The BritishV8 Pub

You & me both, Graham!

I know a lot of R&R trivia. Unfortunately, none of deals with British Sports cars. I do know of a famous British guitar player that is a true gearhead. Like myself, he has a love for Chevys, specifically Corvettes. Who is he?

Jeff Beck?

Too easy, I guess.

Never pegged you for a guitar player, Curtis.

This is the image that comes to mind:



Waaay kewl album cover for gearheads & guitar players!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2009 02:27PM by MGBV8.

I've been meaning to learn how to play my Stratocaster for over twenty years. Plenty of interest, but no talent for it... Although "Beck Bogert Appice" was one of the first albums I ever bought, I can't help but think of the song "Infatuation" when I think of Jeff Beck. Anyhow, here's a question that's sort-of tangentially related to Jeff Beck:

I'm thinking of a successful American band that was named for a British car... interestingly though, before they were in THAT band, one or more members were in a less famous band that was named for a different British car.

Can you identify the two band names? (Bonus points will be awarded for connecting the dots back to Jeff Beck.)

Booker T & The MG's?

The controversy is does it stand for MG or Memphis Group?The Booker T & the producer, Chips Moman, were in "The Triumphs".

The guitarist, Steve Cropper (of The Blues Brothers fame), produced Jeff Beck's 1st album.

Curtis,

You have a 20 year old Strat? Awesome!

No talent here, either. I do have a '74 Strat, a '72 Les Paul, 3 Paul Reed Smith guitars & a closet with a total of 17 guitars (not sure how that happened).

You nailed it! (Another "connection": Eric Clapton selected Booker T and the M.G.'s to be the house band for his "Crossroads Guitar Festival" in 2004, and Jeff Beck was one of the headliners Clapton had there. Much of Jeff Beck's fame, after his time in the Yardbirds, came from instrumental music. Booker T and the M.G.'s was an instrumental act too.)

If M.G. stood for "Memphis Group", the covers of all those old records should have said "Booker T and the M.G." (singular). In my opinion, it's a lot like the Chinese company that currently owns the M.G. trademark... they've somehow decided that M.G. stands for "Modern Gentleman". No kidding - that's what some of their literature says. It's ridiculous.

Next trivia question?

Who wants a Chinese MG, anyway?

One of my first albums, still have it, was Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow.

Triumph is a Canadian band, so technically American. I can't believe they haven't crossed paths with Jeff Beck at some point as well.

Somebody jump in for me. I've got baseball practice.

Okay, Carl, I've got it covered.

One of my favorite British rockers, sadly, died far too young in a car accident. He was a passenger - his American girlfriend, who was also a musician of some note, with at least one hit single of her own, was driving - but interestingly, this favorite British rock singer/songwriter/guitarist never learned to drive and reportedly was always afraid of riding in cars. He preferred his horse, or public transportation. (I don't know if this had anything to do with his childhood, but I do know that his father was a professional truck driver.)

Another big clue: this British rocker mentioned cars or car parts in several of his songs! For example, in one song (which reached #2 on the UK charts) he referred to himself repeatedly as a specific model of car. In another song (a #1 hit record in UK) the lyrics lovingly told his girlfriend that she's "built like a car". What a romantic!

So here's the question, in two parts:
WHO was the British rocker and WHAT MODEL British car was he riding in at the time of his death?

Something about a Hub-cap Diamond-star halo maybe?

Yep.

Although, I like these lines even better:

Quote:

Just like a car,
You're pleasing to behold.
I would call you Jaguar,
If I may be so bold...

Well, I admit I'm disappointed that this question didn't get answered. I'm pretty sure several people must have known the answer, so I wonder if they're weary of having to come up with the next trivia question.

For the record: the singer/songwriter/guitarist was Marc Bolan, who fronted the band "T. Rex". (Early on, they were known as "Tyrannosaurus Rex".) At the time of his death, at approximately 4am on Sept 16 1977, Marc Bolan was riding in an Austin Mini. Specifically, it was a purple "1275GT", license plate number "FOX661L". Bolan died within a mile of his house in SW London. He and his girlfriend Gloria Jones were returning from a restaurant/club. While working as a Motown songwriter, Gloria Jones wrote "Tainted Love" (which became a #1 worldwide hit later, when performed by Soft Cell) and "If I Were Your Woman" (performed by Gladys Night). She was a background singer on a wide range of songs and albums too; including a Neil Young album and also Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken".

So, I guess I'll ask a more-mainstream British-automotive question:

Q: What land speed record breaking car first drove over 200mph?
Please include the make, and the year of its record breaking demonstration drive.

Hint: the car in question had two very large engines.

[jalopnik.com]

Yep. (Sunbeam/1927)

Your turn to ask a trivia question, Rick!

Name the three proprietors of the (now closed) MG Centre in St.Louis.

One lived in the UK.

One was from the UK.

One was from the USA.

Darn it Rick, I'm pretty sure I know two of the three, but can't think of the last one. Don't want to give anything away so I'll keep mute for now.

Did a little research and I'm ready for a guess.

Robin Weatherall, Ken Costello, and John Mangles.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2009 11:32AM by Bill Young.

Two out of three, Bill.

John Mangles was a good guess - and he's a great guy - but I'm 99% sure he wasn't a proprietor of MG Centre.

Here's a clue....the initials were J.J.