.. My new ride update Sun 12/6 oops

This forum is made up of some very special people. One of them is Leslie B as she really help me decide on
my new A. I have been looking at car for over 6 months concentrating on car in the 4 to 6 K range. That amount of money will not buy much I can tell you....... I then decided to look for an abandoned project and let someone else take the big bite.

Well I found a car in Phoenix that fit the bill but it was too far to take a look see. Here comes Leslie to the rescue. I sent her a PM on Thursday evening and Friday morning see called an agreed to look at the car. Well, see called back an hour and a half later and had looked at the car and taken 40 pictures... She gave me a good assessment of it and today I made a deal for the car... Now all I have to do is jump in the truck and run out there and get it.. It's only 2086 miles.... I drove almost half that far to look at junk in Mass.

Three cheers for the forum and three more for Leslie

It is on Phoenix craigslist

Anyone who keeps their MGA project in a carpeted garage can't be all bad.

Nice looking car. Congrats.

Ohhhhhhh...really nice looking car!!! Nice color too...AND a Mark II as well. You did quite well I say...

Congrats...

Tom

nice car!!! I wish you the best with it!!

Nice find Gary! Well worth the wait by the looks of it. Congrats.

I spent $4K and put in another $1000 so far at least (tools, parts) and haven't gotten to that stage yet - and it looks like your "project" car was well-done to boot!

Why in the heck didn't they just finish it? The body work (seemingly done here) is the hard part! There has to be a story there - no engine perhaps?

Good find!

JIM

Actually the guy was moving into a retirement community, and he didn't look very happy to be selling it. Gary got a great find!

The owner is indeed moving right now and needs to get things cleared up. All the running gear is done, 1622 engine , shocks,steering.. all redone. He has new chrome pieces, wireing harness, steering wheel. interior panels etc...
I am sure something will need to be redone but it's a great start. Especialy compared to the east coast cars that I have been looking at. It's alot more money and travel expense than I wanted to invest but I'm tired of looking. We have been to Naples,Fl , Springfield,Ma, Maryland , Virgina, Maryland again, South Carolina three times, and N.C... The RUST belt

looks like you got yourself a heck of a good deal...see there are benefits to old age....some one else's old age

Every now and then you run into a situation like this where things just work out (for the buyer anyway - bummer for the seller). When I bought the '67 BGT Special that I'm currently restoring, the PO had completely disassembled a very original car with only one prior owner, done all the bodywork to a very high standard, replated much of the chrome, powder-coated lots of structural parts, and had accumulated a load of hard-to-find NOS parts. A number of factors were conspiring against him finishing the project, so I bought it and ended up with a great opportunity to finish restoring a car to a very high standard while saving a bunch of money in the process. Sounds like you found a great project - good luck on the restoration.

Gary
Looks like a great car. Makes me want to go go out and buy another one, sorry you had 3 fruitless trips to SC and hopefully you did not have to come all the way to Charleston. Now remember it is really 4172 miles to get the car home.:D
Hopefully you have a comfy tow vehicle.

Good Luck on your new great adventure.

Ron

Congrats Gary,

If you need anything when you get going let me know. I live in G'boro just up the road from you and have just finished a '62 in May.

I've got a body dolly from another member as well as a front clip. I don't know if you require either, but they are here if you need them.

Cheers,
Christopher

Wow, the bonnet is even gift wrapped.

Nice find! Still plenty of work though. Perfect!

Crap, I better get going before someone finds me missing from the resthome...

You'd better be on the lookout, the police are looking for a thief! :) What a nice find.

Well, we are on the way.. We are in Tucumcari,NM and they are predicting snow for the next 3 days. We came on Int 40 but will go back on Int 10 and 20 which is further south and avoids the rotten roads in OK..

Sunny Phoenix is supposed to be 40 degrees Friday morning when we get the car... Timing is everything...
Gotta go.. Next report 12/3

Gary,

There are a few of us A guys along I10 in Louisiana. If you need any assistance while in the area, give a holler. Looks like a great project. I wish I had started with something so nice. Good luck, and be careful.

Tim

Got up this morning to 2 inches of snow. When we left the hotel the gps said we would be in Phoenix at 3:25p. We got on the road and hit the non state maintained interstate highway and went 20 miles in 3 and a half hours. By the time we got out of the snow the gps said we would arrive at 7:40p.

We made it to Holbrook Az about 3 hrs from PHX... Timing is really everything.....

