name a car made in Great Britain in 1931 that could match the Caddy or the SJ Duesenberg , for Luxury , and would command respect anywhere it was driven?

and when i had my new 1957 FI Corvette 4speed , never in three years was beaten by any Jags of that era, or anything else , including a Mercedes 300 SL,(the slowest shifting thing ever).
ron

 

Well, as long as we're able to enjoy this conversation...
Regarding the 1931 cars of that era, I personally don't know any in GB, however regarding your 57 Vette, I think most would agree American muscle would beat most any Euro car....in a straight line only. Not sure if the 57 still had straight axle or not but not very good in the twisties, where the Jag or the MB would excel.

 

A British car from 1931 that oozed luxury and commanded respect? The Rolls-Royce Phantom II springs to mind.

 

Swallow Sports 1?
Lagonda 2 litre supercharged?
Bentley 8 litre?
+1 on the corner thing.

 

RR Phantom YES seen every day to go to work, not for commoners!
ron

 

same quote from above, America was /IS different from the rest of the world, many regular people drove cars like Caddy,, AND I WOULD PUT ANY OF THOSE RELIC TANKS UP AGAINST A 1934 SJ DUESENBERG SPEEDSTER, SUPERCHARGED!
read carefully, 8 cylinder, 4 valve per cyl., pent roof chamber(unheard of in England ,they all about hemi chamber),central spark plug,4 DOHC double overhead cams, Liquid Mercury balanced crankshaft, (small rotating diameter),++more, fully syncromesh transmission !

shame that some ended in the WW2 scrape yards, I personly seen some being cut up for crusher,(( YES Americans can be different)!

my Father drove everyday to work, a 1935 Cadillac V12 Limosine in the war time, just so he wouldnt be said it should go to the War effort, to make more machines for killing more people!! HHMM.
he had influence why i like MAJESTIC automobiles , he drove a 1928 Peerless just before i was born!
ron

 

Absolutely right but they still wouldn't go round corners.

 

bring any of the Brit cars to an old fashioned 1/4/ or 1/3 mile paved oval track in USA , and try and keep up to an OLD 1937 Ford coupe , going round the corners.

there is more than going wishy washy back and forth , and sayin your car is great or outstanding!

thanks,i remember back 1952/53, two twin brothers each bought new MGs for Christmas , ONE RED and one GREEN, well the only place they could show handling was way out on back country roads, we heard next day one was KILLED try to keep up with his brother!! **** happens, thats life!!
ron

 

Jeez, lighten up.

 

The great Colin Chapman said, having gone to Indy for the first time: "I will come back next year with a car with half the power and a quarter of the weight of these big heaps of junk and clean up". Which is precisely what he did - even if the first time a mechanical problem took out the Lotus while in the lead. It has to be admitted that British racing cars, from John Cooper in 1959 onwards, at least in the formula car sections, showed the entire world the way it should be done.
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/co...apolis_500_in/
None of which should be taken to mean that the GT 40 le Mans winner was not just the bees knees!

 

Ron, keep in mind what inspired the Corvette. It was British and Italian sports cars that started coming to America after WW2 that showed GM designer Harley Earl there was a demand for a 2 seat sports car in America. My understanding is the Jaguar XK120 was a favorite of Earls. I would also point out that the first Corvette came only with an inline 6 as you know but the biggest issue with the first Corvette was really not the "blue flame" 6 cylinder but the fact that it only came with an automatic transmission.

Luckily GM with the inspiration from Zora Duntov quickly figured out that the Corvette needed a V8 and a manual transmission so your '57 was a totally different driving experience than the '53 and '54 vette. Your '57 vette with it's small block V8 I am sure could take just about any European car in the quarter mile back then but that was not what the European cars were about. I never understood why someone would buy a 4 cylinder MG with it's anemic power until I spent time around owners who love their MG cars. My XJS can run circles around any MG but the MG owners have just as big of a smile on their face when we they arrived at our destination.

Reminds me why today a car like the Miata is so popular.

 

+1

MG. Jaguar. Dusenberg. Corvette. Whatever. If you're smiling, it's the right car for you !

We all have favorites. We love 'em for what they are, not for what they aren't.

Cheers
DD

 

IMO.....

It's the 'fun to drive' element.

For example, I think the XJS is a fabulous car. I can think of many descriptors and superlatives to attach. Powerful, competent, secure, unique, comfortable, capable, sure-footed...to mention a few.

An XJS is a pleasure to drive

But, it isn't fun to drive.

Is anyone pickin' up what I'm layin' down ?

Cheers
DD

.

