At 12:21 PM 12/18/00 -0800, Dan DiBiase wrote:
>David, were you able to pick up your "new" GT successfully?
Why would I want a GT? The top doesn't come off.
Actually, the pick up was successful but it was a 65 MGB, not a BGT. It was
an Ebay special but much as I expected. The car was recently repainted and
looks nice, but the slight door sag indicates the true extent of the rust.
But it came with lots of extra parts, a hard top, new hood, new convertible
top, new exhaust so it wasn't a bad deal. The car is actually for my son so
maybe it is good that it is not in the best of shape. Otherwise, I would
have to have it for myself.
The deal also comes with a 72B parts car - the engine and transmission were
removed and put in the 65 already. The 72 was crushed by a light pole that
fell across the doors. The owner also gave me two used doors for it but it
looks like the unibody has suffered some damage on the driver's side so the
car doesn't roll freely. Its still in Wichita, however. And I'm pondering
whether its worthwhile to bring it back here. But if I can fix the unibody,
it would be perfect since I have a wrecked 71BGT with all parts intact
(except the crunched front end).
For the 65B, I drove to Wichita, Kansas in my Ford Explorer last Thursday
and rented a Uhaul auto transport to bring it back. I did have a few tense
moments on the return. Just outside of Limon, CO, an idiot light came on
that said "check engine". What that means, I had no idea. Temperature, oil,
and ammeter gauges indicated no problem. I did a visual inspection and saw
nothing. Since it was late in the evening, I stayed the night in Limon. The
next morning after the engine had cooled, the light was off and all was normal.
My wife warned me that morning that a bad storm was on the way so I hauled
ass back in hopes of getting back before it had progressed very far. I was
just 100 miles from home (at the state line between Wyoming and Montana)
when I hit a blinding snow storm, visibility so poor I could barely see the
light reflectors on the side of the highway. A tow truck came by to lead
the way and I just fell in behind him and the cars following him and
followed the tail lights of the car in front for maybe 20 miles until we
got past it.
I got home and the next morning, I needed to get the car off the trailer.
It was nine below zero outside with a couple of inches of snow.
Surprisingly, the 65B started right up so I drove it off the trailer and
into the garage. It has a few problems before it can really be driven
though - for one, the temperature gauge is not registering any temperature.
The fuel pump never turns off even though there are no signs of fuel overflow.
So I got a project or two to work on now. Depending on the repairability of
the 72B, I may get to drive back to Wichita again (comments welcome on the
foolhardiness of this). I have to admit that one of the reasons I bought
these cars was an excuse to make another highway excursion, although it was
to be in a Ford rather than a LBC.
David
65 MGB
67 BGT
71 BGT (parts)
72 MGB (maybe)
80 TR7
74 FJ40 Landcruiser
(its great to have a lot of cars)
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