Just a few comments:
1. The MGB, being a unit body design (instead of having a separate
frame like the TR-3 to TR-6 and the Spitfire) will be a bit harder to
restore if the car needs a frame-up restoration, and it sounds like it
might. You have to have a way to deal with a large body unit with lots
of nooks and crannys. Dipping is usually the easiest and most
effective way to strip rust and treat the stripped metal before
repriming and painting.
2. Because of the above it's very critical with MGBs to check for
rust, and particularly weakening of the body unit. One quick way to do
this is to look at the vertical space between the doors and the body.
If the spaces are noticeably smaller at the top of the door than the
bottom where the door curves to run along the rockers it indicates
that the rocker panels (which are major structural units) are bad and
the car is actually beginning to sag in the middle. If this is true
run away and don't look back. Yes, this can be fixed but it's more
than most people will want or be able to do (hard to get the body unit
straight again).
3. A good resource for info on DIY repair of MGBs is Lindsay Porter's
book "MGB: Guide to the Purchase and DIY Restoration of the MGB"
available form Classic Motorbooks, among others.
Jim Sudduth
74 TR-6 CF20076U
jims@autodesk.com
Berkeley, CA
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Subject: britcars
Author: "Peter Mchugh" <PMCHUGH@mail.hq.faa.gov> at smtpcc1
Date: 11/8/96 9:05 AM
Can anyone enlighten this poor soul???
PMQ
73 TR-6
72 GT-6
69 GT-6+ (2)
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Subject: britcars
Author: emjacobyjr@juno.com (Edmond M Jacoby) at smtpgate
Date: 10/30/96 6:49 PM
It used to be a simple world. If you wanted a sports car there were
several, all British, and all required garage work on Saturday for a
successful Sunday drive. It went with the territory.
I outgrew all that. I like my cars to go whenever and wherever I yearn, and I
hate black grease under my fingernails.
On the other hand, I have this 14-year-old son who likes to get dirty and
greasy, and who seems to need to do something in cooperation with dad, so
a project car (spelled B-R-I-T-I-S-H-S-P-O-R-T-S-C-A-R) is an apparent
necessity. It has to be something that can be wrested from pop's control
just about the time he turns 16, you see, and the cars pop likes to drive
all are big, like the old man himself.
So this Naval officer of dubious linage decides the time has come to sell
off his pride and joy, a 1970-something MGB, for which he wants $4,500. He even
zero-times the engine, just to make the deal seem sweet. But
nobody takes him up on it, probably because the car has been wrecked twice and
blisters are forming under the paint where the windshield pillars
grow out of the body. A few spots along the fender ridges are showing
orange through the white paint, and there isn't any chrome left on the front
bumper, and there's a hole in the windshield big enough to use as a
gun port, but other than that it's a dream machine. I have been told it
drives well, and the interior is in very good condition. The engine runs
well, but I can't tell whether all the pieces were put back.
Anyway, the Naval officer decides the best route to his money is to
donate the car to a school and take the $4,500 as a tax write off, since
recent trades for such cars in mint condition happened to support that
price. I wish I could be that brazen with the IRS.
During the summer, the school was asking $1,000 for the car, and somebody
offered $650, but the school turned it down. Now it's nearly November and
the school still owns the car, so they wish they'd taken the $650, but
they'll consider $500.
My question to you, as an aficionados of BSCs, is this: as a project/toy,
is it worth investing $500 in such a beast? Obviously, the $500 isn't the
issue. If I buy it for $500 and have to give it away myself because it has
no value, all I've lost is $500 and a few bucks for insurance. The issue
is, how much can I be exposing myself to once I've committed to restore it
as a father-son project? Are old MGBs restorable by someone with the kind
of skills Larry, Moe and Curley would bring to the job? Do
you know of particular pitfalls I don't (I don't know any!!!), and can you tell
me important things I should look for or look at when I go
evaluate this beast Saturday?
On the other hand, the same kid talked me into spending $70 on
back-to-back flying lessons for him, and he wants to get his license
badly enough he is willing to get a job to support the rest of his
training. Cool, eh? Know what else? He had trouble keeping grades above
sea level last year, and with all this stuff going on he's getting A's
and B's. So, dad thinks it's worth it to keep spending the cash and time.
You have any travel plans? Southern California is great this time of
year. The mud slides offset the wild fires.
Say hi to Dee.
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