 

Gotcha ; Doug,, my own daughter had a 91 Miata, and even today 4 cars later , she says the Miata was the most FUN car she ever had!! much thanks to Mazda/Japan!

she dont really care much about my XJS , says its to big cumbersome!

i run my talk sometimes just to wake up some of the guys, after awhile i can figure where they are comin from! no harm done and speeds up my thinking ,at 84 i dont do much fancy driving!

ron and thanks luvmyxjs.

 

.

YES Steve,, i could tell you stories that would curl your hair,, many of my friends died trying things that were close to crazy, again different generation, men were men ,and DAM-if-i-do-die.
called the greatest generation of all!

 

luvmyxjs, and guys; lookup Wikipedia, GM Le Sabre HISTORY, very interesting car(looks the best with top down),but its drivetrain was OOthis world for 1951!

the engine is related to the GM 215 and ROVER V8!! history.

maybe not for everyone BUT??
i"d drag a pic dont know how,durn computors, course then i wouldnt know you guys!!
ron

 

I see the chrome angled rising front bumpers of the 50s Caddy years on that LeSabre

 

Ronbros wish I knew you way back when. I lived in Central Fla in 70-75, then the AF sent me back to UCF to teach ROTC, retired to Deland in 99. Anyway, could have learned a bunch from you. I got my "Masters" in car repair/building from reading car mags for 50 plus years....but Jags are relatively new to me and late in life. I've grown bored with most American cars having grown up with them. But I still have a 62 Vette I bought in 80 and a 55 Bel-Air HT I bought in 92. The former is undergoing a major upgrade with a new bolt in front end from Martz (finally ditching the old King pin and stamped steel suspension with archaic steering that dates to 1949!). Also gonna add a 5 Tremec Spd. Keeping the stock leaf sprung 10 bolt 3:36 Posi for now. Hopefully it will be "FUN" to drive again like it was when I was much younger. I have the 90 XJS convert about up to snuff, so i'll have my V-12. I'm still building the 64 S-Type, 2 door coupe, and it will be "different" at the local cruise ins. Which brings me to the 92 FL coupe I purchased. I'm not sure if I have the energy to build another car; but if I do, I want it to be fun, and I think it would add to the fun factor by putting an LS3 with 6 speed manual in it.

 

I've been participating in local car shows and cruise night events for 30 years and I have become burned out on "muscle cars" and "hot rods". I have my 69 Corvette and I'll stop to look at other vintage Corvettes only because I've restored them and am very familiar with the intricate details, but the last few years I tend to walk right past the Camaros, Impalas, Cuda's and while every 33 Ford is different, I see the same ones over and over again. Every once in a blue moon, somebody will bring out something totally off the wall like a Jaguar S-type and I could spend a half hour looking it over. A friend of mine who has a collection of probably 25 or 30 muscle cars has stopped showing them entirely. A few years ago he bought a Reliant Robin three wheeler for a couple thousand dollars and he's been having more fun with that than all the muscle cars put together. Its a hit at every show it goes to. Then last year he bought a HM Freeway three wheeler and it similarly draws a crowd at shows. Most fun I ever had at a show was I had a 72 Corvette rolling chassis finished and trailered it to a couple of shows just before dropping the body back on. That was fun to watch people, particularly as fathers and grandfathers used it as a teaching tool to show the kids how an automobile worked. I'd love to have some coachbuilt car from the 20s or 30s. Those would be cool to see at a car show. One of my favorite museum visits was the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg museum, in Indiana, but those are priced a bit out of my league.

 

+1 pdupler - I also have found myself somewhat bored with seeing the same Camaros , Mustangs, GTOs, 55 thru 57 chevy's etc at the car shows. It is not that I do not appreciate their place in automotive history but rather I am just tired of seeing so many of them at the shows. For one thing so many of the " muscle cars " are really pretty plain cars when you get down to the basics with just larger engines and a few other options added at the factory like emblems, moldings or decals with maybe a 4 speed instead of an automatic..

Depending on where you live the unusual in your market are usually the show stoppers because people are just not use to seeing them. For example if you live in southern California the average Ferrari or Lambo is not always that big of a deal but when you you live in a area like Boise as I do most people are just not use to seeing that type of car. The other thing I am seeing is how each generation relates to certain generations of vehicles. I really enjoy the cars and coffees because you get so many of the younger kids coming to those and so many are really connected to the smaller compact cars because that is what they had in high school.

That is one of the reasons I like the XJS as it is not something you see often if at all in an area like Boise. My wife has asked me several times to restore a first gen. Camaro for her but I just cannot bring myself to do it. At this point I would rather look at a 1967 to 1969 station wagon then look at another early Camaro-LOL!