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Almost Cried When I Lifted the Tarp...

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tony barnhill

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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A friend of mine called the other day. I haven't talked with him in some time; you know how it is, you get busy, he's trying to recuperate from the death of his wife. You simply don't find time to keep up with one another.

Anyway, in addition to a stable of beautiful British cars (MG, Morris Minor, big AH), he has 2 old MG's that have been sitting in his yard for years; and now he's kinda sorting things out, deciding which cars to keep and which to let go. These 2 will go so he asked me if I was interested.

Well, I knew one of the cars as it sits right out in view everytime I turn in his drive...rusty old MGB GT that might hold a good interior part or something mechanical that's useable; however, there's probably not a good body panel on it other than the hood. And I've been telling him that for years.

The other car was always a mystery as its under a heavy tarp (not one of those light plastic things but something like a big tent). Today I lifted that tarp....boo-hoo-hoo.

What I found was the remains of a project long forgotten due to his wife's prolonged illness. A 1964 roadster that, when parked, had a perfectly restored, newly painted body that was never reassembled. Old English White. But now, after years under that tarp, it needs rockers and doors at a minimum. There's also a set of beautiful red leather seats w/white piping that have been ravaged by years under the tarp. And I don't know what else is in it as the car was full of parts he stacked in it for storage.

Sad, real sad...
 
If there's anything left, run, don't walk, and salvage it
 
I know chuck - they'll be coming home shortly...its just sad that a car which was made perfect would need it all over again!
 
And the moral is? Never ever store a car outside for very long under a tarp where air can not circulate around it to keep it dry and dry fast when it does get damp.

It would be better in the open under a tent fly to keep the dew off then the only time it would get wet would be rainy days.

The services store vehicles with very special procedures, even inside. Outside is a no no.

You can get a lot of little cars in a storage building that you can rent cheeply most places. Even if stored in a semi sealed out building a dehumidafier would not be a bad idea.
 
What a sad story but an excellent lesson for me. I don't have enclosed parking space for all of my vehicles so I often switch around and do drive all four seasons of the year. Glad I've been doing that now. Thanks for sharing,
 
If you've had a lbc any length of time,you've seen thew same thing and it is always sad. I watched a tr4 rust away for years because the owner was going to get to it one of these days. Then, one day it wasn't there, and a buddy found it at a Junk yard, bought it and totally restored it. It has be to both coasts since.
 
I can probably name off 10 or more LBC's(and probably about 50 or more muscle cars) that are sitting around here rottting away becasue the owner is 'gunna get to it one day'....I always make them take my number, and sometimes I get a call years later. Otherwise the car will probably end up in a scrapyard somewhere.
One sad car I saw recently was an old mercedes(not sure what it's called but it's like the gullwing but convertible).....It's owned by a dentist near where I grew up, i remeber it when he had it new and then how he parked it off the side of his driveway in the early 80's......Few years later he throw one of those thick heavy tarps on it....I stopped buy a few months back, nobody home so i lifted the tarp......The car is pretty much gone!....Everything that was metal is now junk, one of the doors was ajar, and it's been rusted open. Just lifting the tarp caused a headlight ring to fall off......I left a note anyways, but never heard from him i assume it's his 'summer project'?
 
I see this all the time - but it never gets any easier....heck, last summer when I finally broke down & crushed a dozen old hulks that I had finally stripped of everything usable, it still hurt! My daughter wondered if I cried when they were picked up of my trailer by the forklift at the crusher.
 
Well did you? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif
 
No, but it was sad!
 
I found a '69 sprite this way. Sitting for 20 years untouched. BEE's BEE's BEE's! Car was loaded with nests which was good because it helped keep the car together long enough to get it home. It just about folded in half when I got it in the driveway.
 
