spridgets
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Re: Welding

To: spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Welding
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 12:06:06 EST
> > ok folks, since it's so close to halloween,who wants to share some
> > blood-curdling tales of what they found when they finished stripping their
> > beloved midget

I really was amazed by the '65 Midget I bought a year and a half ago. The 
gentleman I bought it still drove it but decided to sell it when he lost the 
garage space he had for it and vandals smashed up the windshield while it was 
parked on the street outside his house.

The wild thing on this car was not bad welding, it was no welding at all. 
Most repairs were done with pop rivets. Things like the broken bonnet hinges 
that had pieces of flat steel rivetted to the broken halves. He managed to 
replace the left hand sill with a J.C. Whitney item but no welding. I haven't 
stripped it yet and I'm afraid to see how it's in there. The really scary 
ones were where the rear/rear spring mounts went through the rusted out boot 
floor and were attached to bolted in angle iron pieces. And then there's the 
replacement "floor" on the driver's side - a piece of flat steel just laid in 
place and only held up on the sill side by a couple nails pushed through 
holes drilled through the bottom of the sill. Apparently the weight of the 
driver sitting on the seat when the car was driven was all that held the 
nails in place. And then there's all kind's of stuff like the duct tape top 
and the wiring connections done with alligator clips.

The car had every Midget identifier except the bonnet chrome spear (anybody 
have one? I'm also looking for the corect radiused air cleaners.) is missing 
so I was surprised when I got it home and finally cleaned up the VIN plate 
and found a Sprite VIN # and body #. Both the VIN on the car and the Midget 
VIN on the title came up clean when checked with the Police Dept. But 
apparently this car had an interesting early life. It still runs but I have 
not plated it and won't do so until after it's rebuilt on the bodyshell I 
have stashed in my brother-in-law's barn that does not have all these 
"creative re-engineering" features.

Kim Tonry
Downers Grove, Illinois, USA
'58 MGA, '65 Definitely a True Spridget, '73 BGT, '79 Midget

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