A Mostly British Obsession
Valuable, if hard, lessons learned
In one of those fortunate coincidences, a gentleman up in Anacortes was offering a set of good wire wheels with nearly new tires to fit an MGB on craigslist for $200, and since I desperately needed tires, I emailed as soon as I saw the ad. Fortunately, I was the first to be able to get to his house–the GT now has new boots.
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The ’67 GT arrived today from San Diego. My friend Paul is manning the wheel while Dave (of “Dave and the Dog” auto transport) guides him off the trailer. The car is very straight, valance panel aside, and the paint is baked, along with the interior. But it’s a nice car. And as a bonus, it was originally painted Grampian Grey, a nice medium grey which I hope to return the car to.
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I’ve wanted a nice early MGB GT for awhile now, and now I own this example. These early GTs had pleasing crackle-finish metal dashes, old-style switches, low-back leather seats, the early style grille and non-syncro gearboxes–all things I admire.
A friend spotted this for sale (in San Diego) and I’ve agreed to buy it for a very reasonable price, even if you include the shipping. The previous owner bought it in the early 1970s and, aside from the severely sun-faded paint, it’s largely original and runs well.
The car does not have overdrive, which is the only upgrade I’d care to make from the original specification. I have yet to own an MGB with overdrive, which is surprising given how much nicer it makes the car on the highway. Ah, well, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for another non-sycro O/D gearbox…
I sold the Vanden Plas earlier today for just a smidgen more than I paid for it. I like the car and felt it was good value, but I’m going to stick to genuinely old stuff for the time being.
I’ve been doing some long-delayed work on the ’63 MGB–I’ll post a roundup of what’s been happening under that bonnet in the next day or so.
I must be getting old, because the ride I took from our place to my parent’s in Port Townsend on Sunday was chilly, and yet it was 50 degrees or more out. We were promised a 70 degree day and it never quite materialized. This photo was taken at the Keystone ferry terminal, I was plenty early for my boat, something that will shock anyone who knows me.
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Generally speaking, I’m very pleased with the Vanden Plas. I’ve put a few thousand miles on it and it has returned a rock steady 23 MPG — overall. On the highway it gets very close to 30 MPG.
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I took Goldie the truck up to Friday Harbor recently to pick up an elderly bandsaw to add to my growing collection of old Delta woodworking machinery. It was about as beautiful a winter day as you’ll see up here!
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We don’t normally get this kind of snow down here next to the sea; it was beautiful while it lasted. This photo was taken on Christmas Eve, and the snow is all-but-gone as of today.
As it turns out, we did get some snow, albeit a day late. As you can see, the drifts are nearly insurmountable–we may not be able to get out of the house for weeks. (Well, OK, this is a typical Puget Sound lowlands snow, a couple of inches which, none-the-less, sends the locals into a panic.)
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We were promised a local blizzard and we got…nothing. This is a photo from last year when we got a few inches of snow. (The amount you see here is enough to send all of western Washington state into a panic, with such curiousities as people chaining up on bare roads, abandoned cars in the middle of slushy but otherwise OK roads, etc., etc. It really is quite amusing.)
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