TN L's Journal

I came here and the MG site to learn about British cars. I am getting ready to retire, and would love to have an MG or Triumph to care for. I have a lot to learn, and I doubt I will be making an acquisition immediately. This site seems to have a wealth of information, and I am looking forward to the process.

I current own a 1995 Miata MX-5, and I care for it myself as best I can, but it is my daily car and very reliable at that.

So what am I looking for?

MGB or Triumph Spitfire
I am also learning about other Triumphs, and I have not ruled out earlier MG’s if they are available.

The MG Midget is very available, so I should consider it, but I am 6’2” and it may not be the car for me (comments here are welcome).

Found a 1972 MGB. Mechanically, in fairly good condition, but it needed some work done. There had been some indifferent maintenance done in the recent past. For example, the brake pads were recent, but the disks had not been machined in the last brake job and were not smooth. A Weber carburetor was installed, but mounted badly. I also did some things not needed in the short term, like replacing engine seals.

Car is running great.

The car was painted a few years ago and most of the paint job is good. Sections of it are not so good, especially on the bottom half of the car. Paint is chipped in a few palaces. It turns out to be the same red as my Miata MX-5 --- I was not expecting that. Most people in the car paint business that I have talked to say Mazda copied the MG paint, so it is an MG color and not just painted using Mazda paint. I think buffing with a good polishing compound in some sections will make improvements. Also, my Mazda touch up paint will work.

No rust! This is the greatest advantage. Engine is sound and runs well. Distributor was rebuilt three months ago by Jeff Schlemmer (I have the receipt). I had a good MG mechanic go over the car.

Most annoying problem is the way I think the car was put together after being painted, mostly with a lot of indifference. Marker lights were backwards on one side and correct on the other. Passenger door lock plates were mounted with stripped screws. These things will take time to go through. Rivets were used as connectors rather than screws in a lot of places. For example, the glove box lock needs replacing, but it is installed with rivets, making the replacement more difficult.

The worst so far is that one of the wire wheels was in such bad shape that, had I known this, I would have never driven it at the time.

The last owner could not care for the car for health reasons. The one before that is a little bit of a mystery. The one before that put all the restoration work in to the car around 2001 - 2002, the results of which I am seeing now. I have all the records from the restorer owner.

Lets call it a driving re-restoration car.

The 72 MGB has a new owner. I sold it about a year ago since I got the '53 TD, the car I always wanted. I really don't have the room for two hobby cars. It is now owned by a teenager in my neighborhood who loves to drive it.

Just before sale it looked like this:
http://www.mgexp.com/registry/GHN5UC283729G