible

is the cost of raw materials, which

is increasing throughout the world.

The steel used to make parts is more

expensive today than it was one year

ago. This has also caused many of our

costs to increase.

Add to this the unfortunate

reality that we aren’t buying parts for

mass-produced cars–Moss often buys

10 of these and 15 of those. The total

global consumption of some of our

parts is 12 units per year!

We end up dealing with

manufacturers who want more dollars

for the same part, raise prices to

cover increasing raw-materials costs,

and begin to question whether the

peripheral market segments (slow

moving parts) are really worth the

cost of participation. So what does

our vendor do? Well, of course, he

raises prices.

As a speciﬁc example, we buy

from such a manufacturer in the UK

who is planning to raise our prices

by 20%. Compound the problem by

the fact that we pay in pounds. Let’s

ﬁgure it out: If we paid £100 for a

part two years ago, it cost us $142.

With the pound escalation, that same

part currently costs us $184–a 30%

ATTENTION

BRITISH CAR ENTHUSIASTS

Due to currency ﬂuctuation and material cost

increases, the prices in this catalog are subject

to change without notice. Current prices are

always available at www.mossmotors.com.

No, it’s not.

One of the reasons that the

British sportscar hobby is still so

popular is that it’s one of the least

expensive in all of autodom. Yes, parts

are getting more expensive, but they

still represent a relative bargain for

the hobbyist.

Most of us who are into British

cars are also into cars in general

and usually have experience with

other makes. BMW, Mercedes,

Bonus Coverage On

British Motoring.Net

We’re continuing to improve the

British Motoring website at www.

britishmotoring.net. Every printed

issue, we’re forced to trim a few

images in order to make things ﬁt.

Not so on the web. Check out extra

photos from this year’s British

Extravaganza as well as some

additional tire-ﬁtment tidbits.

The Victoria MG Club made a 3,500-mile round-trip from Canada to Central California

for this year’s British Extravaganza (see coverage on page 28). Here they are in scenic Port

Orford, Oregon.

Summer 2004 • British Motoring | 3

A s if the world did not have

Header

Reader Letters

Whodunit? We Did It?

Moss gave me my start! In the Winter

1995 issue of Moss Motoring , you kindly

published the story of my 1957 MG,

Emily. Last year on a whim, I submitted

a manuscript to an agent. It quickly

blossomed into a three-book series of

mysteries published by Harper Collins.

The ﬁrst book, Dead End , should be

out by the time you read this. I thought

it might amuse you to know that the

protagonist, who owns a classic-car

repair shop and discovers the dead body

of her rival in a glass-beading machine,

drives a 1957 MGA—still in need of a

tune-up and a coat of paint. Thanks so

much for providing a car-loving writer a

place to submit her story.

—Judith Skillings, Exton, PA

transmission. I couldn’t be happier.

These photos show a little comparison.

One picture was taken in 1979 when

she was brand new and the other a few

weeks ago on her 25th birthday. The

driver may have weathered a bit over the

years, but you can see that the car hasn’t.

—Timothy A. White, Tampa, FL

ﬁnancial caution to the wind when I

learned of the Moss supercharger system.

When the MG-owning shop owner

called me to say that my car was ready,

his comment was, “I want one.” I picked

up the car and all I can say is WOW.

What a transformation. The car pulled

strongly and smoothly all through the

RPM range and accelerated like the bat

from the nether regions. It felt almost

like there was a V-8 under the hood. All

this from something much less intrusive

and expensive than cross-ﬂow heads, hot

cams, tuned carbs, boring and stroking.

As a bonus, the supercharger looks like

it came on the car and exhibits great

driveability (something not found with

those other alterations).

So, thanks for investing the time

and effort to develop the supercharger

system. I heartily recommend the

improvement to anyone who can ﬁnd

a way to spring the dollars to purchase

it. I hope Moss continues to work on

ideas like this—things for those of us

who are more interested in driving

these cars than earning 100 points for

originality at car shows.

—Thomas S. Ross, Chittenango, NY

Blown Away

I avidly read the article on the MGB

supercharger system in the Summer ’03

issue. I immediately decided that I had

to have this system for my somewhat

anemic ’73 MGB. I did hesitate a

bit when I noticed the price of this

accessory. From a strictly logical point

of view, this expenditure represented

sheer economic lunacy—who in their

right mind would spend this kind

of money on a 30-year-old car? The

answer, of course, is any avid British

car enthusiast (most of whom aren’t

mentally balanced when it comes to this

subject). Luckily, I had encountered a

minor ﬁnancial windfall, which made

the purchase possible, if not advisable.

Let me back up a bit: I obtained

my ﬁrst British car, a handsome

Bugeye Sprite, as a senior in college.

The ensuing years saw ownership of a

Morris Minor, a 1958 Peerless (a right-

hand-drive ﬁberglass car with Triumph

running gear), a brand-new TR6, and a

tired TR4. Sadly, ﬁnancial obligations

spelled the demise of the last of these

cars in 1985. In 2002, I started looking

to jump-start my affection for British

cars. I stumbled upon a 1973 MGB

roadster. The price was reasonable

and the car appeared in relatively

decent shape.

The ﬁrst summer was occupied

with improvements I considered

immediately necessary. Luckily, the

engine and drivetrain had been rebuilt

by the previous owner. When the

weather turned colder, I turned my

attention to the body. It had so many

coats of paint that a magnet wouldn’t

stick anywhere. Seven months later, the

car was back in decent shape. But I was

still bothered by its lack of performance

compared to modern cars. I threw

Send us your agent’s phone number and

we’ll call it even. See, we’re working on

a parody of Stephen King’s Christine ,

only with a ’58 TR3A instead of a ’58

Plymouth Fury. The main problem

with the manuscript thus far: the car’s

intermittent electrics, which prevent it

from engaging in Love Bug -style madcap

high-jinks.

We knew that MGs could beneﬁt from

a kit that would reliably almost double

its horsepower. We didn’t realize that so

many MGB owners would embrace the

supercharger so fast, and we’ve ramped

up production as a result. Our MGA

supercharger system is ﬁnished

(PN 150-048), and Moss customers can

look forward to a steady stream of “resto-

mod” improvements such as big-brake

kits in the near future. We’ll cover t hos e

introductions here in the magazine.

25th Birthday

Thanks for helping me keep my 1979

MGB roadster in pristine condition.

After 25 years, it still runs great and

looks even better. She has been across

the country from Florida to California

and back three times, endured a winter

in Rhode Island, a summer in south

Texas, and too many years outside of

a garage. She still sports the original

paint job, seats, engine, clutch, and

We welcome all letters. Ones that are

concise and entertaining are most apt to

appear in the magazine. We reserve the

right to edit letters for clarity and style.

Please send us your feedback at British

Motoring , 440 Rutherford St., Goleta, CA

93117, editor@mossmotors.com.

Digital-image requirements: minimum

three megapixels (2048x1536 pixels or 5x7

inches @ 300 dpi), TIFF, Photoshop (PSD),

JPEG, or EPS formats (no GIFs, please).

4 | Summer 2004 • British Motoring

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Summer 2004 • British Motoring | 5

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