Ok Herb, you twisted my arm ;-) But here goes.
Way back when in 1979 there was a body man who lived near where I lived who
had an MGA, that sat alongside his house. I was drawn to the car, there
was nothing else like it on the road. Since I was turning 16 that year, I
tried to buy it from him. To make a long story short, he wouldn't sell it,
but I was hooked.
I then started looking for an MG! Then one day in August, my father came
into my room about 10 am and asked if I was going to sleep all day. It was
summer and I was out of school and didn't have to work that day ;-) We all
know how lazy teenagers can be, or should that be "remember".
I got up and got dressed and we went to Wilmington, to look at cars. It
was a place called Friendly Lincoln Mercury, and British Leyland. There
were 5 midgets on the lot that day. There was a white one, 2 brown ones, a
blue one, and a beautiful example in Brooklands Green with twin sidestripes
that had the MG logo just above the rear side marker. The stripes were in
silver. The interior was in biscuit or tan. It had no extras, there
wasn't even a radio blanking plate, just a hole in the center console. Well
after the usual cat and mouse game over the price, a price of $5200 was
settled on. I know it sounds expensive, but it was right in line with the
other entry level cars of the day, (that I would want to drive;-).
We came home and I had to wait until October to get my license to be able
to drive by myself. But I wore my learner's permit out, with anyone that I
could talk into the car with me.
It carried me through the rest of high school, and partly through college.
I had way too much trouble with clutches(but during my redo of the car, I
found my troubles, that's another story). I commuted 60 miles a day to
college and the MG just wasn't reliable enough, no motor problems just
clutches, so I eventually bought a used japanese econobox and parked my
midget in my father's garage.
It sat in my father's garage for 14 years, until a chance happening upon a
british car rally on the Blue Ridge Parkway once again ignited the passion.
Upon returning home from vacation, I went to get MY car. I brought it home
and after replacing a battery , coil, and fuel lines, had the car running
in less than 30 minutes, but It still needed a clutch. I pulled it into my
little workshop and started taking it apart. That was a little over 2
years ago, and much has happened since then, but in the last couple of
days, I have fired the engine for the first time since the rebuild.
The PASSION is BACK and I hope to finish the complete car before the Summer
of 2001 is over. I am completely redoing the car. Interior and exterior.
Since I am once again working on my car, I will probably be posting to list
more often, Mostly asking, but hopefully helping along the way also.
Safety Fast,
Travis G. Elliott
1979 Midget 1500
Original Owner, 1st car
Trying to rebuild by Summer 2001
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