[Kevin in NJ]

You need to read the history of the A to get a better understanding of how it was really driven back when they were just cars to drive.

Quite frankly they drove the hard and fast all the time on crappy roads.

There are also many examples of A's being driven beyond abuse and they kept running. People doing runs as fast as the could all around the country.

If I remember correctly the NY city PD expected 50,000 to 80,000 miles on the engine before a major rebuild. You can bet those cars were not babied.

We have a mental set about and 'old' car braced by a mis-understanding of how the engine was built and how it needs to be rebuilt. As Brent pointed out the engine was built to certain standards. Rarely are these engines or driveline for that matter are actually properly restored to specs. It is about very close attention to details that give you a car that is as good at driving 45 as running 65.

Finally, my experience with people who say the A is only good for 45 is their car did not look safe at 25. This is often surveying the car from 10 feet away.