Hi all!
You may remember a couple of weeks ago I was looking for a car and last week
I said I was going to pick one up this weekend. Well, it's over! I'm now the
proud owner of a 1971 Midget. Bought it from Tony Barnhill in AL. Great guy.
Only got to spend about an hour with him looking over the car and completing
the transaction, but enjoyed seeing his collection and getting some tips and
info from him.
Anyway, the car is in really good shape. The body is top-notch. Only 3 small
holes in the floor and 1 in the trunk. Everything else is SOLID! Sills,
fenders, door posts - no sign of rust or filler. Runs really strong, even
with a rather strange Carter carb setup. I have the SUs for it and plan on
switching back when I can. Tony had put a new starter on it and a nice hefty
alternator conversion. Downsides are the interior is a bit rough, but he
threw in a good used carpet. I had a couple of really good seats from a '75
I was going to put in a '67 I have that needs total restoration, but I'm
going to put the seats in the '71 instead. Paint is acceptable but rough up
close - kind of looks like it was done with spray cans. Gauges don't work
except for oil pressure. Electrical is a bit of a mess. Some DPO had added
fog lights and messed up the front end wiring. Reverse lamp switch is shot
and one reverse lamp is missing. Radio console is kind of chopped up to cram
a water temp guage in, as is the harness to the console. The most major
thing that has me a little concerned is that the trans is noisy in 1st and
reverse, but that will have to wait. My top priority is to get it together
enough to pass the VA safety inspection, so I need to get the wiring
straightened out, put in some seat belts, and give everything else a good
once over. Then I can go back and start concentrating on sprucing things up
some more.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll be a lot more active on the list now! And can someone
point me to the archives? ;-)
As the song says, "Something tells me I'm into something good!"
Eddie Sheffield
'71 Midget (needs a name!)
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