Used car shopping Bah

[rich]

So my wife had an accident and the little Chevy Cobalt suffered so much damage that it was totaled. She's fine (the wife). Really a minor indecent, just veered to far right on a spot of road that happened to not have any shoulder and a very steep embankment.    

Here's where she left the road, you can see the trail the car left in the weeds:


And, here's the car:


She's been driving my truck ever since leaving me without a car. Once I got the check from the insurance I started shopping for a used car. Well it seems there are no cars in the Midwest that run or have less than 180,000 miles on them for less than $4,000. The crap that's out there is just amazing. I don't really mind a high-mileage car, but things are going to brake and I want to be able to fix them myself and not have to damn near pull an engine to just change a timing belt (most of the cars I looked at had timing belts that should have been changed at 100,000 miles, most were pushing over a 150,00 and not been changed).

So I started looking a "classics" and I found this 1976 MG B with less than 25,000 miles on it. The guy had listed for $4500 but after about a week, he had dropped the asking price to $3700. I got it for $3400 and you'd have to hit me with a 2X4 to get the grin off my face .




It's not the most practical car, I'll admit that. It does have some "Lucas" electrical gremlins with the temp and fuel gauge and it's a bit buzzy at 75MPH (4 speed, no overdrive). But damn, is it fun. I've always admired the Triumph Spitfire, GT6+, and TR6, but haven seen one for sale. So I think, this MGB is as close as I'll get.

[Truck]

Those Brit cars are mechanical and electrical nightmares, undersized, under powered but god they are cool!!! Nice find!

[TOOLS1]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ What he said.
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[TOOLS1]

Hey Rich
If I remember right, you have a DOHC CB 750, could you help this guy out? http://honda-cb750-s.456789.n3.nabble.com/1981-cb750-custom-td4059206.html
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[shinyribs]

That is really cool, Rich!

Like most Murican's, I always thought the lil Brit cars were weaklings, too. Early this past summer I was doing a job for a guy that had a nice looking little Triumph. He had fiddled around with the topend of the engine a little, the exhaust, and had fitted some better parts to the suspension. I don't recall the details now, but it was nothing drastic or one-off. He took me for a very spirited ride on some backroads and impressed the heck outta me. It wasn't a 450+hp muscle car, but it definitely wasn't what I would consider underpowered. Just a different kind of power. We were absolutely flying around those corners.

I dig your style of ''classics you can work on''. Great philosophy.  Great find for the money,Rich. Happy for ya!

[rich]

Yup, I wouldn't call it powerful, but yes, definitely spirited. It's been de-smogged and retrofitted with dual carbs.

So I think it's up a little from the 67HP that it started with, probably closer to the 100HP of the pre-smog versions.

Love the cockpit and the way the shifter clicks into gear.


I too wondered about reliability, but this thing is very agricultural (e.g. "Tractor parts"). It's stupid simple to work on. It has a modern coil and iridium plugs so it sputters to life easily.

[Re-run]

That looks so cool!

Ever since the "cash for clunkers" crap, used cars are WAY overpriced. It'll come back around though, it'll just take a few years. Meanwhile, pizza delivery will really depend on tips!

[free2ride]

jealous!

[rich]

My carbs were actually way older than the car itself and due for a rebuild. I ended up with a shiny set of "re manufactured"  SUs I found on ebay. Looks the business now. LOL.