[Leica] My new car, a Morgan OT

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 8:30 AM -0700 2/3/08, John Collier wrote:
>I guess I am (over)reacting to the bloating and sensation-numbing 
>trends of the modern vehicle. Is a current Porsche fast? Of course. 
>Does it handle well? Yes again. However, though you can get a heavy 
>vehicle to handle, you can never make it anywhere as nimble and 
>intimate as a light car. I suppose some of this is due to the 
>emphasis on top speed: at 300 kph you have to deaden everything down 
>and add mass to make a vehicle even vaguely drive-able by mere 
>mortals.
>
>Perhaps on German Autobahns this make sense. However, I seldom top 
>the english ton and I want to have fun at speeds where I am not 
>lethal to myself and those hapless enough to encounter me. Give me a 
>vehicle where I do the work of keeping the engine on song. I watch 
>the road surface to manage my traction and braking. I stive to feel 
>the tires touching the road and the vehicle responds almost to my 
>thoughts rather than gross action.
>
>I no longer find this intimate connection in four wheeled vehicles. 
>It is even getting hard to find it in two wheeled ones as well. So I 
>run lightweight, small capacity motorcycles. Right now my favourite 
>is a cafe'ed 66 Ducati single with something over 30 hp. If I am 
>"on", it is fast, light and nimble; we function as one. If I am 
>"off", I know right away as the communion isn't there. I know to 
>slow down and wait for another day.
>
>In today's insulated, traction and braking control equipped, mobile 
>entertainment centers, you have no idea who or what is on. Heck, it 
>takes a half-an-hour of carefully ignoring the road to program the 
>CD player.
>
>Getting back to Porsches, I feel they started to lose their way in 
>the seventies. When brochures start to emphasize leather interiors, 
>heated seats and mirrors, when "features" started the weight 
>creeping up, when HP increased just to keep the performance the 
>same, when intimacy and control were reduced to make things "safer" 
>at high speed.
>
>Should Porsche drop its current model line? Probably not. Should 
>they at least add one real sports car? Absolutely! Lotus makes the 
>breathtakingly stunning Elise. Why Can't Porsche? Give me a vehicle 
>that is the spiritual heir of the '66 911s, not one that is a gross 
>caricature.
>
>Whew!
>
>Well I feel a lot better.
>
>Thanks,
>
>John
>
>On 2-Feb-08, at 2:18 PM, Henning Wulff wrote:
>
>>  At 6:54 AM -0700 2/2/08, John Collier wrote:
>>>  Only Morgan makes sports cars. Everyone else at best makes pimped 
>>>out GT cars. Don't even get me started on Porsche!
>>>
>>
>>  I'd be delighted to get you started on Porsche! :-)


Well, John, I'm in full agreement with pretty much everything you 
said. Which is why I had an Elise on order for almost three years. 
Then Tanya got me the GT3. She and I had waited and waited and been 
put off by the Lotus importers again and again, so she got what she 
hoped I would also like and what she wanted. In spite of my delight 
with the Porsche, there is also some regret in not getting the Lotus.

I have been a fan of Lotus since the early 60's, at which time I 
couldn't nearly afford one. Not to buy and certainly not to maintain 
(early Elan). After I talked for a while with an owner who had just 
over 5000 miles on his (and gotten a nice ride in it) I knew for sure 
I couldn't afford the maintenance. The basic concepts still delighted 
me, however. The Europa and later Elan/Suzuki didn't appeal to me at 
all.

Many of my friends at that time had sports cars; the usual MG's, TR's 
and Alfas and a couple of Morgans. We spent many weekends working on 
them. Not so many driving in them. The Morgan was probably better in 
this regard than the others. In the late 60's I was ready to dump my 
Beetle and get one of the aforementioned sports cars, and was getting 
ready to put down my money when the 240z was announced. I got one of 
the first ones, and it was a delight. As quick as a Jaguar E-type of 
the same vintage (the Jag had already been throttled by emission 
controls, and the Datsun hadn't yet - I got one of the very first 
ones in Canada) at half the price. A good GT car and fun on the 
track. But a lot heavier than an Elan. But not that likely to need 
serious parts replaced after a couple of hours at the track as did 
the Elan.

In 1990 I got a Miata. An Elan copy that was reliable, but again, 
heavier. It had all those parts beefed up that broke on the Elan. The 
Miata was huge fun because everything was nicely balanced, and you 
could really enjoy yourself driving at 80kph on a winding road, 
because the suspension was not really more competent than the engine, 
and the engine could not overpower the suspension.

Now the GT3. Over 3200lbs, which is 'light' for today :-(, nearly 
400hp and nearly 12 in. wide tires on the back. It has pretty much 
the same amenities as the Miata or Elise, except for the leather 
seats; no traction control, etc and no heated seats etc. It's a 996 
so it's the last of those that doesn't have all the electronics. On 
the track that I mainly go to the Elise would do nearly as well, as 
it has a lot of tight corners, and the Elise is quicker there. Faster 
tracks show off the Porsche's capabilities. Both are fun, but on the 
tight track I prefer the Elise. But... I can drive the Porsche 
everyday and on longer trips. I don't drive it in snow or near 
freezing because I only have performance summer tires, but in better 
weather I drive it all the time. I can get in and out of it without 
crawling on hands and knees and without water running down my back 
when it rains, and I can carry a briefcase _and_ a passenger and even 
a fair amount of luggage.

Is it more fun than the Elise? Not necessarily, but it's a lot of fun 
just the same and under more circumstances. It isn't a 1973 RS, but 
the fun factor isn't a lot different.


-- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
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