On Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:18:09 -0600, krw wrote:
Friend used to own a Jaguar/MG dealership. Both were totally unreliable
vehicles because of the poor quality components they used. He was
constantly towing in new and relatively new Jaguars that broke down.
They were state owned for a long time. He told me about how he went over
to see the plants and they were still using antique/inefficient
equipment such as manually operated block and tackle etc to move
assemblies.

They've always been unreliable POS, like all Brittish cars. Fun to
drive but were like a jet fighter to maintain (30:1 maintenance:drive
hours).

Yeah, my Triumphs were like that sometimes - until I'd sorted out the
problems that should have originally been done by the designers and
builders. After doing that they were no worse than anything else from the
time; plugs and points and lights and brakes...

Some of the cosmetic stuff is pretty bad - plastic window switches
that acquire a gray film, ****ty "muck metal" Mazak that corrodes and pits
- but stuff like that I suppose the desigers just didn't know would happen
30 years later.

"Lucas: The inventor of dark."

I'll stick my neck out: I don't think Lucas were that bad. What got them
the rep was bad design in terms of component placement within the vehicle
(assemblies subjected to vibration or road debris or being cooked by the
engine), and that a lot of the vehicles that used them came from plants
with very poor quality control - the result was that they'd let moisture
in, and moisture will kill electrics in no time...

I've owned several vehicles with Lucas parts and I've never had much
trouble - but I've adjusted panels so they fit better, sorted out
seals, moved things around so they don't get slowly roasted etc.

cheers

Jules