Matt Drayer's Journal

"Hi Dad, I have a journalism project I need a hand with..." Sure, I'm thinking, some sort of diorama? Maybe a trip to a museum, a national park, or maybe a photo safari? We have what I would consider a wonderful relationship, but my 16yo daughter rarely leaves her room when she's home, and even more rarely asks me for anything at this point.

"What do you think about working on a project car together?"

I'm dumbfounded. She knows I'm a car guy. She'd better not be pulling my chain. "Are you serious? Because if you are, I'm in. We'll find a car, we'll do all the work, and when it's done, you'll get to drive me around town and it'll be awesome.'

"Yes, I'm serious!"

And so it begins -- I dive deeply into the rabbit hole of project car culture. I've always been a car guy -- I've owned a few at this point -- and a few I'd personally wrenched on 1974 VW Super Beetle (engine swap), a 1978 Mercedes 300D (diesel???), a 2000 Jeep Wrangler TJ (total overhaul). What would it be this time?

"How about a truck?" "Hmm...no."
"A old school Mini Cooper?" "No"
"Honda Fit? We could give it a fun paint job and snazzy wheels!" "Nope."
"Muscle car?" "Maybe..."
"How about this 1989 BMW convertible? It's red and in pretty good condition." "No thanks." (Yes, my teenage daughter declined an offer to buy her a BMW convertible.)
"1978 Pontiac Trans Am? Smokey and the Bandit!" "That's pretty cool looking, maybe." (Yessss...)

I begin watching Trans Am restoration YouTubes. Dozens of them. Not so bad -- I can handle that. Now I just need the project...wow there's a lot of beaters out there. Wait, $12k for a beater?!! What about a roller? $8k for a ROLLER??? The engine bay is full of hay!!! Who's buying these rustbuckets? "I know what I've got" says the seller. I don't think you know what you got, buddy...

To Craigslist..."project car". Hey, check it out, a little MG Midget, I remember those. It looks like it's in great shape. Seller says it runs, has brought it to a few car shows, needs a bit of work, engine ran as of a couple months ago, asking price seems excellent based on some quick comp research and leaves room in the budget for tools and parts. Oh man, this would be great! Of course, she'll never go for it....

"Hey sweetie, check this out. It's a 1979 MG Midget -- this could be a fun one." "Did you just say 'midget'? That's the name of the car?" "Well, um, yeah. I mean, I know the name isn't exactly PC these days, but the parts are cheap, it's easy to work on, there seems to be a great community, and it'll fit in our little garage. People also refer to these cars as 1500's, so we could call it that instead of a midget." (Please...)

"It's really cute! Let's do it!"