Nigel: '72 MGB GT: First Weekend

So the weekend came. Nigel braved the weather to come out for a decent clean. First off was a coat of Meguiars HyperWash foam, rinse of with a hose, Meguiars Shampoo Plus applied with a Swissvax Waschpudel and another rinse. The car was then dried off with a microfiber car towel (I gave up on chamois leather 6 months ago).

I hadn't touched the wheels and up to this point I avoided getting them wet. The wheels were sprayed with Mothers Chrome Wheel cleaner, hosed off and then dried with microfibers.

Washing the car did allow me to identify a few weakness in the seals. as expected top of the door glass leaks a bit, the seals around the passenger door are a bit iffy ad the seal around the tailgate needs replacing at some point.

The carpet was given a bit of a hoover and I identified areas of carpet that needed sticking down. The previous owner didn't stick all the carpet down, simply so he could show off the quality of the respray!

British weather dictated that it soon rain so unfortunately no time to get any polish or wax on the body. I did however have time to get some pictures for the insurance valuation before the car had to go back to storage:

That quintessential front end. Now sporting cliche fluffy dice, British Leyland tax disc holder and MGOC sticker.

The untouched rear end. The rear reversing lights do need replacing as they have faded.

Side profile with wire wheels and opened webasto roof.

The engine bay, detailed by the previous owner.

...and on the way home back to the lockup.

Once the car was stored up again I start to rummage through some of the paperwork. Nigel's previous owner had handed me a file full of random bills, MOTs and tax discs from other former owners. He also provided some photos of the work he did on the car. Having had a bit of an explore I began to get a better picture of the car's history.

Turns out Nigel was first registered at a British Leyland dealer in Surrey in October 1972. The car was original harvest gold, not Damask red. Nigel was kept in the Surrey area for many years. In 1986 the car underwent an outer respray in the original harvest gold and was fitted with new front wings and outer sills. The rear wheel arches were also repaired. The car found its way to Kings Lynn in Norfolk by 1989, where it stayed until around 2010.

By 20011 Nigel had found his way into the hands of his previous owner (before me). By this time Nigel was in quite a bad way, with rust affecting the wing sand floor at the least. Nigel was then completely stripped and given a full respray in Damask red. All the panel work was replaced, floor plan and key structural parts of the car totally restored to its original glory.


You can see what was left of the original harvest gold colour and Rostyle wheel. Here the owner is preparing o repair and replace the castle sections.

What was left of the shell when the car was stripped.

All the work on the car was done over a two year period. As well as a full respray the suspension was rebuilt, engine components were resprayed for the engine bay detail, wire wheels were fitted, dashboard was reconditioned and a new vinyl interior was fitted.