Author Topic: Pics of my other cars  (Read 20509 times)

MikeSimon

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #50 on: May 16, 2019, 12:31:41 »
I don't think I ever shared pics of my Daily (only when the weather is nice) Driver Sports Car. It is a 1990 and slowly (very slowly) becoming a "Classic" (sorry, Dan) also... 8)
While the car is not uncommon, the motor sort of is. It is one of the few Doug Rippie "Black Maxes"
1970/71 280SL Automatic
Sandy Beige
Parchment Leather
Power Steering
Automatic
Hardtop
Heated Tinted Rear Window
German specs
3rd owner

teahead

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #51 on: June 24, 2019, 17:41:30 »
Here's a few of my non-daily drivers, some running, some defintely not running.

'55 Nomad - about 90% complete.  Not running yet.
'99 Mini 40th anniv - running awesome (for sale)
'71 2800CS - runs, but going to restore it hopefully soon.
'70 Challenger Convertible - going to finish it someday

1970 280SL auto, AC - aka "Edelweiss"

johnk

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #52 on: June 26, 2019, 03:09:06 »
Here's a few of my non-daily drivers, some running, some defintely not running.

'55 Nomad - about 90% complete.  Not running yet.
'99 Mini 40th anniv - running awesome (for sale)
'71 2800CS - runs, but going to restore it hopefully soon.
'70 Challenger Convertible - going to finish it someday

Teahead
If that is your wife in the challenger rather than a picture model I can see why your cars are still in the "some day"stage!

John K
John Krystowski
Avon Ohio
1968 Euro 280sl under restoration
2016 Jag F-Type R sold june 2021
1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS For sale
2008 E350
2007 GL 450
2019 BMW 540

neelyrc

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #53 on: June 26, 2019, 20:37:36 »
Earlier in the life of this thread I posted pictures of my other cars.  Over the last few weeks the thread has had renewed activity so I thought I would add my latest addition from early this year.  It is a 1988 560SL shown here sans hard top with my Pagoda.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2019, 15:09:05 by Mike Hughes »
Ralph

1969 280SL, 4 Speed Manual, Dark Olive (291H), Parchment Leather (256), Dark Green Soft Top (747)
1972 Mercedes-Benz 280SEL 4.5
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SL
2007 BMW 328xi (E90)
Italy
2004 Toyota HiLux D4D Pickup
2008 BMW 330xd Futura Coupe' (E92)

Mike Hughes

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #54 on: October 07, 2022, 14:32:43 »
After 30 years I am finally getting around to assembling a 1937 M.G. TA that I acquired as a rolling chassis basket case from a fellow "T" Register member.
- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
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Merc_Girl

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #55 on: October 15, 2022, 22:36:06 »
1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 super sport

She’s so pretty 🥰🥰
230SL

johnk

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #56 on: October 17, 2022, 03:18:30 »
That looks like a hell
Of a cool project. Where do you look for guidance on how it fits back together?
John Krystowski
Avon Ohio
1968 Euro 280sl under restoration
2016 Jag F-Type R sold june 2021
1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS For sale
2008 E350
2007 GL 450
2019 BMW 540

Mike Hughes

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #57 on: October 17, 2022, 11:38:35 »
The photos were taken at the restoration shop of a longtime friend who has kindly allowed me to come in and participate in the work.  His shop specializes in British cars and has done several post-war M.G. TCs, which are basically the same car in many respects, although there are a number of detail differences between an early, wide tank, TA like mine and even a later TA or pre-war TB.

I participate in a lively international forum that focuses on just the TA, TB and TC M.G.s, so advice and encouragement is freely offered (although the search function is not nearly as robust as ours!). There are a couple of members there who are original owners and quite a few more who are offspring of original owners of cars, the newest of which are nearing 75 years old.

Mine is a rather unusual specimen.  The Army Air Corps officer who acquired it in Ireland at the close of WWII was reassigned to bases in England in the immediate post-war period and took the car with him.  He participated in local motorsport events there in the immediate post-war period, mostly hill climbs.  At Prescott, which venue is still owned by the British Bugatti Owner's Club, he came to admire the exquisitely details of the polished, chrome plated, front axles of pre-war Bugattis, and figured that if it was good enough for Bugatti, it would be good enough for his M.G.!  So, when he returned stateside, he discovered that there was metal working, finishing and plating facilities at his Air Force base that could easily handle chrome plating at a very reasonable cost.  He ended up chroming the entire front suspension, parts of the rear suspension, and choice bits in the engine compartment in the late 40's and early 50's. He even chrome-plated the leaves of the springs, which I still have (although they are unusable, as chrome plating can make spring steel a little brittle and a number of leaves in each spring set are broken in at least one place.  I thought at the time that the car had a remarkably smooth, soft ride when the PO let me drive it briefly in 1978!)  Other than the wire wheels, which are new, every bit of the chrome you see in the photographs is over 70 years old.
- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havana Brown (408)
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zak

