Other Things I Do: My "MG-Whizz"

[Sakrison]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

Lil and I got so good at assembling the frame and stretching the hood that, when the rain started, we were able to get the top up in less than 20 minutes.

Don

You're right, that's pretty fast. I always kept a raincoat in the boot (which, of course, took up about half the space). Besides, I knew any rain that got into the cockpit would quickly drain out through the holes rusted in the floor pan.

in 1981, my wife and I were somewhere south of Eureka, CA on Hwy 1 in the MGB, when the oil pressure bottomed out. I opened the bonnet to try to identify which hose was leaking, but there was oil all over the engine compartment. It was a broken soldered fitting on the oil cooler that sat just behind the grill. No way to patch it.

AAA towed us 20 mi to a gas station that turned out be owned by a native of Yorkshire who had trained and worked at British Leland, the company that absorbed Morris Garage. He was restoring a pair of Morris Minis, and he dug through a two-foot-high pile of parts and came up with a Morris oil cooler, which he installed for $50.

We later concluded that the MGB "smelled the blood of an Englishman" and decided to arrange a visit. An interesting car, to say the least. Not for the faint of heart . . . or thin of wallet.

[Sakrison]

Originally Posted by Siwi

I'd be interested to see how the Volkswagen's underpinnings fitted into the body of the MG. Presumably the engine is still at the back, and the steering and gears have been moved back so the seats are more like where the rear seats would have been.

I didn't build it but I do have the builder's manual. The VW was stripped down to chassis, suspension, and drive train, and the fiberglass body was just dropped onto it and bolted down. (The body shell pictured below isn't mine.) Fenders, seats, hood, and grill were attached separately. The engine remains in the rear (where the gas tank would be on a TD). The seats put the driver just a wee bit forward of where the back seat of a Bug would be. Gas tank and battery sit up front, leaving enough room for tools, cleaning supplies, and a couple quarts of oil. (Until the rebuild, she habitually "marked her territory" with oil stains.)

At one car show, I parked next to a real MG-TD, and the MiGi is a very credible replica -- length, width, and wheelbase are nearly the same, and overall appearance compares very well. The wire wheel covers are wrong-- the TD had stamped steel wheels, but they're pretty. Fiberfab also offered a MiGi kit for theFord Pinto, but it wasn't as popular, and they are hard to find -- probably a good thing. VW MiGis fairly easy to find and affordable.