Thanks for the input guys,
I went to see the car Saturday and have learned the following things. The car
has spent the last three years garaged and tarped with its current owner, prior
to that it spend 19 years garaged with that owner. At some point in its life
it probably lived in an asian country, as it has some sort of registration
sticker on it that is written in Chinese (or similar language). This car
literally has NO RUST on it anywhere (not even surface rust). At some point it
appears to have been an Ashley GT, judging by the way the rear fenders were cut
and the fact that it has a back seat. As you recall it has an Ashley nose and
an early Lenham tail, so our best guess is that when it was an Ashley GT it got
punded in the rear and the damage was fixed by replacing the Ashley part with
the early Lenham kit. The early Lenham kit is primarily made of plywood as
some may remember, and so probably offsets the weight savings of the Ashley
nose.
The mechanics of the Volvo conversion were masterfully done. The
heater/battery area has been removed and a hole cut in the top of the tunnel;
The converter, then built a tubular frame around the tunnel that crated a
crossmember and stiffener around the tunnel to both mount the tranny and to
stiffen the ventilated transmission tunnel. The Volvo mounts were modified to
reach the stock mounts on the front subframe of the bugeye. In all this made
for a conversion that simply unbolts, and an afternoons worth of work to fab a
couple of pannels to cover the gaps they opened. So if the mechanicals were
engineered then it only stands to reason that the cosmetics were mickey moused
in. The cosmetic part seems to have been done by an 8 year old. The
fiberglass parts are in extrordinary shape with no cracks, and only a few
chips, but there was some bodging front and rear.
The bonnet was cut and a beautiful scoop made to cover the oil cap in the valve
cover, but then two oddly shaped holes were cut so the carb dashpots could poke
through. In the rear, the Lenham tail had room for Cortina sized tail lights,
but someone tried to fit a small light into one hole using bondo and a prayer.
The rear hinging Lenham tail appears to be hinged with hinger large enough for
an engine hoist. The conversion seems to be done as some sort of a race car,
since there is only a starter button and a kill switch in the car (no dash).
As far as spare parts go, it contained 3 dashes all with guages and switches,
one dash had enough guages/switches to be from an airplane, two top frames, one
top, a set of sidecurtains, 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 diameter carb sets, the 1 1/8 setup
from the morris that the 948 is from, a spare head, three winsheild frames, 12
wheels, and a partridge in a pair tree. Oh yea and all parts to unconvert the
Volvo engine.
All in all it seems like a good investment, though I haven't commited to it
yet. Thanks for the advice I'm sure I'll have more questions if I do buy it.
--
James Nazarian Jr
71 MGB roadster
71 MGBGT - with V8 parts
01 Impreza 2.5RS
A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have
evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine.
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