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #58 on: October 17, 2022, 19:52:26 »
John, that XKE coupe is exquisite. What a work of art.
How does the Jag's ride compare to your pagoda ?

jz
1967 250 SL
1983 280 SL
2015 ML 250 Bluetec
2007 ML CDI
2004 E 320 Wagon
1999 E300 Turbodiesel

Mike Hughes

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #59 on: February 27, 2024, 01:17:14 »
Scroll to reply #11 and you will see two photos of a line-up of M.G.s in my Alexandria, Virginia driveway.  The black car, second from the right in both photos is the subject of what appears below.

In 1979 I acquired a 1933 M.G. L1 Magna Salonette (that's a mouthful for such a small car!) from a fellow M.G. Car Club Washington DC Centre member.  A native of Asbury Park, NJ, he had owned the car, chassis number L0565, for over a decade and used it as daily transportation while attending undergraduate classes in the New York City area.  He dated for a time an unknown young folksinger he met at a coffee house up the road in Long Branch.  His M.G. was ideal for running her up to Greenwich Village for weekend gigs, as the back seat was big enough for her guitars.  Her name was Melanie (yes, THAT Melanie, who just passed away last month) and this was long before she became famous for her songs "Beautiful People" and "Brand New Key" or performing at Woodstock.

Those familiar with pre-War overhead cam M.G.s will know that their thermosyphon cooling systems relied exclusively on forward motion to force air through the radiator - there was no cooling fan.  The six-cylinder M.G. Magnas and Magnettes had a "pump-assisted thermosyphon system," while the far more numerous four-cylinder M.G. Midgets relied on convection only to circulate the coolant, although the water pump from a Magna or Magnette could be fitted to some of the later engines.   

Driving the Salonette in stop-and-go traffic on hot New Jersey summer days resulted in overheating and then a seized engine just before he was due to leave for graduate school in California.  The car was laid up in the carport of his parents' home a block from the Asbury Park beachfront, where over the next decade salt air and humidity did a number on the coachwork.  After grad school he ultimately settled in Arlington, Virginia.  His parents were selling the family home and the old M.G. had to get out of the carport.  Devising an A-frame towbar and using his Honda N600 as a tow vehicle, he dragged it home from New Jersey.

I was the only Washington D.C. area M.G. Club member who had a pre-war car, so seemed a prime candidate to take it off his hands.  Soon thereafter I sold my '34 PA four-seater to finance the beginnings of what became a 25-year restoration project.

In corresponding with pre-war M.G. spare parts suppliers in the U.K. I was soon made aware of the rarity of my L1 Magna Salonette.  Only 97 of these two-door, four passenger saloons were produced.  Compared with the far sportier L1 open four-seat tourer and L2 two-seat sports car, it was an unloved model with a fragile body.  When they reached the end of their useful lives, many a Salonette body was thrown away and the light chassis and powerful 1100cc OHC six-cylinder engine became the basis for many an M.G. racing special.  Naturally aspirated via dual S.U. carbs, these engines put out a healthy 55 HP.  With a crank driven supercharger fitted, running on the racing fuels available in the 1930's, these engines developed up to 140 HP!  To put this in perspective the Ford 3.6 liter flat-head V8 was rated at 65 HP.  Modified versions could put out as much as 100 HP in period.

One correspondent told me that he had only seen three or four Salonettes in the thirty years he had been in the M.G. spares business; another had only seen one but knew of another that had disappeared some years back and was delighted to discover that it might have now reappeared on the other side of the pond.  It was likely that I had the only L1 Salonette in the Western Hemisphere.

News of the rarity of my M.G. made me even more determined to embark on my restoration odyssey.  As funds permitted a Greek coachbuilder north of Baltimore recreated the wood-framed aluminum-skinned body, using the disintegrating original as a pattern.  I paid him when I could and he worked on it when he received fresh funding, so it took more than a dozen years to complete.  Then he started on the chassis, and I found a machine shop willing to take on disassembling and machining the seized engine.  We couldn't afford it but one doesn't count the cost of a labor of love.

