John S's Journal

It’s been a bit of a journey. From the wreck that totaled my ‘70 roadster to the acquisition of the ‘71 GT that had been dormant for 34 years and all that transpired over the last 18 months. Got it running and driving for an assessment of what the car needed, parked it and concentrated on stripping the wrecked roadster down to the bare shell. Sold a lot of parts and kept a lot of the useful bits and in the process, managed to exceed the value that was placed on the car as salvage value and learned a lot about how the car was put together. Once that was done and the shell was out of the garage, cut up and scrapped, I could finally begin the slow process of pulling the engine and gearbox to fix the clutch and install the OD gearbox. And all of the engine bay cleaning and painting, heater box rebuild, front end cleaning and powder coating, new springs, dampers cleaned and refilled, poly suspension, stainless steel Bell exhaust, powder coated wheels with new tires and probably some other things that I can’t recall. Everything that came off the car in the process got cleaned. Countless hours running a rotary wire brush over nuts, bolts, etc.
Progress was slowed by a serious medical issue with my better half that came to light during that time and as her condition improved, I was able to spend a bit more time in the garage. All of the above resulted in a timeline that stretched far beyond my expectation but today none of that seemed to matter as it was insured yesterday and this afternoon, I was able to take it for a 20 mile cruise out in the countryside just beyond the city limits. A nice blend of twists and turns and little to no traffic. The car ran great and should run even better when my Curto rebuilds show up soon. I’m chuffed to be back in an MGB again.