The bottom tier Brit sports cars were built with spare parts and engines laying around the assembly plants. Other than the bodies. Not exactly R&D. I did see a bug-eye Sprite or Midget on Sunday and am still amazed anyone bought them.

-- Chuck

 

My first sports car was this exact model
Well it actually had a moonroof

 

If they were going to prosper, they would have They did not. Pretty much end of story to me. How the businesses are run generally plays much larger of a role in how well a car does than the car itself many times.

I love lots of the old british cars, but also recognize the junk that many of them were in terms of reliability, and had that no changed, regardless of everything else, they still would have failed ultimately. Even folks collecting them admit how bad many of them really were. We could say that any product "x" may have prospered if the company had not done "y", but in the end that is all part of the product makeup.

And I will add one correction: The Miata and the S2000 are examples of old british roadsters had they been designed and built by the right teams in the first place, which is why they have done well As usual, the Japanese auto makers took a good idea and did it better and were successful doing it.

 

Reference the TR7 (above).

A buddy just put a Buick V6 engine in his. Believe it or not there's a kit to do this. Really nice to have a simple car to work on. No ECU, just plugs and points. No fuel injection just a simple carburetor. No AC or cruise to complicate things either. And the convertible roof is very manual -- remember all those Lift the Dot snaps? Still looks strange with the wedge shape. He had lots of fun with the build. Car was basically a $600 shell from the high desert in Idaho he had shipped in.

-- Chuck

 

Sorry Chuck, as much as I kinda love old British cars after WWII, I would not walk across the street for a free TR7. I can't stand it's looks.

 

I agree the TR7/8 is an ugly car! But they're dirt simple to work on and the Buick V6 in his car is rather fun in a straight line.

-- Chuck

 

It may be ugly now but it was groundbreaking in it's day.

 

I thought they looked pretty good. I was disappointed in their performance and reliability.

 

There's a TR8 for sale at a used car dealer here in Long Beach. Been for sale for months.

 

That's pretty much the same as every other sports car manufacturer. I can't think of any lower or middle tier manufacturers that developed brand new engines for their sports cars back in the 50s and 60s. Even the "independent" sports car manufacturers were using existing engines and mechanicals to build their sports cars. The 240Z is probably the first entry level priced sports car that came with a "new" engine, which was pretty much just a six cylinder version of their four cylinder engine... Which seems to have been based on a Mercedes engine.

People bought Sprites and Midgets due to the price point, ease of operation and service, great handling, and early racing success at Sebring, Le Mans and the European Rally circuit. For some period of time, Sprites and Midgets held the record for most SCCA class wins. They still race successfully today.