We were driving Saturday morning (2 hours to Ste. Genevieve for the weekend) and I'm always looking around pole barns and outbuildings now. Saw a chrome bumper Midget and what I thought was another Midget or a Spridget, couldn't tell, went by too quickly. One blue, one yellow (so the rust cancer hadn't spread completely)

Today on the way back home, I looked again, were both CB Midgets. I yelled for Chuck to stop, let me go up to the door and see if they wanted to get rid of them. He wouldn't stop.

But...it is only about an hour drive from here. I think they're both salvageable...
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I was heading to family even earlier today, got lost(of course)but I stumbled across a shop tha had a bunch of old cars rotting away outside, a TR6 was the only british I saw, but alot of Corvettes, and a ton of ElCamino's....I didn't want to stop cuz my sister was following me and we where already late, but I'll go back sometime.
 
This sad tale reminds me of one that happened close to home. For years, two RB MGB's sat in front of a house near my grandparent's (now my) house. One was red, and the other black. I took notice of them every time we passed them from the time I was 11 or 12.

I finished high school and moved on into college, and became more MGB-lusty, if you will. The cars were still there and had been sitting out the whole time, and were looking more decrepit all the time. One day, I worked up a little courage and walked up to take a closer look. The tops on both cars were shot, the tires were flat, and they were showing the ravages of sitting unprotected and unused for many years. I knocked on the door and the owner, an older man, came out. We talked about the cars for a bit, he told me that the black one was an LE with a/c, and I offered $700 to get them both. That would have cleaned me out and nevermind having to find a place to put them. He looked like he was going to bite, but then said he was saving them for his grandkids.

I don't know if his grandkids got them, but they disappeared five or six years ago. This town inacted a derelict car law where the city could seize and impound eyesore cars that were unregistered and inoperable if someone complained about them. The rumor I heard was that there was a retiree who took it upon himself to drive around the city looking for eyesores to turn in to the police, and that he reported them. I never was able to find out for sure that they had been impounded, nor what happened to the cars after that point. They were bad, but not so bad that they couldn't be fixed.

I also remember watching a TR6 sit and rust until it disappeared. I tried to get it too, but the people wouldn't take it for sentimental reasons while their precious car sat and rotted in the driveway.
 
Well, I'm going over as soon as the weather clears to start bringing them home...the GT first - its just a parts car - &, then the '64 - but it has to go inside to air out so I can determine exactly How far it is, whether its restorable or....

The block is in his garage, new pistons, cam, & crank are in the trunk - no good now! Dash is all there...with new rockers she might be restorable...& she is a '64 pull handle!
 
The next town up from me had 4 MGA's outside under tarps. One coupe and three roadsters. Guy said they were his "retirement income". By the time he retired they were so bad he had to pay to get them taken away. Bob
 
[ QUOTE ]
Guy said they were his "retirement income". By the time he retired they were so bad he had to pay to get them taken away.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sad, really sad....

Years ago I went to look at a pair of MGAs sitting out in some farmer's field... they were far gone but he wanted an arm and a leg for them, thought they were priceless exotics, it seems....
 
So, they're both home..but, they're a couple of weird little cars

1964 roadster: at one time the body had been completely redone & they were beginning to put the trim back on; but it got tossed under the tarp...&, now were I to restore her, I'd put a short bottom sill under the front of the passenger side, a passenger rocker, replace both floors (they were repaired but not to my standards) then sand her down & repaint...I say passenger rocker only because there's no rust coming trough the front fender or dogleg....engine is disassembled & block looks like it came out of machine shop yesterday! seats are okay but covered in vinyl..dash is there and in great shape switch/nstrument-wise...windshield is perfect....still haven't gotten around to much else on her....were she not a pull handle, she'd be a candidate for parting out...but, she'll await somebody to restore her.

1972 GT: body is shot - I mean the only good thing on it is the aluminum hood...however, all the brightwork & the recessed grille are excellent as is the dash (a perfect Abingdon Pillow!)...interior panels are very good, driver seat has a few tears...again, strange, but I think with starter fluid & a battery she'll run!

Both have wires & neither had a brake frozen

Still have to go through the boxes of stuff in them....but, they're here, safe & sound!
 
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