Hi Lorne, great to see that you have withdrawn your condemnation of Roger's "thingies"! You can maybe see why some of us were surprised you could be so judgemental without experiencing how brilliant they are.
I recently sold my 2014 4/4 as I had become increasingly unhappy with aspects of the modern cars. I ended up buying a 1987 plus 4 and have realised how different the old cars are. The roadholding and behaviour is so much better on the 1987 car. I'm really addressing your comments about post 2004 cars....whilst the rear parcel shelf of my 87 car is narrower, it is alot longer. I wonder if , when the factory moved the panels backwards possibly without moving the spring mountings at all, maybe the panel behind the seats now sits further over the leaf spring, more towards it's centre and so more liable to contact when the spring flexes. I'm also thinking of my 1978 plus8 in which the prop would hit the tunnel often, but the springs never hit the body. Like you, I find it hard to believe that no-one can make a decent leaf spring now, there must be something else contributing. My 87 car has substantially more ground clearance and therefore a quite different relationship between the springs and the body and chasis. Also the axle is different and in a different place.
Generally, it seems to me that many of the modifications to the cars since the eighties, due to legislation etc. hvae chipped away at the original design and have not improved the car from a driving point of view at all. In fact the changes have added obstacles to the handling. My 87 car feels better through the steering wheel for instance. I really don't see that removing the damper plates improved things at all. And that's including that my older car has a steering box! Somehow the modern car seems harsh and difficult in comparison with the older one.
Just a few thoughts, nothing dogmatic.
Nick
