It started with an ad that caught my eye "1971 MGB GT Special - Free to a good home".
I had spotted this as the most recent post on the front page of the mgexp.com website. It had been posted just a few minutes before to a new member's personal blog page - not the discussion forums or 'for sale' marketplace that people usually pay attention to. I don't know if I'm crazy or fortunate, but I replied immediately.
The owners had inherited the car from their father recently and had sentimental feelings for it, having driven it themselves in high school and college. It was located in Texas, very close to where some of my family lives. We came to an agreement that I would become the new caretaker of the car, and I embarked on a journey to retrieve it.
I needed to transport it to North Carolina - a distance of about 1200 miles. The decision was made to rent a Uhaul car trailer in Texas and to tow it back with my 'Trusty' 1999 Chevy Suburban K2500. Before leaving on the journey, my brother visited the site to check out
the car and send me some photos. His assessment was that it was worth
saving.
This one hasn't been registered since the 1980s and had been sitting in
this spot outside since then. A
few generations of packrats had packed every possible crevice around the
engine nearly to the top. Rotted tires had lizards living inside.
The good: it's a one-owner car, original paint, complete and original.
Mostly solid body, no serious collision damage. Engine turns.
The bad: roof had a vinyl top and rusted through from the outside after the top rotted.
While in Texas I visited with family and enlisted some help with the
loading. My brothers there are also MGB fans, and were happy to help. We swapped the wheels so we could get it loaded onto the trailer. Brakes
were frozen but a liberal dose of PB Blaster got it rolling.
Ready for the 1200 mile tow from Texas to North Carolina.
Got some sleep at the halfway point in Alabama at a rest-stop.
First thing to do when I got it home was to begin
the cleaning. Dug a full large garbage bag of packrat nesting and midden
from around the engine. Some of it was almost like concrete. A pressure
washer helped. Eventually I struck engine.
Just out of curiosity, I tried polishing some of the original paint to see if I could bring some shine back to it.
The former vinyl top was laid out in a strange pattern - as if they had tried to mimic the look of a T-Top.
Everywhere the vinyl had been the top is rusted out. Eventually this will get a new top skin. I'll refurbish it as original, except no more vinyl top. Probably stay
with the same color even - I think it's called 'Bronze Yellow'. The body
is very straight.
The interior is all there but is totally fried from
the sun and time. It will need to be completely replaced.
It's going to be a
while before I can get started on the restoration since there's a '72
ahead of it in the queue. But I may try to get it running in the
meantime.
