[ROVERNET - UK] Demographics of US Rover buyers

Geoff Kirkpatrick britcarnut at yahoo.com
Sun Oct 22 19:03:04 BST 2006


In the Fifties and Sixties, Americans and Europeans pretty much bought
domestically produced cars.  Anyone who bought an imported car was likely
to be out-of-the-ordinary.  I was born in 1960 so my personal memories
about such things are vague until the early 70's or so, by which time
imports were commonplace, especially here in California.  The specifics I
can recall do have a strong common thread though:

- Family friend, UK-born engineer at IBM, drove a Peugeot 403
- Neighbor, engineer at Lockheed, had Jag XK120 hidden under piles of
stuff in garage.  
- Neighbor, engineer someplace, don't know where, drove Hillman Minx
convertible
- Neighbor, scientist at NASA, drove Mercedes 190SL
- Father of my good friend, engineer at Ampex, drove Porsche 356
convertible
- Neighbor, engineer at Lockheed, drove lovely white and blue 2000TC.  I
think this was the car that started my fascination with Rovers.

These were all people with a technical bent, jobs which probably took them
on overseas business trips, and an appreciation for engineering
excellence.  I think they are pretty typical of the American buyer of
imported cars at that time.  Personality-wise, and in my best guess 40
years later at what their socio-political views might have been, they are
all over the map.  Training as a scientist or engineer, and overseas
travel seem to be the common threads among them.

Geoff







"This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him."
- William Lyon Phelps

Geoff Kirkpatrick, 382 Riverside Avenue, Ben Lomond, CA 95005, USA

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