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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite General - Garage find

Living in a small house on the road to Lime Rock, Ct. (great road track in the northeast), I have lots of gents who stop by to look at some of my cars parked out front. Healey 3000, MG-TD, Bugeye, etc. and some other Marques I work on. Most have tales or a car stored in their garage or barn that they should sell.
I went to look at a Mk 3 Sprite the other day which was purchased by his wife during a mid life madness many years ago, brought back from Michigan, never registered and has been sitting there ever since. It was basically restored, rust free, with a 1275 MG engine. New interior, great paint (a number of road nicks that show it was driven), but overall a good driver. I shouldn't have but I did buy it and after un freezing the starter got it started up. Next was to unfreeze the rear brakes, then a road test. Everything works, except the generator which I suspect is a bit dirty and frozen brushes may, hopefully,be rightened. New top and toneau never used, new tires, exhaust, and just a great find.
How many are still out there, just needing a bit of dusting off?
I would like to post a picture but never can on this site, says picture too large? Any help? Bob
R.AF. Robert Finucane

Resize the picture 50% in paint and save as
Then try again if it is stil to big do it again

Nice story
Onno Könemann

The tires may be suspect from sitting around too long. Past their "best before date" if over 5 years old but it sounds like a great find.

I imagine there is lots of cars out there stashed away in barns and garages waiting for that "I'm going to fix that up one day" day to arrive. Most of the time it never does and the scrapman gets there first.

My neighbour has a really decent TR6 in his garage. Needs a little bit of work to finish it off but it hasn't seen the light of day for at least 5 years. I offered to do it free if he bought the parts but received the "I'm going to do that some day" reply.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch......
Clive Reddin

Great news, Robert! Nice to know another one's back on the road and not just mouldering away.

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

My poor old 'B' has been sitting gathering dust for the last 11 years waiting for the "I'm going to fix that up one day"

Well, that day finally came, last Friday.

I've made a start, at least...

Dave O'Neill 2

Robert,
Try this:

http://www.picresize.com/

I use it all the time.
Jon Saylor

There is a guy down the road from me that has a sixties mini in the drive just rotting away. Been there for eight years that I know of. Every inquiry gets the same "I'm going to restore it" answer. Much longer and it'll be past repair, if it's not already. Rumor has it he also has a AH 100/6 in the garage in bits as well. If he ever croaks I'll be at that yard sale!!!
Paul Barnes

Dave

if those number plates are original style hold on to them as they're not allowed to be made like that now (from 2001?) for legal road use in the UK

you can use yours on the road as it's not retropective

I know because I wanted the raised numbers from 73 on my car but couldn't legally
Nigel Atkins

We all need one of these!!

Mick struggling with the wiring

Ah yes, a round tuit.
Dave O'Neill 2

Ah Dave at last

How the hell you found enough room in there to make a start completely amazes me

:)

Bob do be careful with the tyres, old ones are suspect

If it has a dynamo you may just need to clean between the contacts in the control box or as you say maybe just frozen dusty brushes whether dynamo or alternator, getting a few miles in could cure it quickly

[dont go so far that the battery goes flat if it doesn't :(]

Great news though, do have fun in the 50th year of the Midget
Bill 1

Dave, I wish I had that much beer in my garage!

Although maybe thats becuase when I buy it I drink it and too much beer is why my Midget never makes any progress!

Cheers!
Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

or open the photo with Micrsoft Office Picure Manager click on the "pictures" tab, "compress picture" should appear at the bottom of the list . click on it, work through the prompts and resave. Takes less than a minute
S G Macfarlane

Nigel..
"if those number plates are original style hold on to them as they're not allowed to be made like that now (from 2001?) for legal road use in the UK".

That's not strictly true. The DVLA says any car registered before 1/1/73 can display silver on black numberplates. They're also pretty easy to get hold of online without having to send off registration docs etc.

graeme
graeme jackson

<<I wish I had that much beer in my garage!>>

Well spotted, Malcolm!

That's because every time I go to France, I bring back as much Kronenbourg as I can fit in the car.
Proper French Kronenbourg is so much nicer than the stuff they brew here under licence.
Dave O'Neill 2

Graeme, I'm fairly sure Nigel was referring to the 3D raised letters and numbers....
David Smith

Dave, (sorry for hijacking RAF!) I also notice the Marshall amp, is that an AVT 50 perhaps?! Guitars are my other love along with the Midget.

