Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[pigtin]

Hi, Thought you might like to see a photo of my first special in the hot summer of 1976. It started as a mk1 MG Midget and someone had modified it to "Sebring Standard" whatever that might mean.
It was in awful condition and the engine totally shot.
To cut a long story short, I fitted a Ford 1500GT engine from a Corsair, seats and roll-over cage from a Triumph Stag and a diff from a Riley 1.5.
It looked great but the quarter elliptic springs on that model did not enhance the performance with that much extra power and it handled like an errant turd.
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t103/donthebat/Mk1MGMidget-1.jpg

[buzzy bee]

Hi

I have never seen that before!

Looks different, different is good!

Cheers

Dave

[Rick]

Hi pigtin, looks like fun!!! I'll post some pics of my 2.5 Spitfire when I get a mo, what wheels did the Spridget have on it??

R
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[pigtin]

The wheels were something huge and steel (8" I think) made by some company in Southend.
I hate to admit it but the shiny "spokes" were actually chrome tape, but few people noticed. It also had a huge vacuum servo to try to improve the brakes.
Made the mistake of selling it to a non-technical bod who complained that it was far from perfect and that his local garage would not work on it. I had to give him some money back because specials are like that, and I should have made it clear to him.

[62rebel]

you had to WHAT? you fellows ARE polite; by and large NO ONE get's a rebate here if the item isn't what they thought or was told it would be! besides, you should have pointed out the race-spec alterations and complained that you weren't charging for them.... ah, well, lesson learned!

[pigtin]

You are right Rebel, my first thoughts when he complained were to suggest the sentiments conveyed by the words"Foxtrot Oskar", but he was a friend-of-a-friend and the ramifications could have caused me various problems.
What really annoyed me was his complaint that the garage had told him that 'vacuum servos are obsolete'. He really should not have bought a non-standard car. It is not as if it was expensive at £250.00.

[buzzy bee]

Hi

For £250, sounds a bit of a cheek!

Cheers

Dave

[pigtin]

£250; not much today but it sounded a lot more in 1977, but cheap all the same.

[buzzy bee]

Hi

Yeah suposer a bit more back then, still a good deal surely?

Cheers

Dave

[pigtin]

Hi Rick, I would like to see pic's of your 2.5 Spitfire. Was it the injection or carb' engine?
Brings back memories because at the time I was building the MG special we were also grafting a 2.5 into my brothers Stag. I believe it was the back-up engine from when the RAF entered the alpine rally. My brother bought it at a military auction, crated unused and complete with gearbox at the cost of £35 and if my memory serves me correctly it was also Abingdon tuned.

[Rick]

pigtin, here goes, some pics of the 2.5.

It had the twin carb engine from the 2500S saloon, so fortunately no injection to faff about with. Someone started the work, then gave up part way through I think. When I bought it, the engine and drivetrain had been installed. The engine was sat ~1ft further back in the chassis, requiring a lot of chassis mods, the bulkhead to be re-shaped, prop shortened, and so on to make it fit. Unlike normal Spitfires and GT6s, the engine mounts were on the back of the suspension turrets, instead of the front as normal. This gave it good weight distribution. At the back was a rotoflex suspension setup from a Mk2 GT6, so no tuck-in with the back wheels during energetic cornering

A mate of mine fitted new floors and welded up all the iffy bits, I then replaced the wiring and did the remainder of the recommissioning and getting it roadworthy. Four point harnesses went in, as did a spin-on filter conversion and oil cooler from Ears Motorsport. 5.5J steel wheels went on, as did a shiny hardtop that I found somewhere or other.

The Spit made a wonderful noise, much deeper than a 2.0 GT6 engine note, and ate Golf GTis for breakfast, which was fun (this was in the mid 90s). According to the DVLA site, GRO 546G is still around somewhere, and its one of just a few of my old cars that I'd like back again!!!






Occasionally my mind wanders to finding a Standard 10, sans engine and running gear, and putting a 2.5 in one of those (ok its a conversion to a classic car, which doesn't always sit well with me, but at least its all Standard/Triumph gear, and a mod that was done in period too!! plus if it was an incomplete car that received the mods, then not as bad as modifying a complete, running car - I think!?)

Rick
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[pigtin]

Great conversion and looks good too. Think hard about the Standard Ten;
a year-or-so ago I finally managed to get rid of a Standard 8, with at ten engine fitted. The previous owner had spent 5k restoring it and it was still a pig, but the engine was quite impressive for it's time.

[Rick]

hehe naa I liked my 10, and I had an 8 at one point although that one was never on the road (see pic below). 'Dream' find would be a Companion estate, although I wouldn't modify one of them, way too rare

Agreed, the engines are sweet, and the Standrive system fitted to my Super 10 worked well and was great in traffic.

Rick


_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop