1974 MG Midget

GAN5UE/152266G

Here's another restoration that someone had started and lost interest in. My friend Jim who restores MGBs found this car and a B both sitting in a field, about two hours away from here, rotting. The engine on the Midget had supposedly been rebuilt just before the owner had a heart attack and lost interest in the project. I pulled the engine and found one rocker arm had been welded to repair a crack and one of the pistons was different from the other three. The original assembly lube was still on the crank and bearings but the camshaft and tappets had some rust and pitting. It doesn't look like the most professional rebuild, but it does look like it was never fired up after the machine work was done. Unfortunately many parts are missing from this car and the rust is so-so. The seller advertised this as a partially restored, which usually, as in this case, really means partially destroyed by previous owner.

I brought this car home 1/30/99. It has a clean title, so I may restore it or I may sell the shell and part the rest of it out. For right now I'm just going to work on the engine and see if I can use it in my '69. If you are looking for a 1974 body, drop me a line, this one needs new pillar sections but the rest of it looks pretty good.