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The article says a Bond Girl drove one like this, maybe there is hope for us old guys also.
Bill
Build a glass fibre MGTD MP Lafer Replica with a rear-mounted VW engine? If you???re
Brazilian and have likely never seen an actual MG TD, why the hell not? This was
actually a successful venture and MPs were decently built cars that found 4,300 takers,
about 1,000 of them in Europe. The MP Lafer even showed up in the James Bond film
???Moonraker,??? being driven by a Brazilian Bond girl.Bad Bill
For those of us who have never studied Portuguese, what is the correct pronunciation of “Lafer”?
Long “ah” and long “eh”. “lahfehr”
Vicenç - (bee sense)
Pembroke Pines, FL
1986 Aston - BCW Model 52 - "Montse II"(1983 FiberFab MiGi II - "Montse")
Lafer is not a Portuguese word that I recognize. I know it as a French last name that, although not common, can be found in Brazil. It is the name of an old furniture company in São Paulo, Lafer Moveis Patenteados founded in 1927, which eventually got in the business of making replica MGs. The French name is pronounced with the stress on the last syllable. Using Portuguese orthographic conventions the stress would also fall on the last syllable.Vicenç - (bee sense)
Pembroke Pines, FL
1986 Aston - BCW Model 52 - "Montse II"(1983 FiberFab MiGi II - "Montse")
“Lafer” is the surname of Percival Lafer, a designer who took over his father’s furniture company and eventually created the Lafer vehicle.
He was also a furniture designer:When I’ve heard people talk about the cars, I have heard it prounced with the accent on the first syllable and both short andlong “a” like in “laugher” and in “layfer” … but what do we Amricans know?PMOSSBERG2014-08-21 13:04:58
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Didn’t mean to stir up a controversy here, but if the name is French, as it appears to be, Vicenç is correct. More importantly, however, it’s a beautiful car no matter how you pronounce it.
I don’t think of it as controversy. Paul is more than probably right in saying that people might pronounce Lafer with the stress on the first syllable or with a short “a”. I’m just saying that I recognize the name as French and it is in fact someone’s last name used as a brand for their company. In both French and Portuguese conventions the stress would be in the last syllable. And in Portuguese both vowels would be long. But that’s the danger of using a foreign name or word as an international mark, it generally gets mispronounced. Don’t get me started on how people generally pronounce the name of the guitar maker “Ibañez” or the rum maker “Bacardí” (or any of part of my name for that matter). In English speaking countries neither one of those brands is ever pronounced how the original surname it came from was ever pronounced. 😕
Vicenç - (bee sense)
Pembroke Pines, FL
1986 Aston - BCW Model 52 - "Montse II"(1983 FiberFab MiGi II - "Montse")
Ha!
That’s why I own Gibson and Taylor guitars (among others)
I could never pronounce “Ibañez”
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
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