richmackey - the blog

I haven't posted in a while, but figured I should. The image to the left is auto paint on a piece of metal - ahead of a full repaint of a car. But I should back up.

In 1991 I bought a 1974 MG Midget for $2300. I actually got a loan for it (kind of laughable for me these days) and within 1 year, promptly had an accident that smashed in one of the doors and then put it into storage. The car has shuffled around to 3 or 4 different storage sites in Iowa (including one out on a farm next to a barn) over the past 15 years and ultimately, had a lot of body damage, a bit of rust and the killer - rats had chewed through all of the wiring, upholstery and carpet.

While in storage (and before the rat damage) I had 2 new carburetors (yes, it has 2) and a new clutch put in. That was sometime in the late 90's.

About a year ago, I decided it was high time to fully restore the car. A quick online estimator showed that it was worth about $14,000 fully restored (my insurance company confirmed this - as that is what they independently valued the car at). My brother, who is quite adept at mechanical things, has been working on it since.

We're now at the point where he has everything he needs to finish the job - though it's taken 3+ weeks to get the thing painted. Which is why I'm writing this post. The above image is all I have of the car. My brother swears he's taken a ton of pictures, but they're too big to email from his hotmail account, so here I sit.

The car SHOULD be out of the body shop and back at my brother's garage having the upholstery and carpet put in, engine tuned, new exhaust put on, etc. But I haven't yet been able to confirm that.

Here's what it looked like last time I saw it:


More to come on this I'm sure. Hopefully I'll be driving it soon!