Have some crappy english Kronenbourg, pretty wet and tasteless but its about the best the corner shop had to offer. If I ever meet any of you guys I'm sure I must owe you all a beer for the advice you have given me! ha ha :-)

Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

Malcolm

It's a VS 8080 Valvestate.
Dave O'Neill 2

ah, the AVT predecessor, not a bad guess for what I can see of it. I had an MG100 head with a home built 2*12 cab back when I was 17, had to sell it cos was too loud for practice! :-)

Always fancied building my own valve amp, but girlfriend would kill me for buying 'more junk' pah!

Sorry again for hijacking! Anyone else play guitar?! :-)

Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

>>'girlfriend would kill me for buying 'more junk' '

epic fail, time to replace.
David Smith

My other half was complaining that my motorbike had moved from the garage to the patio, because I needed the space to work on the car.

"How long will that be there?"

"Until the car is finished. If you keep finding me other jobs to do, it will be there longer!" ;o)
Dave O'Neill 2

Graeme

- I don't think you could have looked at the photo the plate is white reflective

we had a very long thread on the subject of UK number plates and the legality

having said that I thought the car was a K reg but looking again it may be an R reg crossdresser

plates would still be OK

and now I see David has already replied

I'll put this up to see what Dave's says about the B
Nigel Atkins

It is 'R' reg, but it's no crossdresser.

Manufactured in 1967 and tax-exempt, although first registered in 1976.
Dave O'Neill 2

Bob, any luck with the photo yet?
Dave O'Neill 2

Nigel - WHY are you going on about UK legality - the car is in the States - so it's not under the same requirements!!!!!!!

Yes to playing guitar - and a couple of other things - there's loads of bass players around here ;) At one point there was almost enough to have a mega-line of basses at Midget50!
rachmacb

Dave. Your B doesn't look like it needs much doing to it from the picture. Just paint the engine and dust off the body and away she goes. Seriously though, it does look very sound and you don't see many better fitting hoods than that.
I've got a Ludwig Super Classic and a Remo Master Touch sitting in my attic, so maybe we should form a band, but it would be a hell of a drive to get to gigs with Malcolm in Grampian, you in Solihull and me in Stockport.LOL.

Bernie.
b higginson

Dave
- of course yes, I thought a lot of work might have gone into interior and steering wheel, well some do go to a great deal of effort and make them look very good - I am an idiot

I used to own a RB B and kept them on so I nothing against RB cars or those that want to convert them

67 gives yours the interior and particularly the sprung steering wheel(?) that I like so much

rach
- have I missed something, Dave’s of Solihull, the car is RHD drive on English plates, Dave goes over to France to get his lager

I apologise for thinking at first it was on a K plate, that my poor eyes and brain, I certainly think I made an idiot of myself thinking it just might be a RB conversion because it’s on an R plate

But I think you’re wrong about it being in America (or is it me! - am I going even more loopy?)

I was just trying to pass on information about the plates in case Dave or someone reading was thinking of renewing that particular type based on the misunderstanding of that previous thread, altho’ Dave’s look in very good condition
Nigel Atkins

Re Guitars.
My playing is c**p,but i own a stonking mint '73 Strat,the colour is Mocha Brown,which apparently was one of their most challenging colours,lives in it's Tolex case under the bed.Selling it soon.
Keith Davies

Dunno where Daves car comes in? The garage one is in the States, so I guess I missed the link?

I have a mega-cool Traben bass and gotta love the green lights in my amp!!! My normal mini-amp is pink of course :)
rachmacb

Sorry rach I think you were on OP topic and I was on about Dave O'Neill's car

aplogises to (OP) Bob I only meant to do a one-off post to Dave

Bob if you've got Microsoft Photo Editor to resize

open the photo

click on Image (on top menu bar)

click on Resize... (from drop down menu)

Resize box will appear, try reducing by 50%

click OK

then Save As... a second smaller version photo and try posting, if it's still too big go back and reduce it by another smaller percentage
Nigel Atkins

Sorry Nigel - you're absolutely right of course - my brain wasn't switched on when I looked at the photo so the white background didn't register. However, Dave says raised lettering isn't legal where the DVLA says it is on pre '73 cars.
I'll shortly be ordering a pair from one of the ebay sellers - the car won't be on the road for another 12 months so the law will most likely have changed by then.

