Path: utzoo!utgpu!alliant.com!UUCP Reply-To: british-cars@alliant.com Errors-To: british-cars-request@alliant.com Sender: british-cars-request@alliant.com Return-Path: Date: Thu, 8 Feb 90 13:08:43 EST From: sfisher@abingdon.wpd.sgi.com (Scott Fisher) Message-ID: <9002081808.AA11500@abingdon.wpd.sgi.com> To: british-cars@alliant.com Subject: Re: Tidbits Newsgroups: list.british-cars Distribution: ut Approved: devnull@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu >"Return of the MG? Rover may build this alluring MG roadster [color rendering >of aero-egg convertible] to be sold as a competitor to Mazda's MX-5 Miata. >The MG will ride atop the front-drive Honda Concerto platform and will be >powered by the 114 hp, 1.6 liter Honda built engine currently used in the >Rover 200. I'll believe it when I see it (but hey, what an ES car that'd make!) They've been threatening such a car, based on the CRX/Civic platform, for five years at least. There have been several "styling studies," and at least one chop-shop (Straman's in Newport Beach, for those who follow the nooze) has made a business making CRX convertibles. here at SGI has one (a silver one, I've seen it in the lot a couple of times) and it looks pretty good., And of course, I must point out that Abingdon built a one-off FWD two-seater convertible as a potential Midget replacement, back about 1964 or so. It was pretty cute! I think it was based on the larger FWD chassis (that is, the 1100/1300, not the Mini) and it looked pretty decent. Unfortunately, Sir Alec Issigonis hated the idea -- he thought two-seat cars were an abominable waste of resources (remember how his original design was intended to maximize space use) and the project got killed. >Rover;s Graham Morris has intimated that the Triumph and Austin >names may be similarly resurrected as part of a five year plan to become a >niche marketer in the United States." Yeah, yeah. (Which, as the joke goes, proves that a double positive can be a negative...:-) >Now, if only Rover would so something like make the alloy 3.5 liter V8 >available in a rear drive open roadster - what? The TR8? Oh, never mind. I'd settle for the four-cam V6 derived from this powerplant, just like the one used in either the MG 6R4 or the EX-E showcar. Yeah, that ought to move an MGB right smartly...