21-01-2020, 03:42 PM
I long ago came to the conclusion that, when Austin, MG, Morris etc designed something such as an engine, gearbox or whathaveyou, the perfected item would undergo one final stage en route to production...
It would be sent to a tiny department, tucked away in some obscure corner of the design office, where it would undergo a process of 'embuggerance'. This would tweak the near perfect piece so that what would have been an easy job of repair or replacement could now be made so difficult as to be guaranteed to drive the poor owner/mechanic to distraction because now it incorporated some first class piece of awkwardness.
I think for example of the pointless blind spline on the A7 gearbox input shaft, the inability to remove the side water branch without first removing the firmly stuck oil filler tube, the location of the brake master cylinder on MG TD and VA, etc etc etc ad infinitum...
It would be sent to a tiny department, tucked away in some obscure corner of the design office, where it would undergo a process of 'embuggerance'. This would tweak the near perfect piece so that what would have been an easy job of repair or replacement could now be made so difficult as to be guaranteed to drive the poor owner/mechanic to distraction because now it incorporated some first class piece of awkwardness.
I think for example of the pointless blind spline on the A7 gearbox input shaft, the inability to remove the side water branch without first removing the firmly stuck oil filler tube, the location of the brake master cylinder on MG TD and VA, etc etc etc ad infinitum...