A Mostly British Obsession
We’ve gone through and fixed most of the minor problems…the car has been completely wet-sanded with 600 in prep for another color coat. We’ll have to do a little spot-priming, first. (The bonnet is just casually thrown on the car here as we needed the workspace, hence the poor appearance!)
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Jim got the first coat of Grampian Grey on tonight. It revealed we have a bit of work left to do, so he held off on the clear. We missed some sanding scratches and a couple of dings–staring at primer for ages will do that to you. Aside from a couple of minor points on the body, we completely spaced on one of the doors–it had three small door dings and a very small crease.
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The car just needs to be washed and re-masked for final base/clear to go on. Then the real work of polishing, purchasing and procrastinating begins.
I went to Bellingham to investigate an MG for sale for a friend today. I discovered the MGB in question was only 8 cars later than my ’63–built on the same day, maybe 60 yards apart on the line. To add to the twilight-zone feeling, the gentleman also had a ’67 GT parts car–painted Grampian Grey (a fairly rare color, for what it’s worth). That car was only a couple of hundred numbers earlier than my Grampian Grey ’67 GT.
The chill did not dissuade me from getting the BSA out of its den and taking it to the first-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the “Whidbey Island European Sports Car Club,” which isn’t really a club at all, just an open gathering of like-minded folks at Gerry’s Kitchen in Freeland, Washington. We had a pretty good turnout of interesting machines, such as…
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The bottoms of the fenders still need holes drilled to mount the three screws. The driver’s side fender will need a bit of massaging to fit properly at the bottom, the passenger side is pretty good. The tops are the opposite; the driver’s fender fits very well at the top, the passenger fender is a bit less accurate, though it was like that before and was never hit, so it’s been like that for a long time.
The various body openings were trimmed and clear coated in prep for the final body guide coat and block out. The color is a very, very close match to the original Grampian Grey.
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My friend Jeff and I went to look at this 1969 MGB GT last year, when it was for sale for about $2000. The seller was the daughter of the original owner, who had passed away a couple of years prior; the car was used frequently until his death, but from that point sat idle outside. The car was reasonably original, and while you can see usual MGB rot in the doglegs and lower front fenders, it was solid underneath. Wheels and tires were in good condition, and the engine bay looked pretty clean, though it wasn’t running when we saw it. There were a fair number of new looking pieces here and there.
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Jim has been doing yeoman work on the GT, and tonight it was sprayed with the second primer coat, first for the fenders and bonnet (out of photo). The bonnet was a bit tougher than we hoped, having suffered a few bruises over the years…and stripping the paint from it chemically was not fun. But it’s looking pretty good now.
I just have the inner faces of the doors left to strip. We’re possibly looking at having the car in color by next week!
eBay never ceases to provide entertainment. I see some idiot is offering MGB fiberglass rocker covers for sale. In case you’re unfamiliar with how the MGB is built, the sills (of which the rocker covers are the external part, visible under the doors) are the backbone of the car. They’re not cosmetic pieces, they’re important structural components. That’s why you replace them with new steel when you restore a car if they’re damaged (and that’s why you should be concerned if yours are Swiss cheese). And that’s especially why you don’t do something mindbogglingly stupid like paste fiberglass covers on.
The poor MGB. I thought with their rise in classic status we were beyond crappy, cheap fixes.
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