More than two decades and tens of thousands of dollars after embarking on the restoration I had a steerable rolling chassis with an assembled engine and transmission in place, a pile of spare parts, and a spouse voicing a concern that, if I continued, this project was going to end up costing significantly more than what we paid for our house.  I reluctantly spread the word in the Pre-War M.G. community that my Salonette was for sale.

It took a while but eventually in fall of 2003 I was contacted by a pre-war M.G. aficionado in Japan, who said he had been searching for an F or L  Salonette and wanted to know more about it.  After months of discussion and sending photos of all the work, a deal was done. In 2004, twenty-five years to the month after I first acquired my M.G. Magna, L0565 was in a container on a ship heading for Kobe, Japan.  The two photos in reply #11 were taken the day I loaded the Salonette on my trailer for transport to a warehouse in Baltimore to be containerized and shipped to Japan.

Two years later he sent me a couple of photos of the completed project.  I did not recognize anything in the photos other than the radiator shell and steering wheel.  At the urging of a paying client, he had tossed the Salonette body and full flowing fenders and created a boat-tailed, cycle-fendered, supercharged racing special!

To say I was saddened beyond words would be a vast understatement.   Sleepless nights have visited me from time to time over the last nearly twenty years when I am reminded of the fate that befell a rare car that I spent nearly twenty-five years trying to resurrect.

Now comes the improbable part of the story:

During 2023 there were numerous events held around the world commemorating the 100th anniversary of the M.G. marque.  A member of the New England M.G. "T" Register traveled to the U.K. to attend an M.G. 100 event at Silverstone Circuit and wrote a report highlighting what he thought were the most significant or unusual among a special time-line of 100 M.G.s on display.  This article, complete with photos, was published in the NEMGTR bi-monthly journal "The Sacred Octagon" (Volume 61, Number 5 October 2023, pages 16-19).  There was a photo of each subject car, but one car merited two photos:  A duo-green L1 Magna Salonette!  Naturally I skipped through the article to read the description of that car first.  Its owner had acquired chassis number L0297, originally built as a Salonette, as a rolling chassis basket case fitted with the remnants of "bitsa" open four-seat body.

Imagine my utter shock when I next read that in 2005 he was able to begin to return the car to its original specification after sourcing complete Salonette bodywork - from Japan!  I was looking at my old Salonette, completely restored, but on a different chassis by a different owner!  The description concluded, "It is believed to be one of only two remaining Salonettes worldwide."

Skipping ahead, when a container arrives in New York next month and L0297 is loaded on my trailer and brought home, my Salonette body will have completed its circumnavigation of the globe.

The photo group below shows L0565 as it appeared when it arrived in Kobe, Japan in 2004 and L0297 after its restoration was completed using the body, fenders, bonnet (hood) panels, seats and interior wood trim sourced from Japan.  The other photo shows the only two L1 Magna Salonettes known to exist worldwide side by side at a pre-covid international M.G. meeting in the U.K.  The blue car lives in Belgium.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2024, 00:33:48 by Mike Hughes »
- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havana Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

mda

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #60 on: February 27, 2024, 04:25:15 »
 :o

Peter van Es

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #61 on: February 27, 2024, 11:53:07 »
Great story Mike, and what perseverance!
1970 280SL. System Admin of the site. Please do not mail or PM me questions on Pagoda's... I'm not likely to know the answer.  Please post on the forum instead!

rwmastel

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #62 on: February 27, 2024, 19:02:37 »
Scroll down to reply #11 and ...
Mike (and everyone), 

FYI:  It is in the user preferences as to having the newest posts at the top or the bottom of the thread.  So, to scroll down to a specific reply is not a universal statement.
Rodd

Did you search the forum before asking?
2017 C43 AMG
2006 Wrangler Rubicon
1980 450SL
1966 230SL

EeVeeWee

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #63 on: February 27, 2024, 21:50:47 »
In the meanwhile I have these cars and this bike.

Again something else.

Mike Hughes

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #64 on: February 27, 2024, 23:37:22 »
Mike (and everyone), 

FYI:  It is in the user preferences as to having the newest posts at the top or the bottom of the thread.  So, to scroll down to a specific reply is not a universal statement.

So true, I had forgotten there was a choice.  My post has been edited to remove the word "down" eliminating any confusion.
- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havana Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

Bobmog

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Re: Pics of my other cars
« Reply #65 on: February 28, 2024, 16:04:46 »
My others