The BritishV8 Pub

Cool thread with lots of pictures: [www.jalopyjournal.com]

I posted on there once about my car and the moderator pulled it off and told me to post on another forum - my car wasn't appropriate for the HAMB. Kind of pissed me off and I haven't been back since. Maybe that guy isn't there anymore

Jim, Times are changing, slow, but changing. I started that thread hoping to draw out some of the really great modified production sports cars. Looks like a lot of it has come from this forum so jump in and get your 5 minutes of fame. I really expected to get flamed big time but the Corvette and Cobra guys are keeping a tight lip for now. With Ricks video of his Healey and some others maybe some of the bought but never finished sports cars will come to light. Once again, thanks Rick for the video. It really is making me want to make the trip to New England next summer with my TR3. The roads there are just to die for (this is a cornhusker talking).

Greg Hornbostel

I almost posted mine, but even if it is back dated a bit with metal dash, chrome bumper/grille, it's a '76... guess I'm just destined to be an outcast I guess ;)

Funny, but the HAMB tightened up their posting restrictions a few months ago reaffirming their focus was on traditional AMERICAN hot rods so really none of our cars fit in there. But they do seem to keep threads alive they find of interest. About a month ago I got a PM from one of the site's art directors telling me how much he liked my car, so we have some allies there. Nevertheless, can't complain. Their site ... their rules.

Never cared for the attitude over there.

My observation of the HAMB is the cutoff date. 1958. They do tolerate late model competition cars but the focus is on pre-58 hot rods. TR4s and MGBs clearly take it into the 60s and not a refinement of a design that was introduced in the late 40s, early 50s(TR2, MGTD, Healey 100). How would this site accept a 29A (a RH drive one that was imported from Great Britian) on 32 rails with full flatty as a sports car when in reality that was probably the intent of the builder, a better handling high performance automobile that they could afford. It would appear that the outcasts and misfits really do have a forum and it is right here. Contribute with conversation and try to keep that flame thrower unlit. Nothing is more boring than a long string of same model anything going down the road. Its more exciting to see a single, to me, TR3 at a unexpected time on the road. I am a loner but I am willing to share with those who are interested. I find those peaple here on this forum.

Greg Hornbostel

Greg,

Here's a similar thread I started there a couple of years ago: [www.jalopyjournal.com] Interesting that both Ryan Cochran (site owner) and Jeff Norwell (art editor) both contributed to the thread without any fuss. You're right about our New England roads, they are great for sportscars. Let me know if you get out this way, I'll show you some good ones.

If you go to page 3 in the link above and scroll down, you can see my post where I talk about my car being taken out because it isn't "HAMB friendly"

Reality is, my TR3 doesn't quite meet the qualifications for this forum, British V8, but seems to be tolorated by most. To some a 600 hp V8 engine is what trips the trigger and to others a late model 4 banger supplies more hp than the stock engine and delivers the performance required, The common thread is British Sports Car. The HAMB is starting to split hairs now. The process of "my hot rod is more hot rod than yours", and a picture of Scarab or Daytona saying this is a hot rod sports car and Cobra this and Cobra that. The intent of the post was to see pictures of YOUR hot rod sports car which it did. There are some really cool hot rod sports cars out there and I have enjoyed the turnout. This is a really good forum with a very deep knowledge pool. Help is just a thread away with positive feed back to your car. The group is small and from what I've seen there aren' t any want-a-bees. I'll wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR with the hope of seeing some of you in person in 2015
Greg

It's not the place for us. On two counts generally, age of the vehicle, and country of origin. They don't even like the '61 Buick 215 very well.
Had a HUGE fight over there just because I asked about PCV plumbing on 60's era Buicks.

Jim

I think the MGB is becoming somewhat of a modern day 32 Ford roadster. People have done just about everything you can think of to them, transplanted a wide variety of drivetrains into them and have just as much fun driving them (more actually since they handle as well as go).

