Reliability of the B.M.W. 328

Sir,

With reference to your article “The Cars of John Goddard,” I’m glad to hear that Mr. Goddard found the seats of his 328 B.M.W. so comfortable. I find them so, too. But how is it that I know of one reader of Motor Sport who owned a 328 for twenty years and never experienced the ailments that John Goddard did. I’ve owned my car for only two years, but I find that the tappets stay put, and so must the head. When Bristol anglicised the 328 B.M.W. engine, they obviously didn’t find it necessary to increase the number of head studs from the 14 that B.M.W. employed, or to increase the section of the studs themselves; indeed, Bristol studs are slightly smaller. Perhaps Mr. Goddard should have kept his 328 after all.

London, S.W.5. ANTHONY SMITH.