motorin_ g
Old Sports
By GAVIN LV ALL 1,11AvE been spending the few sunny days of late wondering whether to buy a small sports ear. I haven't made up my wife's mind on this Yet, but I can offer some advice to anybody else Who has the same idea.
ttgr A sports car appeals to me not because of its cPeed, but because of the by-products of a car which is built for a higher speed than an equiva- lent saloon : better roadholding, acceleration and braking and that sports car feel, which is a com- 'Illation of these things plus the direct, sensitive ste?rio8 and a touch of Bertie Woosteria. t (0 set against this, most sports cars are strictly to have poor luggage capacity and tend '° let in the weather. And, let's be honest, they are e \ Pensive. Since they are a minority produc- till"' the new prices are higher than a sum of e Parts would suggest, and this keeps up with the second-hand price (although it has fallen in recent months). The new price itself can be deceptive: too often you will get a bare-bones ear lacking what I consider essentials (why the A ustin-Healey Sprite comes on the market with- vat front bumpers is beyond me).
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then there is insurance. The AA gave me the witires, Whose variations suggest you might do melt, to shop around the various insurance corn- flies before coming to a decishn. Compared eriltn, the comprehensive cover on an equivalent- equivalent-value saloon, you will pay Delth, 25 to 50 per cent. higher premiums for a 0°1.11eY that will probably lack the first £25-£100 anY claim, and any cover for medical ex- travelses, passenger claims, luggage or overseas for which you pay more if you want them. 00"r all these reasons I have been concentrating Tr. the smaller, cheaper models, the MGs, the R0,4111311 TR, and TR3, the Sprite—ignoring be'eltd-hand Jaguars and big Austin-Healeys se45I5e they would eat more in petrol and in- itir 8nance than I want to pay. and more or less ei.rto8 Morgans because there are few on the Na biori`et. The Sunbeam Alpine would do me fine, be; 1 can't afford it new at £971 and it had* kn around long enough to trickle down to my e tInd-kand price. I 41, don't like weather so I would like a detach- one'e hard top. None of the Morgans yet takes Sprites and TRs all do, and the MG has 13, %tee 1956 when it became the MGA. I regard (OP itself as an extra expense: few second- 044 ears seem to have them, so I would have to from £50 to £80. For most cars, however, there are a number of different tops on the market, so a choice of size and shape exists. The snag of the streamlined breeds which take a hard top is that they usually lack space for a third party or extra luggage. The TRs have such space, but I would want rigid side panels to keep the weather outside those low-cut doors; if extra space were m} main concern, it would be a TR or a pre-1956 MG.
If power were the decider, it would be the TR3 or TR2 with 2,000 cc and over 100 mph; second, the MGA at 1,500 or LOD cc and 100 mph; last, the older MGs and the 1,000 cc Sprite. Don't, please, expect too much of the Sprite : it has sports car characteristics and should top 80 mph, but it still has the standard Morris Minor / A35 engine with an extra carburettor and the acceleration is less than miraculous. Its advantages are its cheap new price and an • absolute ease of spare parts (in fact, there should be no spares difficulty, at the original makers, with any sports car up to ten years old).
Buying second-hand, the obvious danger is that any sports car may have been flogged : watch out for any adaptations in the way of anti-roll bars and especially engine improvements (high- compression heads or improved exhausts). On any car without a hard top look carefully for signs of rain in the cockpit. Take a good look at the hood : it will cost up to £20 to replace and if replacement is needed it is a fair bet that rain has got in even if it doesn't show. If you can get hold of the original Motor or Atitocar accelera- tion test figures, or some help from the makers, try the acceleration against a stop-watch : don't rely on your own impressions unless (if the model is still on the market new), you get your- self taken out in a brand-new vet'siOn before- hand. A number of dealers will slam the clutch when demonstrating an old or enfeebled car; it might pass. for snappy acceleration; but it's going to be your clutch. And if your wife is going to driVe"ii, take her along on the try-out: some models, especially the older MGs. can be difficult to see out of prop- erly if you aren't sufficiently tall (or, alternatively, it could provide a good excuse for nor letting her drive it).
I have prepared a rough (very rough) guide to the second-hand choice. The prices are for today and should be taken as a highish average: i.e, you could ptobably buy a worse car for less, but don't pay more without very good reason. The TRs date from 1954; the TR3 came in with more power but no bigger engine in 1956. There is a good assortment around, with prices: 1954, £450; '55, £470; '56 (the TR3), £560; '57, £630; '58, £7:70. New, £991.
MGs are many and various. The TD (1250 cc) lasted to 1954, then became the TF. A few 1955 TFs had the 1,500 cc engine that in 1956 went into the streamlined MGA. Last year the MGA Went to 1,600 cc. Prices: from £300 for a 1950 TO through £450 for a 1953 model (there seem to be a lot of these around), up.to £500 for the last TF 1,500s. The MGAs start at £570 in 1956 up to £690 for 1958. New, £940.
Sprites started life in 1958 and you should find one at under £500. Remembering how bars they start life at £631 new, this isn't ,too bad: there will certainly be a number of extras on any model.
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