Before and after | MG Midget and Sprite General

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MG Midget and Sprite General - Before and after

Here's a new subject. People are always saying they want pictures so....Post two photos (no more or it will get slow to load) as before and after pairs of any spridget work (or un-work!)

Here's a pair to start with...

Guy Weller

and, later.....

OK, so there's a bit still left to do!

Guy Weller

>>Here's a pair to start with...<<

Where?

If your pair are to big to post resize them to half or less

ETA: typed so slow again that I look like and idiot - but you may need to resize your photos if they load so slow you need two posts

PS nice colour

Nigel Atkins

Nigel, they are re-sized down to 165Kb each. Just didn't think one could upload more than one photo per message so was doing them in consecutive posts.

Guy

Guy Weller

Guy I don't know what 165Kb is I only know 100% and smaller

I'm just about to upload my contribution 268Kb and 53.6KB let's see what happens

oh no, now I remember yes you're right only one photo per post - sorry

Nigel Atkins

My Previous Spridget just after my purchase

Nigel Atkins

And shortly before I sold it

most of the differences are hidden but some may be able to spot some differences from the two photos

I wonder if it's still around

Nigel Atkins

Guy, nice thread and nice colour too

I Henderson

This is my 1500 that is going through a de-bumper and K series conversion.

Nowhere near finished but I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. :)

Anyway, before....

Steve Hipkiss

And after...(ish)

Steve Hipkiss

Before

PeterJMoore

and after

PeterJMoore

norm "before" (1980)

Norm Kerr

me "after"

Norm Kerr

woops! this is supposed to be about Midgets!

Ok, here's my "before", the first time around (1992)

fresh home from a scrap yard, 135k on the clock, all rubber rotted, all bearings shot, engine rebuilt at least once before, needed a full rebuild again, broken top ("hood"), and so on.

Norm Kerr

....and in what seemed like a "twinkling of an eye", but was, in fact, 12 solid months of mechanical overhaul (but no body work), it looked nice and ran / drove GREAT:

(mechanically, it was a new car, but, the rust was still nibbling away underneath...)

Norm Kerr

so, here's a "before" shot, from the "second time around"

no mechanical work, to speak of, but a full body strip and re-do.

Norm Kerr

(whew), it is hard posting a lot of pictures here), and here's today's status:

it is getting there!

ooooh, that pretty, pretty bodywork. hmmmmmmm

and new wire harness, and new plumbing, and new wire wheel hubs

soooooo nice......

Norm Kerr

lol @ Norm, great pics.

Loving the "Give War a Chance" sticker/marker work

P.S - if you ever want to throw that workshop my way it would be much appreciated ;)

PeterJMoore

guy thats a stunning colour.good choice.

roy j

Norm

If you've gone to all that trouble to sort the bodywork, why have you painted the sills(rockers) all black? Just a thought.

Dave O'Neill 2

Before...

(Barry Callen, circa 1985 West Malling aerodrome)

James B

After...

(Me, Lydden circuit 2009)

Tis the same car...

James B

no good reason.
it came that way, and I always thought it looked better with black rockers.

Also, the new red paint has about 5 ~ 10% flatting agent in it, so the whole car looks kind of like it was never restored, just well preserved.

I know I'll never win a concours, because my dampers are painted black (shock (pun), horrors!).

":o)

I decided that I'd make my car look as good as I could possibly do, but not worry about originality in certain places, as I already got rid of the Gina Lolabrigitta over riders, and the air pump, and the seat belt interlock / buzzer system (I re-wrapped the new harness loom after I took all of those wires out, and added my own for relays for the lights, horns, and starter, so it'll look "factory" though), and am fitting leather seat covers, and already did the copper-nickel plumbing...

About the work shop: I rebuilt this car the first time in an un-heated, one car garage, which was a step up from that Maverick in the "before" photo of me, as that winter was super cold and I didn't have a kerosene heater in high school, just a 150W lamp to warm up with. Over all those years I said to myself, "I wonder if one day I'll have a 'fancy' workshop, with heat, and enough lighting?". And, well, how about that? And with air conditioning now too!

Norm "rich b*stard" Kerr

Norm Kerr

Wow James - I remember that car ..... I lived near West Malling "airport" for a couple of years in my youth, and would walk through the woods to watch the cars!

Mine isn't so much different at the moment - and most changes are so minute, that no-one would notice :(

rachmacb

James - I can't help but get all excited over the fact you painted a Midget a colour worthy of an ASBO.

Love It!!!!

PeterJMoore

Before...

A

Anthony Cutler

After ... (Kseries conversion...).

BRB never came to be a basket case, since I bought it as a 4-year-old and rust hadn't really taken hold... I think I could have bought the Waxoyl company for the amount of product I bought in the late 70s and early 80s.

