New Car Discoveries

When I bought my B back in October I had armed myself with as much info as I could gather from this forum and the library resources but I appear to have missed more than a few blemishes. I'm still satisfied I bought a solid car but am discovering a few surprises the closer I work with it.

For starters there was a ratty old chunk of carpet in the boot and when I pulled it out I discovered green paint. The closer I looked under the hood I have found green in the corners and hard to reach (and see) parts of the engine bay too. Here is a pic of the boot.

[URL=http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d15/homebrew_58/MGB/?action=view&current=DSCN1301.jpg][/URL]

Also in the boot is this puzzler... the wall between the trunk and interior has been cut and then spot welded in an odd shaped rectangle. It wasn't a complete cutout either. You can see where the paint came apart where it appears to have been bent back. Does anyone have the faintest idea why someone would do that?

[URL=http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d15/homebrew_58/MGB/?action=view&current=DSCN1303.jpg][/URL]

The good news is that I found a shop that specializes in British cars. It turns out the guy who does the repairs is a friend of mine from a long time ago. I lost touch with him almost 10 years ago and thought he had moved away. He's got my car now and is working on a few things that are beyond my current skills.

Cheers,
Kevin

Looks like someone could not get into the boot for some reason or another, and cut a hole, folded it back to get back there to release the latch...

Looks like someone cut that panel open because they couldn't get the trunk lid open. Your car was probably originally green....look up under the dash. The car was painted the same color everywhere....not white on the outside and flat black in the trunk (or anywhere else for that matter).

I'll put in a third vote for the "the lid is stuck and we're going to get into that trunk one-way-or-another" option. First time I've ever seen that method. Definately started life as a green car. Should you ever decide to restore it back to its original colour, you're ahead of the game.

If you want to find out how your car left the factory, you can obtain a Heritage Certificate from here: http://www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/shop/heritage-certificates/index.html

Should I leave well enough alone in the trunk or should I have it properly welded instead of the spot welds holding it together now??

Kevin

If you know a good welder, have it properly welded and you won't have to think about it anymore. I'm not sure if this panel is considered structural or not but at least you can make it solid again.

With the panel on the interior side and some carpet on the trunk side, you won't see the repair. It's not something you have to do today or tomorrow but I'd fix it if I were you one day.