Congrats Gary on picking up your new toy today! It was nice meeting you and your wife (and your little dog too), and we hope you have a safe trip back to NC. We appreciate the parts bestowed to us...they will come in handy.

Jonathan and Leslie

Go Gary go!

Left Holbrook at 7 for Gilbert Az, 14 degrees ...cold... We picked up a uhaul trailer on the way to get the car. Loaded the car up (twice,once facing forward and then backward for better weight distribution)
About 2:30 we headed back to Gods country N.C. No place like home. Looks like better weather on the way back.. I will post some photo's tomorrow.
I got to meet Leslie and her husband . They came by to help out and get
inspired to keep going on their car.. It took about 2.5 hours to get everything packed up.
On the road again tomorrow at a slower pace with much lower mpg...

Sounds Like A Great Adventure Be Careful and Get That Sucker Back Home Cant Wait To See The Pics

"Sounds Like MGA Great Adventure MGB Careful and Get That Sucker Back Home Cant Wait To MGC The Pics" :thumbsup:

Chris, are you a secret poet!

I usually see them at import Carlisle every year. Various conditions and prices but usually cheap.
Ron

Well the adventure to Phoenix has become one pia........
If I knew then what I know now that A would still there... Not because of the car but the fetching there of.

I am tired of driving all day everyday.. I wouldn't ever want to be a truck
driver..

On the way out is was an adventure. We had the advantage of the time zones and were full of anticipation of the places and things we would see.
We drove 12 hours a day and made 700+ miles. We would have gotten to Az in less than 3 days except for the 6 hour snow delay..

Now we are going against the time and are tired and we only drive 10 hours a day. We are pulling a 2 ton U-Haul trailer with a car on board and can not maintain the same speed as before. The ride became uninteresting after we left the rockies and entered centeral Texas. Now that we are in Monroe La it is just more of the same mile after boring mile..

If you ever want to drive accross country do in in the spring or fall and take enough time to enjoy the trip..................................

I am sure I will enjoy the car and most of the trip was worthwhile...
I will post some pictures after we get home. ( I don't have the cable to download the camera)

Cheers

Hang in there Gary. So true that on the way to get a new (old) car is an adventure, but the way back becomes a task. Just catch a glimpse of her on the trailer from time to time. Always helps me get fired up again.

Gary, if you need any help unloading it, give me a shout. Heck, I would be happy just to look. Safe travels!

I once drove a U-Haul box truck from AZ to MD - the trip back was really slow as the governor in the truck wouldn't let me get over 45MPH going uphill over the Rockies.

If I did it again, I'd take a chatty co-pilot and a Sirius satellite radio (which I can no longer live without - it's great not having to search for a new station every 30 miles).

I need to find a way to mount my Sirius in the "A" once I get it going - but I don't think the vintage radio has an "input" jack!

Good luck on your trip - it will have been well worth it. Think of all the time you are NOT going to spend welding, sanding, grinding, painting, etc.

JIM in NH

The weather took a turn here after you left Gary. Cold, rainy, windy - snow in the mountains. Glad you are making your way back to NC (even if it is slowly) - just enjoy the ride as mush as possible and look forward to that amazing car you now have!! :)

Emmanuel..
Thanks for the offer. We will be home sometime tommorrow and I will see how it goes.. I can keep the trailer till Friday if anyone needs a tow..

Leslie
Sorry to hear about your weather. Everyone deserves a little of that to keep you humble.

We are north of Atlanta and will be home by lunch.. It rained most of the day but not a bad ride.. For some reason it seems like my gas milage went down when everything got soaked... We got about 14.5 mpg on the western flats but now it is down to about 12.5.

All in all it was worth it 43% of the time, make that 31%,
no maybe 28%.......

Cheers

I can't edit the title anylonger

Gary, glad you are almost home, now you will need a couple of days to rest but will be happy with the car after the trip is behind you.

Like Jim I once drove a rental box truck to just north of NY City with two british cars piggybacked inside and one on a trailer. Had to stop for gas every two hours. Thursty bugger. Look back now as a great adventure, wasnt smiling then.

Satellite radio is nice if you spend time on the road.

Want to go to MG 2011 with my car but it is a long time in a truck towing a trailer. At least 5k round trip and as you pointed out mileage sucks. I figure two weeks at least. Hotels and food, guess I had better start saving now.

Ron