In his review he mentions this:
Certain aspects of the book are a little exaggerated, particularly the ways in which the British characters are portrayed, (all of them have very, very English names, and most of them speak like folk from Dickens novels); yet this somehow contributes to the overall atmosphere of the book in a positive way.
Unfortunately, this is not very much of an exaggeration. In the shop I worked in during the mid-60's we had two "Nigels" as we called them. One of the pair's name was actually Thomas, but we called him "Lord Nigel" and the other was actually Reggie and he was "Baron Nigel." They probably set back Anglo-US relations hundreds of years. Unfortunately, they actually could salvage the pieces of **** that passed for Lucas electics in those days and make sense out of the Solex carbs, which defied all known mechnaical laws and occasionally worked correctly -- that is until the owner picked up the car....
They were not alone. It never ceased to mystify me how nearly every Brit who worked in the motor trade in the US was a total wanker, and this included more than a few of the mechanics in the pits. Having grown up in Euroland and spent considerable time in the UK, I realized what shameless bullshitters our Nigels were, as well as most of the others. Believe me, BS is simply reflecting a perception not that divorced form reality.
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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,
Don Capps
Semper Gumbi: If this was easy, we’d have the solution already…
[This message has been edited by Don Capps (edited 05-04-2000).]