A little history... the name "BritishV8" predates this forum by at least five years. Dan Masters took over the "MG V-8 Newsletter" from founder Kurt Schley and renamed it BritishV8 to recognize and welcome Triumph enthusiasts who were already actively participating in the annual meets. At that time, Dan was himself in the middle of a TR-6 V8 project. That was around 2002. This forum started-up in October 2007.

For the record... I didn't have anything to do with picking the name "BritishV8". I like that it's more inclusive than "MG V-8". It's far from perfect, but I chose not to change because (a) it was already an established trademark and (b) every name I could think of for this crew/newsletter/website/forum was at least equally imperfect. I said from day one, "I'll change lots of things around here but I won't screw around with the name." (Paraphrased.)

A little trivia... after me, the two first guys to register for the BritishV8 message board DON'T have British sports cars. I believe Tony Hoffer has a Rover engine in his Pontiac Astre. Nicolas Wiederhold has (or had?) a Rover/Buick hybrid engine in his Chevy Vega GT. Incidentally, both Tony and Nick are from Minnesota and I've always presumed they know each other, but I don't know how either of them discovered this forum! They couldn't possibly be more welcome here.

The HAMB guys with their "jalopies" are welcome here too. I'm sure we can learn a lot from them. Now, as for people who don't respect Buick's 215: that just shows their tremendous ignorance. THEY could learn a lot from us!

What I think is funny, is that the HAMB sought to restrict themselves to the enthusiasts of group of cars that were at the time, reasonably mainstream. But time marches on and that day is past, and for a group who claimed to relish creativity they have become very hidebound. Meanwhile the Hot Rodder spirit lives on among the newer cars and as much among imports as domestic. BritishV8, which grew out of Kurt's love of the hot-rodded MGB and an effort to disseminate information that was helpful to those who were considering conversions, always welcomed different perspectives and quickly became a valuable resource, with those of us who had done conversions contributing helpful tips, writing articles, listing sources for parts and so forth. I ran across Kurt some years after converting my '71 to a Buick 215 and we became good friends right away, meeting in person for the first time at Champaign, though I left the car in the garage as it was in the midst of a major revamping, bodywork, and powertrain upgrade including a roots blower, having already had a high revving Buick, and a turbo Olds 215 as well as the Olds mule I ran when there wasn't anything better available. When Dan changed the name to BritishV8 I was totally on board with that, but it never made sense to me to water it down further in an attempt to be all-inclusive in the engine department. Although it is true that the V6 enthusiasts and others are valuable to the sport in a similar way to the Triumphs, Jags, Healeys and others, anyone would recognize that V8 in the name speaks of performance in a way that I-4 never can, and even in those days we were beginning to see enough variety in repower options to make it clear that any attempt at inclusion could only logically result in an alphabet soup of engine designations. And so it was decided that the V8 moniker would remain, because even though it was not perfectly accurate, it was an indicator of intent, and that intent was enhanced performance. How that is achieved is immaterial. V8, V6, I-6, I-4 or anything else, electric or even steam or something nobody has thought of yet. If it's new and ingenious it certainly will be welcome here. It's the way we started out and I have no doubt it is the way we will stay.

So in a way I suppose you could say we are just like the HAMB since neither of us have changed. The difference is that they began by being exclusive where we began by being inclusive. I think our way has advantages that will let it survive beyond our original boundaries.

Jim

Friends bound by differences, for the good of all. Happy New Year !

Art , are you gonna run for president ???
Dave

WAAY too old to run, barely jog. I AM president, of an S Corp- big deal. As a native of Ca, I loose a lot of sleep, of how big my "carbon footprint" must be. Perhaps I should retire-quietly, with minimum use of whatever...

By carbon footprint, do you mean how big a contact patch your tires are making with the pavement?

I'd like to get that made into a T shirt with a picture of a big, fat tire tread

Great idea, Jim!

Carbon footprint? What carbon footprint? :)