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MG TD TF 1500 - restoration update

Time for an update. After (expensive) furniture shopping with wife tonight, almost t-boned a pickup on the way home (the moron pulled right out in front of me!). Then the regular way to the house was blocked by sheriff- seems there is a hostage situation down the street. When we were leaving, the circling helicopter and 7 cop cars and the SWAT team van heading toward our house was a tip that something was wrong! The body shop owner himself painted the repaired frame- beatiful. Everything I repaired or redid over the years was either worn out, cruddy, or just not restored. Virually everything I thought was OK, was not, or looked lousy next to the restored stuff. You can send your original door lock cover to the chrome place. They will weld the crack, and beautifully plate it. I didn't bother to send the base, and the screw hole was re-drilled in the wrong place, not to mention the quarter inch thick chrome. Your contract clearly says "not responsible for fit problems if you don't send the mating part". Duh. You are on a first name basis with the Abindgon and Moss people, as well as the UPS driver. You know your credit card number and experation date without looking. You hit the limit on your AMEX card (oops!) You can't hide all of the new stuff from the wife. Important lessons learned: it will cost at least 3 times what you think. The trip to NYC for wife was first, now the lovely bedroom furniture. Barganing: tonight wife then wanted to then go to other store to show me new bedroom furniture daughter picked out. I made a deal- I won't show her my pitted tappets if I didn't have to look at a 12 year olds bedroom furniture! Real important lesson #1: Do not carry point and shoot digital camera in your front pants pocket. When you lean over something, the LCD screen breaks. The pattern is cool looking at least. Lastly,when wearing old jeans while using chemical paint stripper and your cell phone is on top of your car, do not lean against your car door when grabbing the phone. Paint stipper works on modern clear coat very well. This deal is getting reeeealy expensive! Time for another stiff drink. Happy new year to all, thanks for the advice, friendship, and knowledge, comraderie, from everyone. George
George Butz

Hi George,

Like the above!We have all been there at one stage or another.Of course,the final result is always worth it.
My son took me for a drive in the TF yesterday around the roads very close to the Swan River which bounds our Applecross suburb.Right from 'crank-up',that characteristic TD/TF exhaust burble with smooth idling,enables all the years of restoration efforts and frustrations(inter twined with certain language!)to be quickly erased from one's mind.
The other good part for me is that said son(aged 20 years) drives the car effortlessly and better than I do!

Cheers and all the best for 2007.

Rob.Grantham
R GRANTHAM

Hang in there George...it's worth it!
IMHO couple of things that help:
Keep the cooler full of OSH!
If you keep an excel file (like I did) with all the little pieces parts & their cost....TURN OFF THE "AUTO SUM" feature!
Multiple checking accounts help also! LOL
For the last couple of years I have come up with an even better method.
Remember when you were a kid and made those little "shoe boxes" for Valentines Day? Weld a metal box together with just a big enough slot to stuff your receipts & invoices in ...let somebody else figure it out after (according to my will) my ashes have been used as oil-dry on the floors of "Abingdon Hootersville North"!
Measure the tyme spent as Rob has ....in "Smiles per Mile"!
Cheers,
David 55 TF1500 #7427
David Sheward

George,

Very humorous post! (I'm laughing with you here, I hope). What you describe, especially the way new things look next to old and shabby is exactly why my $12K restoration has become a $24K effort! My wife is certainly looking forward to the completed car. But in my case, being nice has resulted in a hot tub in back (we do use it year 'round) a new patio with landscaping, and a new driveway, while our cars are out of our garage as the MG is taking up the entire space. Luckily, I picked our two warmest winters in recent history to displace her sedan. She is quite cheerful about the inconvenience, sometimes I think more so then I!

As David S says, 'hang in there'

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

2001 : minor 3-day paint "touch-up" = 9+ months down to bare metal re-paint / 2 gig's of digital photos of what car looked like "before & during dissasembly" and 1 door that ended up in Kansas after motor-home it was stored in was sold and left Ohio!
2005 : 1 day "oil change & fix leaking right rear brake" = complete Stage III engine re-build / 2 brand new melted pistons and no "smiles per mile" for a year!
Yep ...we have all been there!
Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!
Cheers,
David 55 TF1500 #7427
David Sheward

This thread was discussed on 31/12/2006

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