Nevertheless, one of my long term residents, a MG Midget, is finally awaking from a very long and oily slumber. The relatively rust-free shell came with a van full of spares, a tweaked cc probably bigger engine, roll bar and hard top; its previous owner having dabbled in a bit of sprinting and hillclimbing whilst posted in Wales with the RAF sometime in the 80s. So why I thought I would ever remember where I had squirreled every last bolt, grommet, flange and whatnot after five years is a ruddy mystery!
And although the MGs finish line is now in site, and just one last push is needed to get the Midget back on the back roads, guess what? Yep, I bought yet another ruined piece of Longbridge detritus, in the form of a rust-riddled cc Mini!
Bumper on, bumper off, bumper on โฆ paint it red, pale blue, BRG โฆ build it for sprinting, road rallying, autotesting, posing at Goodwood โฆ et cetera ad infinitum. Just make a plan from the off and stick with it. And you can spend an age reading books, drinking tea, posting on forums trying to get the definitive answers on how to do a job, whether it is welding, spraying or rebuilding an entire engine.
I can relate to your resto of a Midget. The perfect ones are. My Bug eye is a result of a 31 year rolling resto, but it keeps slowly getting better and faster. People point out imperfections, but I always can say this car gets driven quite often and quite hard.
Restoration is about giving the car its actual condition, Not to mess with its beauty. I have seen many restorers change some parts to make it more modern, Well they both have their own market. Classic cars with original parts and classics with modern tech bits. But I still prefer the old way was the better when it took time to restore a car and people used to hunt scrapyards for original parts.
