Rick's MGB Pages

1969 MGB GT Restoration - I acquired the car locally in 2006 from a friend who acquired it on eBay. The car spent most of it's life in South Florida and was last on the road in 2001. It has the original engine and gearbox and was largely unmolested. My friend started stripping it down and decided not to finish the car. In knowing the good condition, I decided to purchase and restore it for myself. What follows is my attempt to document the restoration process. Please click on the thumbnails for a larger version of the photos.

The car is mostly complete, although not shown in these photos. The bonnet is the original aluminum from the factory. The tailgate has some dents that likely can be pulled and worked out. There is very little rust on the outer shell, only the driver's side outer rocker panel needs to be replaced.

The interior is in fair condition with a few rust through spots on the floor pans. After removal of the sound deadening material, I was better able to assess whether I need complete pan replacement or whether we can do some partial restoration.

The engine bay is in fair condition with some pitting around the pedal box--a typical problem from spilled or leaking hydraulic fluid. The engine serial number proves to be a match to the car's VIN per the Heritage Certificate I acquired. Check out the details on the Heritage Certificate where the car shipped from Abingdon with whitewall tyres! Hmmm... maybe I should give that look a try??

I chemically stripped the bonnet with Aircraft Stripper. It looks to be in great condition with only a small spot of body filler on the nose--likely from pressing there when closing.

Here you can see the tailgate with dents removed and starting to chemically strip. The second shot is of the stripped panel.

As of September 2007, the body shell is stripped of all paint and wiped down with some Ospho as I won't be able to prime it for a while.

The the right, the chrome wires look to be pretty good with some cleaning.

I acquired an overdrive gearbox locally which was in unknown condition. I will be tearing this down to do a rebuild.