Subject: [Mgs] Now I'm in for it...

From: Max Heim <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 12:40:18 -0700

I just bought a rolling 67 MGB shell as a replacement for my trusty but
rusty 66 roadster. It's been in dry storage in a woodshop, apparently --
it's full of sawdust but no rust on the bodywork. The seller had got it in
a package deal with a 65 runner that had rusted out doglegs. He just wanted
to flip the pair of them. He was eager to move them since they filled his
shop floor to the point of gridlock.

The plan is to finish stripping this shell and drop it at the paint shop. It
is missing a left front wing (which I have) and a front valence. The only
body damage I could discern was on the rear valence near the right spring
shackle -- it looks like it had fallen off the jack onto a jackstand. After
I got it home I would swap everything over from the 66, including the entire
suspension (mine has wire wheels, this has steelies from some other marque
with enormous tires -- 195/70 and 185/70), the drivetrain obviously, and the
decent interior bits. This would leave me with enough parts to host my own
swap meet, though the 66 shell is probably too far gone to interest anyone
out here on the west coast.

The floors and boot are full of miscellaneous junk that needs to be cleaned
out, some of which constitutes actual parts (air cleaners, door pulls,
window winders). The seats are out of a 73 or so, but I wasn't planning to
use them -- pretty much everything would come out of the 66 or new from
Moss.

We did a little horsetrading -- he wanted to keep the windshield and the
Nardi steering wheel for the other car, but I got him to throw in the
fiberglass hardtop for $100. I actually hooked this onto my 66 and drove
home with it -- it's quieter and sturdier than my Snugtop, even with the
headliner falling out and no seals. This is one of those rounded-looking
ones with the wraparound rear window -- probably a dealer option since it
was painted body color (Old English White).

>From the VIN, this was one of the last 500 67s off the line (out of over
29,000 roadsters).

Oh, well, it will keep me off the streets, as they say...

--

Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149 (days are numbered, but don't tell her that)
If you're near Menlo Park, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires
BTW, it just completed the 2014 California Melee with no problems except an
occasional reluctance to start when hot.
_______________________________________________

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---

From: Max Heim <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 16:38:35 -0700

Correction:

I said "...29,000 roadsters [in 1967]..."  -- that's way off. I was going by
the VIN range, but that included GTs as well, and it turns out they
preallocated VINs in groups, so not all of those numbers were used. So there
were only just over 15,000 roadsters in 67, making it kind of a down year. I
suspect they shut down the line early to prep for the changeover to the Mark
II. That still puts this in the last month of production of Mark I models,
probably in the last 2 weeks (this would be October 1967).

Curiously, it doesn't have any sign of ever having had reverse lamps, which
supposedly were rolled into production in March 1967, some 15,000 VINs
earlier. I'm thinking "The Original MGB" must have its facts wrong in this
case.

--

Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149

[email-masked]

---

From: Max Heim <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 10:08:42 -0700

I think you must be right. The VIN numbers he quoted didn't make sense in
context, either -- they were several thousand numbers ahead of the date he
mentioned, which makes me think he may have misread a digit, and they should
have been thousands later (for example, second digit should have been a "6"
but was read as a "0").

on 9/15/14 9:57 AM, Michael Singleton at [email-masked] wrote:

> Max;
> I suspect that the book has it wrong. I think that the introduction to the
> reverse lamps was 1969, with a few stuck on '68's, but I'm going just from
> vague memories. (I have a '69 with reverse lamps and side reflectors)
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> Michael Singleton
> Sportscars Ltd
> 10170 Croydon Way
> Suite M
> Sacramento, CA 95826
> (916)366-0330
> [email-masked]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mgs [mailto:[email-masked]] On Behalf Of Max Heim
> Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2014 4:39 PM
> To: MG List
> Subject: Re: [Mgs] Now I'm in for it...
> 
> Correction:
> 
>> I just bought a rolling 67 MGB shell as a replacement for my trusty
>> but rusty 66 roadster. It's been in dry storage in a woodshop,
>> apparently -- it's full of sawdust but no rust on the bodywork. The
>> seller had got it in a package deal with a 65 runner that had rusted
>> out doglegs. He just wanted to flip the pair of them. He was eager to
>> move them since they filled his shop floor to the point of gridlock.
>> 
>> The plan is to finish stripping this shell and drop it at the paint
>> shop. It is missing a left front wing (which I have) and a front
>> valence. The only body damage I could discern was on the rear valence
>> near the right spring shackle -- it looks like it had fallen off the
>> jack onto a jackstand. After I got it home I would swap everything
>> over from the 66, including the entire suspension (mine has wire
>> wheels, this has steelies from some other marque with enormous tires
>> -- 195/70 and 185/70), the drivetrain obviously, and the decent
>> interior bits. This would leave me with enough parts to host my own
>> The floors and boot are full of miscellaneous junk that needs to be
>> cleaned out, some of which constitutes actual parts (air cleaners,
>> door pulls, window winders). The seats are out of a 73 or so, but I
>> wasn't planning to use them -- pretty much everything would come out
>> of the 66 or new from Moss.
>> 
>> We did a little horsetrading -- he wanted to keep the windshield and
>> the Nardi steering wheel for the other car, but I got him to throw in
>> the fiberglass hardtop for $100. I actually hooked this onto my 66 and
>> drove home with it -- it's quieter and sturdier than my Snugtop, even
>> with the headliner falling out and no seals. This is one of those
>> rounded-looking ones with the wraparound rear window -- probably a
>> dealer option since it was painted body color (Old English White).
>> 
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--

Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149

[email-masked]