Good to see the thread has turned to bass players (rach - I'm guessing your amp is trace elliot). I've been playing for more years than I care to remember and my stage rig now takes a Skoda octavia estate to shift. Basses are 5 string Alembics, fretted and fretless. There's some crap footage of the band on our website - www.bigtuna.co.uk

Graeme
graeme jackson

RAF – how’s the photo coming along

- and be aware of those new tyres if there's from many years ago - if they're 6 years old or more then regardless I'd replace them as they may be to the detriment of the braking, steering, ride, handling and possibly noise and safety of the car greatly

Graeme

- there was a long debate on this subject, but as I can’t find the comprehensive leaflet I found before I’ll keep it short - yours’ is a 1972 car you can have black or reflective backgrounds – Dave’s style of font you can no longer have made up for legal road use

buy from a registered supplier then it should be correct -
http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/vehicles/search.aspx?ext=dg
Nigel Atkins

Nigel, I knew what you meant.

I didn't realise that you could no longer buy those plates. The front is pressed , whereas the rear has extremely thin plastic letters - much thinner than you would normally have, either with white/silver on black or the original style reflective plates.

Having said that, I think I mentioned on the earlier thread that I have a 3-letter 3-number plate that I was intending to transfer onto the B when it is roadworthy. I also have some NOS Bluemels black plates and some (non-Bluemels) white plastic letters, which I was intending to use.
Dave O'Neill 2

Dave I'm sure a '67 car registered in '76 on a 3-letter, 3-number, plate would confuse an MOT computer and tester enough for them not to worry about it regardless of plate font and style (unless an MOT tester here knows better) and any copper would just want to know what's under the bonnet or tell you his dad (or even grandad now) used to have a B

despite what some drivers think I'm sure the Police have better things to do than be numberplate, or even other very minor violations, nerds
Nigel Atkins

I play guitar, dabble a little in bass. Between my wife and I we have a couple of nice tube guitar amps and a number of nice guitars, an old 70's Ibanez bass and an older Tama drum kit. Not to mention a piano and a very nice clarinet. None of which get played as often as they should, largely as neither of us have been in bands for quite a few years. I dabbled in recording for a while and built up a reasonable computer based home studio, but it's all in boxes now and hasn't been used in some time. Never enough time in the day! I do pick up a guitar maybe once every week or so, sometimes more often, but I'm far from the player I was when I used to play 2+ hours a day.
AndrewF

A bit of searching has found the government's take on numberplates..
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/pdfs/uksi_20010561_en.pdf

Section 3 part B on page 13 relates to the discussion we've been having on pre 1973 vehicles and decrees that we CAN display...

EITHER..a white numberplate with black lettering on the front with Yellow plate and black lettering so long as the plates are made of a 'reflex -reflecting material' i.e. a modern plastic plate - the implication is that lettering cannot be raised...

- OR - metal or plastic Black plates with silver or white (raised or not) lettering front and back.

I take that to mean as Nigel has pointed out, Dave can't have new plates made to match the ones he already has but I can have new Black and Silver pressed metal plates made for mine.

I was reading a police forum while I was searching and it would appear that very few of them knew the definitive answer so it's no surprise that we laymen are confused.

Graeme
graeme jackson

Hi Graeme,

yeap you're about there now

on a previous thread I pinned the details down with a DVLA leaflet that I can no longer find on their web site (it's not the one still on there it's slightly more detailed than that one)

you're right there's a lot of confusion that's why I pinned it down last time plus it's one of the few things I can get right

coppers and most others don't care and why should they on such minor details

but it saves confusion before trying to order something you can't have

if you say the plates are not for road use some might supply them - I don't know

if you can find that previous thread and leaflet I'll keep a copy of the leaflet for future refence - the search archives still baffles me here

I wonder if RAF will get that photo up
Nigel Atkins

Graeme - cool - yes, it is indeed a Trace, and my little guitar amp is one of the sweet little Marshalls ...! I ended up on bass via double bass in a jazz band, which kind of happened as I played cello, and they wanted someone to swap for awhile - and, since I'd played violin previously, I was the one who got "nabbed"!

I think that there was a thread a very long time ago in which it transpired that there was a large number of bass players amongst the Midget contingent - not sure quite what that says about us ... ;)
rachmacb

Yep used to play bass as well.
But since then i switched to the other side of the mixing desk and then got into midgets and got a grown up job;)
Onno Könemann

This thread was discussed between 05/05/2011 and 10/05/2011

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