New Hobby 1976 MGB Roadster

[rich_e]

So my wife had an accident and the little Chevy Cobalt suffered so much damage that it was totaled. She's fine (the wife). Really a minor indecent, just veered to far right on a spot of road that happened to not have any shoulder and a very steep embankment.

Here's where she left the road, you can see the trail the car left in the weeds:


And, here's the car:



She's been driving my truck ever since leaving me without a car. Once I got the check from the insurance I started shopping for a used car. Well it seems there are no cars in the Midwest that run or have less than 180,000 miles on them for less than $4,000. The crap that's out there is just amazing. I don't really mind a high-mileage car, but things are going to brake and I want to be able to fix them myself and not have to damn near pull an engine to just change a timing belt (most of the cars I looked at had timing belts that should have been changed at 100,000 miles, most were pushing over a 150,00 and not been changed).

So I started looking a "classics" and I found this 1976 MG B with less than 25,000 miles on it. The guy had listed for $4500 but after about a week, he had dropped the asking price to $3700. I got it for $3400 and you'd have to hit me with a 2X4 to get the grin off my face.





It's not the most practical car, I'll admit that. It does have some "Lucas" electrical gremlins with the temp and fuel gauge and it's a bit buzzy at 75MPH (4 speed, no overdrive). But damn, is it fun. I've always admired the Triumph Spitfire, GT6+, and TR6, but haven seen one for sale. So I think, this MGB is as close as I'll get.

It's been de-smogged and retrofitted with dual carbs.


My carbs were actually way older than the car itself and due for a rebuild. I ended up with a shiny set of "re manufactured" SUs I found on ebay. Looks the business now. LOL.