Ramble alert...
I guess much may depend upon the type of society we might think ideal, and as we age, I suspect our ideals may evolve from those we held dear when in our yoof..? (-:
For me when younger I was ever very keen to try to extend my automotive knowledge, and the years I spent on the MSCCDG, eMog etc were invaluable in terms of improving my understanding in terms of the variable priorities of Morganeers overall.
The variety of thinking available was impressive indeed, from those who seemed to have masses of grey matter, some of whom seemed also the have the wherewithal to set about "improving" on the rather rudimentary design of their Morgans. It seemed to me that even the smart guys with interesting budgets modified their Morgans to the extent that it seems they ended up no longer driving them, as their improvements threw out some degree of balance in the original Morgan concept...
Not that trad Morgans were ever perfectly balanced, which made them more entertaining for the pilot to feel he had learned what it took to overcome his Morgans little foibles, compared to the average mundanemobiles of a similar era with ever increasing digital levels of control.... Jeez even my old carb fed Morgan has an auto choke where I would far rather have the simplicity of a cable operated device...just an early sign of increasing regulatory processes creeping in...?
Those hands-on guys on the forums, a mix of skilled engineers and keen armatures, explored many areas where performance of Trads might be adjusted to suit their personal and prevailing priorities, perhaps over the years as the average Morganeer aged somewhat, he might have become less interest in polishing ports enlarging valve diameter, fitting freer-flowing exhaust systems and the likes to improve upon volumetric efficiency and increasing eventual power output.... Perhaps one of his desires could be for lighter steering, I think it was JHSII on eMog who mentioned he had successfully fitted bearing races at the base of his front springs, which I remember questioning, in terms of their possible life span at the time, also in time the design of that system was taken up by others and improved upon..? Similarly rolling around on the ground to grease the suspension became more difficult for some, and a remote greasing system appeared, also there was thinking shared on changes to suspension bearing material. added to that list of "improvements," then there was the design of rear mounted hoop to allow replacing the lever arm rear shockers to enable conversion to tubular items, which the MMC then adopted, much as they did with a number of designs that first saw the light of day on forums. The effect of ageing Morganeers was taken on board by one forum member who designed further suspension framework to be added to the rear of Trads in order to smooth out the ride, to the extent it was a tad more comfortable for us old folk...(-: It seems the MMC were perhaps a step ahead having already introduced wider doors, and a degree of interior bling to suit our ever evolving ideals, though instead of bolting on more framework to old trad design, they better matched the requirements of market priorities by designing the CX format...incorporating so much of modern-day expectations, both good and for some Luddite inclined, some not so good... Shrug, no halting "progress." ?
I have no memory of dire warnings relative to the letter of the law being applied to any such interweb design generated "improvements" in those earlier times, though if there was.... I put my hand up and suggest it might have been ME...!!
By the time I had arrived at thinking a Morgan might be the ideal machine for me, I had been through all the primitive processes of tuning and spending my limited resources attempting to make mundanemobiles go faster, starting with m/cycles then on to cars, until I finally gave into my ex racing m/cycle rider uncle`s suggestion.... " Perhaps best to stop spending money on mundane machinery trying to make it go faster, and start out with something initially designed to go faster." ? It took a while to sink in but it did so eventually, thus around the time I was up for a change to something different, having spent a few decades messing around in air cooled Porsches... I think my bias was more along the lines of prioritising originality was well set by the time I became the very fortunate custodian of a Morgan.. (thanks Lorne) (-: I suspect I was more influenced by degrees of originality that I associated with Vintage vehicles at the time.... How times change..?
Today we have regulation after regulation built on top of more regulation, seems the grey areas where some degree of flexibility was wisely built in, are becoming ever more black and white, which in effect is increasingly restricting the freedoms of reasonably minded folk...? By comparison, the effect on the criminally minded.. ? Perhaps reducing their jail time after sentencing, to free up space in prisons provides an example of the way it seems society has been guided by the great and good for quite some time...?
On the automotive front it seems there has been a move towards introducing ever more restrictive measures relative to the ability of owners to maintain and or repair their vehicles, so much so that in the US there has been all sorts of noise created in terms of folk demanding "the right to repair" in situations where they have been locked out by manufacturers, either by software, or even spares supply being restricted to only authorised repairers etc.etc. etc.?
These days when seeking to buy parts for one of my cars, I have to provide proof that I am indeed the owner of the machine...
If you want to live in a black and white world, perhaps check out China, seemingly that population may be monitored to the degree that theft is almost negligible, and that it seems the govt can reward citizens by upping their credit score, if they report any wrong doing by your neighbours or others.... Hmm...?
Fancy some of that...?
Rather obviously no A.I. processes were used in any aspect of creating this ramble, just the decaying grey matter of a grumpy old man, who occasionally favoures music is the sound of an old ICE on full chat, and if it`s lube system is running on Castrol R, what`s more to want...? (-:
As ever, each to their own..
