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Unceremoniously arriving on
the back of a flatbed truck
at it's new home.
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After getting my first MG, a 1971 MGB L Roadster, interest in all things MGB began to consume more and more of my thoughts, energy and time. My previous sports car experience was owning a Datsun 2000S Fairlady I bought at age 19 and had for 10 years. For most of that time it was my only car, which in a moment many times regretted, it got sold. Buying the MGB Roadster was like a coming home for me, picking up where the Dato left off. My brother began to have a growing interest in MG's as well and went on to buy a nice MGB GT LE UK edition. My son revealed that out of an interest in wanting to learn how to work on cars, YouTube searches had led him to subscribe and follow a restoration project on, of all things, an MGB GT. I knew his favourite car of all time is a 70's Mach 1 Mustang, and I learned specifically it is the fast back styling that appeals to him, the MGB GT had the fast back styling he liked which explained following the MGB GT restoration project on YouTube. Well, yeah, that makes sense to me. The conversation came around to my long held soft spot for MGB GT's, with its pretty lines and what my son refers to as the 'fastback' styling, and especially an example in Teal blue stood out as desirable to me, I remember googling over one I stumbled across in a car park many years ago.
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New lodgings.
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As luck or providence would have it, a Teal Blue MGB GT popped up for sale in my local market. My son and I talked about getting it as a project car to work on together. Taken off the road in 2003 for some restoration work, the drive line had been rebuilt, motor, overdrive gearbox and diff, the alternator, the twin Su's, radiator and brake system with vacuum booster were rebuilt, the interior was completely gutted and some exterior parts taken off, all in crates and boxes with rags stuffed into vulnerable engine orifices. Arrangements were made to view it, a deal was eventually struck and home came the Teal Blue GT unceremoniously on the back of a flatbed truck, 17 years after being taken off the road for restoration.
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What a mess.
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After initially being a little overwhelmed with where to start with the boxes of parts, nuts, bolts and bits and pieces, the car generally is in a sorry state, for the sake of simply doing something we started at what seemed like the logical place with the duco and interior getting a good clean up. The last date on the pile of receipts that came with the purchase is 2007, the assumption is it hasn't been touched since then, attracting dirt and dust all that time unattended. The last couple of months my time has been spent sifting through the boxes and bits, researching online, and getting an idea of which direction the project should go.
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Where to start.
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My long term goal in terms of what I want from the Teal Blue GT is to have a reliable and strong classic car to be able to cope with the rigors and demands of being my regular everyday driver, to hook up to a homemade micro camper trailer, ideal for long distant club runs, and take me up to the retirement stage of my life and beyond. Initially the idea of a restoration appealed to me. Research revealed two things that would steer the project in the direction we are now taking it.
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Whoopsy daisy, a bit of
a bump.
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One was the cost involved, both monetary and time required to take projects like this down the path of restoration. I baulk at the amount of money involved in doing that, and as for the time, well to go in that direction takes a lot of time and frankly I want to see it up and running and driving down the road under its own steam, as does my son. Secondly, the research revealed surprisingly an option I'd never heard of before and entirely not considered to take the project down the path of refurbishing the car, essentially to work with what can be refurbish as close to the original car as practically and aesthetically possible, and to put back together a reliable car that performs to my specifications that at the same time retains its original patina. Rat rods are a good example of this idea and it very much appeals to me to take that approach with a classic MGB GT, especially one in Teal Blue. Talking it through with my son who calls the Teal Blue GT his inheritance totally agrees, for him it was the only way he ever viewed it. Great, direction established, forward we go.
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Some things are getting done, notice the glossy rear
quarter panel, roof, C pillars and left-hand rear quarter panel.
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Stay tuned for updates to this project.
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