Dear SOL'ers
This is somewhat of a long posting, but it should bring a smile to your face.
Here's a little story. Last May, me and my to-be began planning for our
wedding ceremony which was to take place July 31st. We needed money. She
got a temp job, and I took on repair work for LBC's. Before I was home a
week, a friend called me asking if I wanted to buy his 65 MGB. He explained,
" You know that knocking sound you pointed out to me a few month's ago? well
it's louder now and I think the motor will need rebuilding. But I don't have
any money for a rebuild, and I'm just kind of sick of the car, y'know, always
breaking down and stuff." I heard my calling.. So I began to whine loudy,
" Well, I don't really need another car right now, and I'm trying to get
together money for the wedding and blah.....but I kind of like your car. How
about $350?" He said Ok, and so Dianne and I borrowed my Mom's station wagon,
and towed the thing 100 miles home.
Actually it was a real nice car. NO rust, straight body, BRG, dirty but good
interior, wires, bad soft top.
First thing I do when I buy a car is take a picture of it. Then I wash it.
Dianne and I talked for several hours about what we should do with it, and
finally decided that: if the motor was fixable with little cash needed, we'd
fix it and sell it at a profit, else we'd hold onto it and become MG drivers
whenever we got enough cash to put a motor together. I can hear the list
chuckling, chortling and giggling now; Sell it for a profit.. Ha ha.
But I couldn't hear you back then. So I yanked the motor. Hmm, DPO decided
to rebuild the motor himself. Switched #2 and #3 connecting rod caps. Then
he forgot to put the end-sealing washer in the canister oil filter. Result,
lots of clearance on #2 and #3, and no oil filtering action going on. I
pulled the rest of the motor apart. Everything else looked good. He hadn't
put many miles on his new rebuild before his ears told him he'd have to do it
over and he got frustrated and called me. I sent the crank in for turning and
all the rods in for sizing.
Everything was going well at this point. I thought that the machine shop
bill would be around $100, so the total motor cost would be around $200.
Then struck the dreaded shipwright's disease. You probably could have
guessed it would come on about now. "hmm... If I paint the engine compartment
to match the car, I could get more money for it. Hmm.. if I detail the engine
in the proper factory colors, install a new top, paint the wires, blahh....."
Well, it's easy to see where this was going. 'Switched connecting rod caps
forces ground up restoration' reads the headline. Well, I didn't want to
let that happen, and we were both kind of excited to get married before the
fall, so we sat down and made a plan.
Detail eng. compartment. Paint engine, fan and oil filter canister factory
colors. Paint wire wheels. Install new top. Clean interior. Buff out body.
Sell car. Make money. Get married.
Since I didn't have a job, I worked day and night on the 'B. Dianne worked
nights on the 'B too. Got the paintwork done, and installed the motor. It
purred like a ... MGB! Painted the wires, fixed the wipers and heater fan,
buffed the body, installed new sill mats. My old boss decided to give me
a Robbins top as a wedding gift, and one of the restorers there offered to
put it on for free also as a wedding gift. Now we're in business.
Just then, another friend called me. " I got rear-ended and my GT-6 is
totalled!" HMmmmm.... "Have you ever wanted an MGB? Let me tell you about
the one I have for sale...." He came over, and LOVED the car. I do admit,
it looked good even for a ... well let's not get into that. I let him talk
me down to $2900 plus his old GT-6 (running with O/D trans).
I called my restorer friend in Idaho. "hey George, you always wanted the
hot 1296 and O/D trans out of my spitfire, how much will you give me for the
pair? $700 ? Ok you got a deal" Now this was an extreme sacrifice. The
Spit was my daily transportation. And my love. But I had always wanted
a Spit-6. Now I could make one for nothing.
Then I called my old boss (who runs an English Junkyard). "Hey Rusty,
you wanna buy a GT-6 hulk, no motor or tranny, but good interior and mag
wheels? $200 ? Ok you got a deal"
Now I was rolling. The cash deal for the MGB went down the day of
the wedding, which means that I drove to the wedding in the MGB, and
we left the wedding in a '71 TR-6. (Dowry car; the in-law's were repair
customers of mine. That's how I met Dianne). My Gt-6 friend had a beautiful
MGB, and George had the 1296 engine and trans he'd been asking for.
That's my story. No cars went to investors or collectors. Money flowed
in my direction. We got married and drove a nice condition TR-6 to Victoria
B.C. for the honeymoon! Oh yeah, and I built my '67 Spit-6.
I hope this makes everyone feel good.
Greg Meboe MEBOE@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu
Dept of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Washington State University Pullman, Wash.
67 Spit-6 (Daily) 74 TR-6 (In Progress)
PS> we had to sell the 71 TR-6 in the fall for tuition.
|