1977 MG Midget 1500 - Area52 Sprayday Prep!

[Dr Sexy]

Hello all,

Ive been on here a fair while now and been meaning to put up my Midge, and today is the day! ;D

This is almost all pics, as its going back almost 2 years....

The Beginnning.
I bought this for £325 off a mates dads mate as it was taking up garage space and hadnt had anything done to it for a few years.

Well, 300ish quid doesnt get you much classic 70s British motoring, but after pouring some petrol into the engine it started and deciding bodywork probably wasnt that hard (more on this later...) with a mate whos a welder/fabricator, and I was the proud owner of this:

First thing to do was take off the horrible rubber bumpers! don't even have any pics before that!

minor bits of rot throughout:




so I stripped out the interior and, using the brand new foams and covers, recovered the seats as well as re vinyl dying all the interior vinyl panels. (prorities!)


and got cutting:





(hehe el camino-d midge!)

a few replacement panels later, and some fabrication, and I have a pretty damn solid car:





woohoo!

well thats the welding post (condensed from a good year or so!)

more soon

RoB

[grizz]

Welcome.... to your car.

Keep the pics comming.

[Dr Sexy]

During this time, when i got bored of welding (regularly) other important things were done.

First i hit it with the stick: ;D

and after plenty of electrical issues (no pics :
added some sexy round glass indicators.


Also got the old rostyles blasted and sprayed them red. Finished off with chrome embellishers (new chrome bolts and wide whites coming soon) and i was pleased:


After replacing all the brakes, bushes, rubber and exhaust (loud) etc, got her motted last August, just in time to go on a date in
It was the second go at the mot, first time failed on about 2inches of welding!

RoB

[Dr Sexy]

well, since then theres been some minor fettling, including:
replacing the entire ignition circuit (VERY VERY worthwhile!)
adding a cheeky peep mirror (stock MG mirrors are fugly)


stripped the interior again, new coat of paint there


bit of sound deadening


and some new carpet



oh, and added harnesses in time for the mot as the old seatbelts had gone.


as well as a new 13" mountney wheel (and new steering column)

and one more to come.

RoB

[Dr Sexy]

The final large job was a quick paint. Gave her a quick degrease and a once over with rustoleum sat-black (rollered). Its quick, dirty, cheap, and an awful finish, but looks better than 17 shades of red, primer and repair panel. It will get a proper paint job, but at least she looks good in motion, and FAR better in pics than real life!





and after all the shiney bits were bolted back on, and a new grill finisher added, we have her in her current state:





I think thats about it! phew!

Hope you enjoy! Theres more pics in my photbucket in my sig.

RoB

[coggers]

good work

might just be me , but the 'satin black' kinda suits it.....

[MiniDan]

Thats pretty damn good looking

Impressed!

[dave7]

Count me as another that likes the black - with the red wheels and no bumpers make it look a bit rat rod-ish. I rather like it.

[ChasR]

It looks different, and you've made quite a bit of progress considering it was gone pretty bad in a few area I see. It looks kind of VW I think with the Satin Black paint .

[Dr Sexy]

cheers guys! ;D

i was going for a 50s rod style:

on what most people would say is a clearly inappropriate car.....but frankly MGs don't HAVE to be owned by beards, be flame orange and be chrome bumpered!

next step is fitting a couple of 6x9s and an amp to run off an iPod, hopefully ill hear the led zep over the exhaust and the wind!
as well as moving the front no plate down to the valence and spraying the grill red.

RoB

[beastieboy]

I was thinking the very same thing - very 50's rat/rod-ish ! Its nice to see something else done with a midget. it would look nice with a phat set of wheels (6/7x13's). well done for saving it !!

[Nathan]

WOW thats brought back some memories.

Looks excellent and a good twist on a "done car"

[Dr Sexy]

beastieboy said:

I was thinking the very same thing - very 50's rat/rod-ish ! Its nice to see something else done with a midget. it would look nice with a phat set of wheels (6/7x13's). well done for saving it !!

BGTMIDGET7476 said:

WOW thats brought back some memories.

Looks excellent and a good twist on a "done car"

Thanks guys! Banding the rostyles up to 6x13 is on the (LOOOONG) list of things to do! not having 30 yr old lever-arm suspension comes before that though. (cheapo) 145 profile tyres and no weight = slim to no grip == fun and danger
trouble is, wider wheels wont fit under the square wheel arches....luckily I'm fairly sure (in that i havent tried yet) that i can graft on a round wheel arch repair panel and make them fit.

As you may have noticed, originality isnt the name of the game here!

RoB

[bstardchild]

Superb - had one years ago and loved it - before heritige shells were avaliable and it was as rotten as a pear

Well done with the repairs

[Dr Sexy]

bstardchild said:

Superb - had one years ago and loved it - before heritige shells were avaliable and it was as rotten as a pear

Well done with the repairs

Pah! we don't need heritage shells, just some cavalier welding action and enthusiasm! hehe.

thanks dude.

RoB

[Nathan]

The round arch repairs will fit, however you will be cutting into your lower sections which you have replaced on the rear wings.

Makes me want to start my Midget now!!


Keep up the good work fella.

[simes]

Lovely,

Be careful she doesn't overheat with the number plate there.

[Dr Sexy]

simes said:

Lovely,

Be careful she doesn't overheat with the number plate there.

no chance mate, there was a rubber bumper covering it before so the numberplate barely registers!

although its getting moved onto the valence at the weekend.

RoB

[beastieboy]

rockinrob said:

Thanks guys! Banding the rostyles up to 6x13 is on the (LOOOONG) list of things to do!

Not that is an idea, Id love to see ! banded rostyles !! get it done !!

[MR TIKI]

What a great tub! makes me wish I still had my spitty.....