To cut a long story short, Colin’s wife said she knew Colin would have wanted me to have the mkIII & could I pick it up. I had very mixed feelings as I set off southbound in James Birkby’s transporter to collect 218 HYT from Croxley Green.

When I got the car back to Yorkshire I took a few pictures of it, still dusty, by my garage. The back end of the car looked a bit grim. Extensive crazing all over & a thick rough covering of cracked filler, particularly around rear offside corner. To make it  look right, I realised the whole rear section would need replacement. Colin had previously told me a motorcycle had run into the back of the car in the 70’s. Later in the restoration, I found the fuel tank awkward to remove, as it was still deformed by contact with the bike’s front wheel. 

When I inspected below the number plate, I could see a pair of rusty 6mm steel plates crudely bolted through the bottom of boot floor & tacked onto rear crosstube. Upon lifting the bonnet I found remains of a squirrels nest next to pedal box, consisting of a pile of nut halves, & a part nibbled white Double Diamond ‘T’ shirt. A green/clear resin rectangular St. Christopher was in there too!! The inner wings have suffered dodgy repairs, particularly to the outer edges over last 47 years & will require replacement. To improve access I shall most likely make them bolt on in future. The rocker box cover is non std, or at least not an original MG part, it is a nice finned alloy job, with black crackle finish paint. It looks same to me as the period HRG aftermarket cover.

A 60’s/70’s Ford radiator was attached, ‘up front’ with help of a crude bit of Dexion angle.  Between top hose & radiator is a hefty, crude looking, but I think original swirl pot. The chassis cross tube in front of engine is cracked, badly welded & reinforced with a some more 6mm plate, that will all need to go.  (pic.04 shows u.bonn bits)

Moving to the interior, on the dash were extra switches & more than the usual 4 off, 50mm instruments. The speedo & tacho fitted were I eventually discovered, from a BSA A65 motorcycle. Later I traded parts with Mark Keith & acquired the correct period 5 inch Speedo & Tacho. Anybody got an A65 without instruments ? Mark sadly lost his MkIIa Grantura when it caught fire not long after a complete & very extensive & thorough rebuild. The steering wheel, though incorrect at least has the right 6 bolt fixing Mota Lita boss. After speaking to Ian Massey-Crosse I got a smart new wheel from Mota Lita with correct 6 bolt pcd mounting & they refurbished my tatty boss to as new condition. To the right of wheel on the dash, is a bakelite type horn push. |I think these were used originally on the MGA. These were used rather than the more normal ‘centre of wheel push’ as on the later 1800S & Vixen. The car was very tatty inside missing all but scraps of carpet, no headlining or it’s supporting framework (Anybody know which vehicle supplied that). The sun visors were missing, no heater was fitted, but I had a decent looking one amongst a couple of box’s of spares which came with the vehicle.