New cars; ho hum

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I had a 1974 Jensen Healey for many years. Bought it in college for some strange reason and sold it about 7 years ago. It was a fun car, but as others said it was noisy, not particularly powerful nor did it handle that well. I did get lots of compliments on it. After owning it for so long I thought I'd really miss it, but replaced it with an E46 M3 and haven't missed it for a single minute. It did have a really cool looking Lotus engine in it though.
 

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David wrote;
“ The Healey was a beast to drive. Clutch had very little control (all in or all out) and the throttle was also a beast. The Healey drove more like a go cart- limited suspension travel. He on the other hand loved the driving of my new Miata- smooth, nice clutch and transmission action, tight steering, etc. Such are the improvements in auto design and manufacturing over 50 years.”

I had the opposite experience driving an early Miata. Like no springs at all.
And the newer Miata’s are near perfect re style. Early ones like bug eye Sprites.

But in my college days I was lucky enough to strike a deal on an XK140 Jaguar Roadster. Here is my only picture of it taken from an old print.
 

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Thanks Eric. Ah yes, the Austin Healey "Bug Eye" Mk1 Sprite, my first car. Based I think, on the dreaded Morris Minor 1000. Happy memories!
 
I first had a '68 Jaguar 3.8S when I lived in England for a few years. Manual with overdrive, impressive dashboard (with a pull-out table top), straight 6 engine seemed about 9 miles long, 120 mph on the M1 was just a quiet cruise. I had thought to import it to the U.S. when I came back, even though I knew right-hand drive would have brought issues. As it turned out, I learned I'd misunderstood the rules when I was buying it; the PRE-'68 models were easily importable, '68 and after... not so much.

https://classicsworld.co.uk/news/roat-test-jaguar-3-8s/

About in the middle of my time there, I changed to a new U.S. spec MGB... partly because I'd missed out on the last U.S. spec TR6 that had been available. I had a roll-bar installed... after a friend rolled his (and survived). Sure enough opposite-hand drive (left-hand, in England) was a bit of an issue, not insurmountable. That's the one I brought back. Wasn't much for high speed, but it worked OK on the gymkhana circuits.

I think I could have been a "car guy" when I was young. Mostly slobbered over XK140s, 150s, and E-types... the odd 3000 Mk II... maybe a TR or two... but I quickly figured out I'd need TWO cars at all times, one for driving to work.

-Chris
 
Citroen DS19. My friend Larry had a red one. One of the most amazing cars that ever lived. Larry also had a 300 SL Gullwing. That old MB was more race ready than some race cars I’m think’in. It took two hands/arms to go around a 90 degree corner. A beast but VERY capable. Larry drove it hard and nothing ever broke. But compared to the SL my Jaguar was a sweet boulevard sedan.
 
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My midlife crisis car (20 yrs. ago) was a 1972 Fiat 124 spyder, orange color. Paid 3k for it and drove it for 3 years. Mostly weekend jaunts.It must have slipped past the Fiat quality control people as I never had to do a lick of work on it.Sold it after 3 years and about 10k miles for what I paid.
 
lwarden said:
I had a 1974 Jensen Healey for many years. Bought it in college for some strange reason and sold it about 7 years ago. It was a fun car, but as others said it was noisy, not particularly powerful nor did it handle that well. I did get lots of compliments on it. After owning it for so long I thought I'd really miss it, but replaced it with an E46 M3 and haven't missed it for a single minute. It did have a really cool looking Lotus engine in it though.
Click to expand...

I really like the “slant four” engine .. beautiful.
And it’s nice they slanted the heavy side of the engine to the left (or should I say port here on TF?). With the drivers side being on the right and the car being light and most driving time would assumably be solo max car balance is assured.
 
Nomad Willy said:
I really like the “slant four” engine .. beautiful.

And it’s nice they slanted the heavy side of the engine to the left (or should I say port here on TF?). With the drivers side being on the right and the car being light and most driving time would assumably be solo max car balance is assured.
Click to expand...
The Jensen Healy was predominantly sold in the US, so mostly LHD.

I had a brown on black 1975 Mk2 in Hawaii.

It was uninspiring, but mainly due to the mid70s emissions. (Well, that and the poo brown color.) Same lousy Zenith Stromberg carbs as my Triumph GT6s. At least you could mess around with the SU carbs on MGs for a bit more performance.
 
Northern Spy said:
The Jensen Healy was predominantly sold in the US, so mostly LHD.

I had a brown on black 1975 Mk2 in Hawaii.

It was uninspiring, but mainly due to the mid70s emissions. (Well, that and the poo brown color.) Same lousy Zenith Stromberg carbs as my Triumph GT6s. At least you could mess around with the SU carbs on MGs for a bit more performance.
Click to expand...

As you can see from the picture of mine above I dumped the Stromburg carbs for Euro spec Dellortos and also modified the cams. It woke the car up a bit but still it was slow by todays standards.
 
lwarden said:
As you can see from the picture of mine above I dumped the Stromburg carbs for Euro spec Dellortos and also modified the cams. It woke the car up a bit but still it was slow by todays standards.
Click to expand...
I was a car rich, cash poor E-4 or 5 in the US Navy at the time. Back when English and Italian cars were nearly throw-aways. Paid less than $1000 for any of them. Maybe a bit more for the Jensen Healy. Just a hobby to buy, fix up, drive for a bit and flip.

I did put dual Mikuni side drafts on my reliable daily driver. A newish 1985 Suzuki Samurai.
 
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