Category: Rust Never Sleeps (Page 3 of 5)

Restoration for me is an exercise in creating a time machine, something that hearkens back to the day when that car was built–all people were kind, every day was sunny, gas was cheap and the roads were empty, yadda yadda yadda. For me that means returning the car to darn near exactly how it left the factory. But I don’t really think it affects value much to change the color, especially if you change it to another shade sold by the maker in that year. But still…I don’t know if that’s right for me.

For example, I think white cars look best with non-black interiors, red preferably. Yet my ’63 MGB was delivered in white with a black interior…and no one has ever strayed from that specification. Would I be changing the fundamental character of the car by changing the interior to red, introducing bad juju to the machine? My pickup, a wonderfully original old truck, was custom-ordered in the bronze metallic it wears now, still its original paint job almost 40 years later. I like it, but I think the classic look is a two-tone blue and white. But that’s probably too dramatic a change for me.

The ’64 MGB was originally white, and that one will almost certainly end up painted Iris Blue…though maybe not. The Mark I, the ’63 MGB and the ’64 MGB were all originally ivory, I could probably get a discount on buying it in a 55 gallon drum.

To complete my minor Healey retrospective in photos, here’s a shot of a big Healey on the Alpine rally. This may be the Morley brothers, but I’ve misplaced my notes on the photo.

There is a huge thread, now over 80 pages (I think that’s 1600 messages) on a board I don’t normally frequent–I’m not really into “mopars”–about roller painting your car for about $50 in supplies, and achieving pretty good results. The pictured car was painted by said method, as was the orange bug in his photobucket album.

Results seem to be mixed, with some success and lots of “uhhh.” The folks not doing well seem to be rushing the process. It is labor intensive, as much so as the laquer jobs of old.

This is one of my favorite photographs–one of the last “works” Austin Healey rally cars on the incredibly wet 1965 RAC (Royal Automobile Club) rally. The car was driven by Timo Mäkinen and Paul Easter; this is a period publicity shot from BMC.

My friend Tom sent me a few photos of one of his cars, a 1931 MG M-Type. This is the only model of pre-war car I’ve actually had a ride in, and I’d really like to eventually find an MG or other sporting car from the period. They’re diminuative but fun and define the word “character.” There is some great information on the “MMM” cars at, wait for it, the MMM Register.

Tom’s car is really lovely, without being over-restored:

My mother’s very first motorized transport, back in Cheshire in the mid-fifties, was a brand new Triumph Terrier. She has many tales of wrapping herself in newspaper in an effort to stay warm, and of pulling into petrol stations only to find her hands were so cold she couldn’t operate the pump or make change! She only had the machine for about a year before selling it and buying a Mini Countryman wagon as her first four-wheeled transport.

P.S. I’d like to find an example of either machine to restore one day, so…

By “slightly” I mean vastly:

Speaking of Anglias, there’s one in the middle of this rather funny video. Bowling for Soup is a favorite band of mine, and this is “The Bitch Song.” They’re from Texas and goddess knows where they found a right-hand-drive Anglia down there.

Rolls Royce cars only appeal to me in their vintage form; I have no real desire to own one any later than the late 50’s. Frankly, I don’t have any great desire to own one at all, they’re just not my style. But I’d readily make an exception for the “shooting brake” in the photo. This is the true definition of an “estate car,” back when estates were actually more than a split-level house on a third of an acre. (This was taken at the same show as the Jowett.)

Chuck weighs in on my mental state, or rather, that I’m mental…what would he think if I told him I wouldn’t mind the car in the photo? I think this is the only marque to herald from “Herriot country.” One of the few cars I can think of named after a celestial body, too. Horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine. And apparently more than half of the production still exists, though it wasn’t really a success in its day.

Behold the Jowett Jupiter. It’s a rather homely device but unlike the Daimler SP-250, it wasn’t beaten until the ugly stick actually broke. (I took the photo at the Vancouver All British Field Meet in 2003, I think.)