Unreliable British Cars!

BritBox was out and about in the Favorite TR250 today. It was a clear, sunny day: the finest in many cold, wet, snowy weeks. This unseasonable weather followed days of rain that had washed the dregs of salt off of the potholed SW Ohio roads. Driving a British sports car in the winter is really great; it’s like sinning or something.

It was the third time on the rolling black two-lane highways since the recent replacement of a weak rebuilt clutch master cylinder. Throughout the last year, shifting had become progressively more difficult, until eventually reverse and then first gears could not be selected at all. Those are handy gears to have, too. After a lot of hand-wringing, indecision, and jumping to dramatic conclusions like considering pulling the drivetrain to inspect the clutch, a profound, insightful decision was made: throw parts at the problem. A clutch master cylinder is about as easy to install as a distributor cap. If you have a fourteen-year-old boy close at hand, pull him off the important thing he is doing and have him assist with bleeding the line. Nothing to it.

Late this summer, BritBox will be celebrating the fifth year of happy, carefree motoring since completing the Reanimation and Reactivation of the sporty red Favorite Triumph TR250. The fact is, the clutch failure turned out to be a fairly non-dramatic episode in the life of this lively British sports car. BritBox manages to squeeze between 5,000 and 8,000 miles a year out of the willing little roadster. The car has never failed to start, never broken down by the side of the road, has never caused BritBox to undertake the Long Walk Home that is the curse of the Faithful.

Casual passers-by, and in particular fans of various domestically produced examples of Detroit Iron, love to taunt and tease about “unreliable British cars”. OK, yes, Lucas electrics have a couple of quirks, but Delco and Motorcraft do not? Some British car engines eat timing chains or overheat, but what about the Chevy Vega, or the GM diesel sedans of the 80s? A well sorted out and well maintained British car can be as reliable as most other vehicles on the road today. BritBox even saw a Honda on the back of a tow truck once. Really.

Reputations and legends are built not just on fact, but on powerful emotions like love, hate, and envy. Few classes of classic automobiles combine all three of those emotions quite like British sports cars. If you don’t own one, and share the joy and heartbreak that comes with ownership, you probably just won’t get it.

And yes, they do leak oil. Lots of it.

midlife+crisis

British+car

classic+car

automobile