A friend of mine presented me with an ad from a local paper on friday
"MGBs, two running 3 parts cars make offer"
I called the gentleman and since he was going away for the weekend
arranged to meet today to look at the cars. He told me they were his sons
but that whilst they were ok, they hadnt been used very much for the last
three
years or so and his son had no time to take care of them.
Unfortunately I think the gentlemans sense of time may be in error, as
may be his sence of what "running" means.
I arrived at the appointed hour complete with overalls, flashlight and
trusty screwdriver to behold a fairly depressing scene, four of the cars
have been outside, uncovered (except for one which was totally overgrown
with brambles) two had no engines and all four were close to the point
where a good kick would collapse them in a shower of dust and rust
flakes, not a floor among them and one even had hundreds of worms living
in the leaves that had fallen on it over the years and become mulch. The
fifth was inside a barn and had fared a little better but since it
sported a licence plate from 1991 and a great amount of mouse litter in
the engine bay had obviously not seen the light of day for many a moon.
The engine is stuck.
This one may have had possibilities but a bad rear end shunt may be too
much to fix.
I told the gentleman that they were all really a bit too much to take on
(well he seemed to think he had the mother lode and i didnt want to hurt
his feelings) but that if he didnt have any better luck selling them and
they had to go to the crusher i would give him a couple of hundred to
pick over the bones - there were a few servicable items, door handles,
lights, luggage racks etc and two hardtops which may (repeat may) be
salvageable.
So tonight friends say goodbye to five more..... a 74, two 75s a 77 and a
79
The only good thing is it makes our cars more rare!!
mike robson
69 roadster
70 BGT
72 roadster
ps - i have never seen a bonnet rust through in the centre before!!!!
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