Latest Pink MG Progress

[Mark Hendrickson]

As you can see in the pics of my latest “Pink MG’, there are no seats. When I bought it in Connecticut last July, it had spent since December 2003 topless and outdoors. Needless to say the interior was SHOT after last winter’s regular snow storms and rain!

I gutted the interior and made new polyurethaned plywood bases for the seat bottoms and seat back. I also made new door panel cardboard forms. All were severly mildewed and stunk really bad. I also rebuilt the door latches, real brass hinges and replaced all interior hardware with stainless machine screws and new Autometer Ultra-Lite gauges.

I dropped off the new seat bases and door panel cardboards off at the upholsterer in early September. I ordered 2 leather hides from Keleen Leather’s Inc. near Chicago. Atlanta Camel was the color. I told the upholsterer I was not in a rush. He took me a little too literally. I finally picked up my new leather covered seats and door panels last Friday. Man are they nice. I have them sitting in my empty living room (furniture walked…I’m in the middle of a divorce) just admiring them and letting the leather aroma waft around the house. I need to fabricate some new seat bottom frames and get them installed before the snow starts flying here in the Northeast. I’ll try to post some pics either here or the Yahoo group site. 

[William J Collins]

Sounds good Mark..Bring the Pictures to the NJRC Meeting next week..Angelica is very Jealous of PinkMG having Real Leather Seats..And Door Panals …Bill C

[Frank]

You can post pictures right here in the discussion. Use the Image Upload button (the one that looks like a tree and blue arrow pointing up)

Here is an example:

Once you have upload a pic in the forum. A gallery will be made. Currently the Upload your photo in the Gallery is not working but I’m trying to fix this. None the less. Everytime you post a picture in the forum, it will automaticly be placed in your gallery.

 

 

 

 

[Mark Hendrickson]

It said my pic is too large to upload.

[Sarah]

I raised the size limits. Almost doubled it 500K is the max you can upload. Try using paint or some other program to shrink the image if it is still to large.

[Mark Hendrickson]

Here goes…..

 

FrankieD38301.9089583333

[Brian]

Mark,

I am very jealous of your new seats. I can smell the leather in

the photo. My BCW still has the “rich corinthian leather” that

came with the kit but someday I will upgrade. If I may ask, what

did it cost?

Also what was the manufacturer of this poor car that you are

rescuing? I can’t believe that someone who would build their

own car, would leave it sit outside in such a condition. My BCW

has always been parked indoors, except on my journey cross

country.

BTW, the process you went through, the things you learned, the

mistakes you made or didn’t, and the company you used, as

you installed leather seating in your car would be a great FYI

post in the General Discussion section.

Brianssa84whales38301.3722800926

[Mark Hendrickson]

Brian,

Here’s a brief history of the car as I was able to piece together. Luckily the Connectiut title listed the last 4 “titled” owners. I was able to contact the one person who actually drove the car and cared for it. Here goes:

The car was bought as a Chevette based kit from British Coach Works by a Connecticut man circa 1986-88. He never finished the car or titled it. He died circa 1992 and his daughter, the executor of his will, sold it in 1996 to another Connecticut man. This guy completed the car and titled it as a 1998 Comp/MG (Component car). He never drove it and sold it in 1998 to a local woman in Coventry, CT. She put just under 2,000 miles on it before donating it to Connecticut Public Broadcasting (CPB TV) in December 2003. She is the only actual “user” of the car. She was the earliest owner listed on the title and told me the history you just read.

Now it gets ugly. CPB uses a wholesaler (Statewide Auto, a Meriden, CT junkyard) to sell donated vehicles. It is they who leave it out in their yard all winter. They sell it to  an auto detailer in Willimantic, CT in May 2004. He starts to clean it up but loses interest when he sees how bad the interior really is. At least he kept it in the shop out of the weather. In July 2004, he consigns it to a local wheeler-dealer who sells stuff (mostly used trucks/SUV’s) on eBay. I see it and contact the guy. He tells me if I hit the “buy it now” to end the auction and decide after looking at it I don’t want it…no big deal. So, I hit the “buy it now” for $4,500 on 27 July 2004. I drove the 215 miles up to the car on 29 July 2004. It is mechanically great except for wheels/tires and interior. I negotiated the price down and loaded it up on my trailer and towed it the 215 miles, though the New York City commuter traffic, back home.

I have been updating the lady owner on it’s progress via e-mail and picutres regularly. She is thrilled that it’s been rescued and found a good home.

I’ll post the leather and stichwork story later on. It wasn’t cheap…but man is it nice!

[Author]

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