The corollary of course is you can't go near the underside without being covered in black greasy stuff...

I have re-sprayed twice (1981 and 1995), but only for cosmetic reasons.

A

Anthony Cutler

Before

Nick

After

Nick

Good photos. I was sort of expecting before and after shots of a single job, rather than a lifetime! As the blue ones are only a couple of weeks apart I better put up my real "before" shot taken when I first acquired the car 20 years ago.

Guy Weller

WOW, Guy, the MOT was more lenient back then, huh?

Norm "that'll buff out" Kerr

Norm Kerr

Here are some 'before' and 'after' of the welding work we did - that's my dad in the photos.

MarkH1

and here's a proper 'after' shot.

MarkH1

This was when I had promised myself that anything I did would last no more than a couple of weeks so I didn't end up with another unfinished project on the drive / in the garage :(

S Deakin

And this is 12 months+ later as I bodge an exhaust manifold to the XE (and hasn't been on the road since...)

S Deakin

I bought my Midget back before the digital camera days (1995, to be precise), so to get any true "before" pictures I'd need to scan prints, which I don't have handy at the moment. So here's a smallish shot from 2003.

I'd already handled many technical issues by then, but the bodywork didn't need anything.

Gryf Ketcherside

Most of the work I'd done up until last fall wasn't all that visible, except for the wood instrument panel overlay. But I finally got around to replacing the tired old black interior with Autumn Leaf:

Gryf Ketcherside

This spring, I replaced the black top with a new tan one.

Gryf Ketcherside

before, it was a big job (understatement of the year)

RUS(59SPRITE)

and now:

RUS(59SPRITE)

RUS, that is amazing!

:oD

WOW

how long did it take to do that?

Norm

Norm Kerr

Thanks Pete

I like the idea of driving an ASBO Midget... Dom Mooney of course drives an ASBO Sprite... :)

JB

James Bilsland

Norm,

that took my bodywork guy about 9months - 1 year...but it was worth it !!

RUS(59SPRITE)

Guy-
Great color! What shade of blue is that?

Stephen Strange

Stephen,
It is supposed to be the standard Teal Blue. In reality it seems a bit brighter than normal Teal Blue. But I think my camera has enhanced it even further. Pity, I rather like the shade it appears in the photos!

Here's another "before" shot. The "after" photo will appear in a few year's time, if this thread is still running!

Guy Weller

Before

Mike Allen

During:

Mike Allen

After:
Taken last weekend at the Queensland Concours. Even without black sills and MIDGET lettering, had I put the soft top on the car it would have beaten the national champion Midget (according to the judges).
With thanks to Denis Wharf and some on this BBS.
That marks the beginning and end of my concours career.

Mike Allen

Before ...

Jon Saylor

After ...

Jon Saylor

And my 1st in class award! :)

Jon Saylor

Before- Coming out after many years of storage.

Bryan Durham

After clean up.

Bryan Durham

As bought last Summer:

Dave Rhine ('78 1500)

As this Summer, but still a work in progress with a mile long to do list:

Dave Rhine ('78 1500)

And of course the under the hood/bonnet:

Dave Rhine ('78 1500)

As bought back in 1985!

C Bintcliffe

Followed by a very poor bit of parking by me!

Not quite the order that most people have gone for but the saga does continue

Carl

C Bintcliffe

Carl,
That's what I referred to as before and after un-work.

Hope you can reverse the process.

Guy

Guy Weller

it was all many years ago Guy, the car went on to look like this

C Bintcliffe

but now looks like this, as the years have taken there inevitable toll!

C Bintcliffe

before

Shawn

amazingly, it still looks pretty much like this, even after 25,000 miles!

Shawn

what an excellent thread!

Before

Rob Armstrong

after

will be more after when the K is finished..

Rob Armstrong

Before tinkering and tidying under bonnet.

s lowiss

After.. an ongoing job though.

s lowiss

Before removing rubber bumpers .. I know.. many opinions on this one, but I like the result.

s lowiss

After, plus I did this without any welding so I can always refit the originals if my tastes change.

s lowiss

Before...

James30

After...

James30

James30,
You boldly went with purple! Very nice!!
On the Midget, Aconite (purple) was '74- '75 and Black Tulip (dark purple) was '73. I almost went Black Tulip on my '73 but, for safety reasons, I went for the brighter color of yellow.

Jon Saylor

Aha! In fact Jon, it's a 71 in Midnight Blue, the colour appears to be the forerunner to Black Tulip and Aconite. It looks dark blue in the shade and purple in the sunlight...

... although must admit I would love an Aconite car!

James30

Before...