Finding the right classic car.

Hello all and welcome to my blog..

For a long time I'd always wanted some kind of classic car. My parents used to have an '81 Ford Fiesta with a mere 25,000 miles on the clock. Dougie as the Fiesta was affectionately known  was dry stored and taken to local shows. Eventually Dougie won best post 1960 classic car at a local car show. Unfortunately my parents downsized and Dougie had to change hands.

I'd always figured I'd get access to a dry garage and then buy a classic car for fair weather use. After being on a long waiting list I managed to get myself a garage. Spruced it up with a bit of paint and used it to store my day car:

My day car, a Fiat 500 in the recently painted garage.

First I started looking for a Ford Capri. I was a bit of a Professionals fan after watching re-runs of it on ITV4 and naturally thought Capri. I went and had a look signal amber MK2 Capri locally that had just had a "respray". I then got a friendly mechanic to look at it with me who gave it a thumbs down. He also talked me through some figures for maintaining and repairing a Ford Capri after which I came to the conclusion it wasn't meant to be.

After doing a bit of research I decided to look at MGBs. Quite a few still around, lots and lots of parts for them and of course the MG owners club. Where could I go wrong!

I started trawling the net and classic car classifieds for this magic MGB. Firstly I looked at a rubber bumper convertible in red. Having hooned about in a couple of MX5s previously a roadster seemed like the obvious choice. I went and view the roadster and was a bit disappointed. It wasn't the right car as it was loaded with filler and beautified on the cheap. I was put off looking at any more roadsters as the hood design and seals around the windows didn't look that practical, particularly compared to the more modern MX5.

Shortly thereafter I started looking at MGB GTs instead. First off was a white rubber bumper. When pulling up to have a look at it I instantly liked the lines of the car, even with the rubber bumpers! The current owner also took me for a test drive in the car, explained the overdrive and few quirks of MGB ownership. Liked it a lot but wasn't sure about the condition. Would have made a brilliant daily drive, but of course I wasn't after a daily.

Then had a look at a few more cars, both rubber and chrome ones. I'd well and truly entered that experience they call 'buying a used car'. After being lured in by impressive descriptions over the phone and talk of amazing bodywork and good mechanics I went and viewed some examples of neglect, orange peel, hand painted, leaing petrol tanks and various other gremlins. 

Some of the nasties I saw whilst viewing one car: rust, badly applied body filler and paint brush touch ups!

After speaking to my friendly mechanic again i decided that getting a full metal respray was not going to be financially viable. On the mechanics advice, I then started looking for the best shell I could get, regardless on interior, wheels and age.

After continued searching on the net I came across one for sale in Norwich that fitted the bill. I went up with my Dad one Saturday morning to have a look. A '72 MGB GT in Damask red having had a full metal respray. Other bonuses included wire wweels and a factory fitted Webasto roof.

Viewing the Damask red MGB in Norwich. Full metal respray, Webasto roof and wire wheels.

Turns out the owner of 'Nigel' (named after the registration plate) was a panel beater by trade and did most of the restoration including prep and respray himself. The respray itself was of very high quality by my eyes and it was evident the owner had paid a lot off attention to detail. The engine bay and underside of the car were detailed as part of the respray. The car was dusty but none the less spotless. The owner reckoned the car had done about 500 miles since its rebuild and was only ever taken out in dry weather and had never needed cleaning!

After ride in Nigel with the owner and further inspection I made an offer and paid a deposit. The car was MOT' and had a new coil fitted. A couple of weeks later I went to collect the car. 

Driving the vehicle home it was pretty obvious how little the car had been used.  Gearbox and overdrive seemed to work flawlessly, steering was perfect. However the car wasn't idling very well and the coil seemed to be getting very hot. Was pretty obvious, like with all classic cars some work was going to be needed pretty soon!