1958 MGA Coupe

bobs77vet

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Joined
Mar 27, 2008
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Location
arlington va
something new has found its way in the garage....follow along as we eat the elephant one bite at a time....hasnt run in over 27 yrs....heres the deal we bought it from a 79 yr old gentleman who bought the car in 1985 from a neighbors yard, he had restored one in 1965 and was going to restore this one but never got around to it....he did buy new bumpers, leather seat kit, all new rear and front glass, complete carpet set, deluxe panel set, headliner and complete rubber kit all of which is in good shape and it came with an extra MGA transmission and extra Triumph spitfire: engine, trans and set of seats...

work done to date....shovelled out crap from car, hosed down interior and exterior, pulled out center wooden floors,vaccumed car,oild windows and made them crank up and down, took out spark plugs and put 4ozs of auto trans fluid in each cylinder. oiled up valve train.....the oil in engine is clean and the oil in trans is clean, this is a good sign.... also unpacked all boxes of parts and they all look good the interior panel kit and upholstery looks fine....waiting for a sunny day to air it all out.


the accomplices.....
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NO question you think I full of crap, but seeing that old car I just discovered a OLD ash tray from decades ago, under a bunch of papers on my desk here....every thing from beer down to house taxes and shit....

so this AM I found that knockoff and so set it up on the rear edge of the desk, then I spot this thread.....

not knowing WHAT car is came from anymore, I just let it set, no biggie...not tossing it, has age and character that rivals a Shakespeare play....

then YOU have to post this thread, and remind my old ass with the photograph of the RIGHT side of the car....and this knock off is shaped IDENTICAL to your pix there.... hold it up by one ear, and the writing around the hub says....UNDO---> then UNDO and under that is said RIGHT SIDE

I have had this since forever, maybe 40 years +-.....

:harhar::shocking::beer::beer:
 
Clearly a knockoff hub such as on my Jags. US spec as it says right side because the Brit cars said nearside and offside. I'd suspect it's from a later car because the early ones said nothing, you were supposed to know!:rofl:
 
I just gotta ask--

The MGA roadsters had no outside door handles or roll up windows. Snap in sidecurtains or tonneau cover, with a pull cable door latch release only operable from the inside--You had to unsnap the tonneau cover or sidecurtains and reach down inside to open the door. I don't see outside door handles on this coupe! How do you open the doors if the windows are up??

I did see a MGA coupe in high school ( when I had my Austin Healy) but never got a chance to meet it (him). It allegedly had a 283 SBC in it. And as I remember, I think it really did. A good buddy of mine had a 62 MGA roadster (with horizontal taillites & drop grill) and we cruised together a lot....

Man, a lot of work ahead, but a very cool and unique car.

The map light on the right and the push pump windshield squirter sure bring smiles to my face. I used to twist the squirter nozzles to the side and spray people at stoplights.......

I think the second ever model car I built was an MGA, bought for 75 cents or so of hard earned money down at the little corner grocery....Alongside the groceries & household sundries, Mr. Grant always had a few feet of shelf space for kites, paper dolls, balsawood airplanes, plastic jewelry and a few model cars. He payed me 25 cents to sweep once a week and $1.00 to scoop the snow from his sidewalk and the old widow lady's walk next door.....
 
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I like it (although it is British).... But I have to say, judging by the photos it appears it takes some giant size ballz to take on this project :clap:
This is not going to be easy :D
 
this will be my 5th British car project

heres my last MGA (finished) that red head sticking out is my older son standing next to the trailer in the new photos

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and this is little Joe my youngest son the moose

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what most of my projects look like to start this is a big healey

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finished... the two boys on the pass side are my two sons standing next to the trailer.

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the door handles are the small vertical fingers right next to the window trim almost invisible to see

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as for what we are going to do with it i am not sure....still evaluating the situation. maybe a modified racer....maybe stock just not sure yet, we got the engine to rotate yesterday. still just cleaning up all the good parts and repacking them and letting the carpeting and interior kits air out....i havent decided on positive or negative grnd or 1-12v or 2-6v batteries

those pictures of the restored cars are always fun....we looked at the VHS tape i made of the first MGA project the other night and it was pretty fun seeing the little kids running around it.

I love metal work and welding so this was my chance to buy a shrinker and stretcher and use all that metal working and welding equipment i have....unfortunately creating metal art is just not my strength but fabricating a piece of metal to replace an existing piece i do great at.

and the life blood of the car:

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Bob, if you just lived here. I'd do the mechanics, and you could do the sheetmetal/paint/interiors. We could knock em out.:drink::drink:
 
I love metal work and welding so this was my chance to buy a shrinker and stretcher and use all that metal working and welding equipment i have....unfortunately creating metal art is just not my strength but fabricating a piece of metal to replace an existing piece i do great at.

Want to make a new rear body corner for my 54 GMC 1-ton panel truck? :devil:
 
Almost bought a twin cam "A" coupe - but my mother would not co-sign the loan. She figured that meant it was too fast. :D

She also would not co-sign for an old race car called the Mongoose. It was a wrecked AC Cobra 289 rebuilt with a 327 Corvette motor. She knew something was up there also. I guess Mothers have that second sense.

In college I had a "B" model & I blew the trans. Got it fixed at the dealer, and not more than 3 red light away from the dealer, promptly blew it again with a hole shot. My cousin was always pulling hole shots with the Split window that I own today and I figured my 4 cylinder bucket was also capable. Not.

Later I had 3 "B" models at the same time - always needed spares.

Old joke: You know why the British like warm beer? They have Lucas refrigerators.
 
Bob, if you just lived here. I'd do the mechanics, and you could do the sheetmetal/paint/interiors. We could knock em out.:drink::drink:

Damn, in SoCal??? if I wasnt that far I'd help, got nuthing to do for the next couples of months

Of course got only one hand that works but I'll bet I could manage the beer fridge take the pics for the build thread!
 
Bob, if you just lived here. I'd do the mechanics, and you could do the sheetmetal/paint/interiors. We could knock em out.:drink::drink:

Damn, in SoCal??? if I wasnt that far I'd help, got nuthing to do for the next couples of months

Of course got only one hand that works but I'll bet I could manage the beer fridge take the pics for the build thread!

My left knee got shot out again, doing some simple yard work, then lifting HUGE OAK tree sections on to a pickup for hauling, the ~100' tree in my front had to come down, all the guys said it was dieing due to very substantial dead branches up top....WAY up top, no growth this season....

so they cut off, and so the rest of the tree is full of decay and rot....lovely...

so to make a bench outta the stump....

did open up the yard a bit, and messed up my left knee too, damn skeleton, cheep import damn rusty junk....:suicide:
 
Bob, if you just lived here. I'd do the mechanics, and you could do the sheetmetal/paint/interiors. We could knock em out.:drink::drink:


yeah i think that would be a bang up idea....we kicked ass today on it. the boys and i put in 2-3 hours and pulled all the wings (fenders) off. its amazing what young agile, strong and flexible kids can do with some adult supervision....all in all its in better shape than i what thought and in better shape then my last one. i will take and post some pictures after dinner
when things quiet down here... the two front fenders only need spot repairing i dont need to repalce the entire lower bottom of them . not sure on the rear fenders dog leg i will look at that later....you should have seen the size of the spiders that came out of this thing....one had a leg span bigger that a silver dollar and it spooked me miserably.....it was like tracking the Bismarck through the north sea as it scurried about....but about 1/4 can of wasp killer made it slow enought that my 200lb size 9s took care of the rest....if the kids saw that one they would never have been helping me. it still gives me the willies

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