Our British Automobiles

My fondness for British cars goes back to the time I first saw the picture of the Singer that my father owned when he married my mother in 1959. I still have the original picture in our home. Before our son was born, I could not wait anymore and wanted to tinker with cars again having spent my high school years trying to get a 1952 CJ3B back on the road again (It never did unless you count the time that I had it pulled to a mechanics shop by a donkey cart!  That was back in Pakistan, but I did learn a lot). Found this 1971 MG Midget that was barely driving, trailered it from Salem, OR to our home at that time in Hillsboro, OR and worked on and off for the next few years. During this time I was attending all kinds of British car shows, reading books and magazines and lusting after an MGA that I really wanted. Then life happened. Our son was born and soon after that we lost his mamma to cancer. I got busy with trying to raise a child alone, but needed an outlet. I went back to working on the ’71 Midget. The memories of the few drives I had in it with my wife were too strong. By this time our son was almost 3.5years old and wanting to go for rides in the ‘little red sports car’ and I was not going to leave him alone for a minute. I put it up for sale in the middle of winter and a crazy guy just like me,  bought it for my asking price. I gave him all the spares I could find, basically cleaning up my garage and all the books and manuals I had accumulated about MGs. My son returned from kindergarten that night and wailed and wailed why I sold the car. I joined him in that. The memories were too strong. I decided that I needed to get a car back. We started the search and to look for something with a back seat. I ended up going waaaaay over my budget, but that smile was well worth every penny I spent when he saw it for the first time. This is the first night in the garage. Since then we have worked on many small things to make “Molly” more enjoyable. We have entered it in car shows but mainly driven it on every nice-day opportunity we get. Lots of compliments, thumbs-ups and people telling what a beauty she is. I cannot believe that I am driving my real dream car. I am very lucky and grateful and every time we go for a drive we think of our special mamma angel that is watching over us.

In 2014 considering Molly was done, I need to get something British again to mess around with as “my therapy”. Plus I had taken a few welding classes at the Portland Community College and wanted a good practice object. I located a 1972 Series III Land Rover 88in in a small town east of Salem, OR. With the help of a friend, his wife and my son, we all drove out to check “Henry”, paid almost the asking price and drove it back the 80miles to home in Beaverton. Bruce had to blow rust out of one of the two filters that the previous owner had put in due to the rusted gas tank. We did this by the side of the road on 99W near McMinnville, OR.  Surprised that it drove so well and was able to hit 60+mph even though I later found, that the steering box had no oil, the hubs had no oil, rear diff only had an oil slurry, transfer case had less than a few cups of oil, clutch had a mix of brake fluid and some black slurry! Since then I have been slowly working on a few things at a time, perfecting my welding skills, rebuilding parts, redoing wiring, and learning to paint aluminum panels with aerosol cans!

It is a work in progress and will start once again during winter breaks, spring breaks, soccer practice, swimming lessons and life.

Here it is as we drove it in.

 

1972 Land Rover Series III 88in.

 

In Sept of 2014 I again got the bug to search for a 4X4 to complement the Jaguar (Molly – ’70 E-Type) in the garage. Started searching CraigList ads and EBay listings and then this beauty popped up ~90 miles from our house in a small logging community west of Salem, OR. With the help of a friend, we got her home. It drove under its own power all the way. We had to made a few roadside stops to blow out the rust from the fuel filters that got choked when we stopped to get gas and disturbed the tanks sediments.  Here is Henry sharing the garage space with Molly…

 

 

 

Here is a picture of the first fuel filter that was put by the previous owner before the electric pump that he had put in place.

 

 

 

Ove the last two summers and winters and breaks I have been slowly working on it and getting things put together. So far I have rebuilt almost the entire front end, swivels, fuel system, brake and clutch system. Even tried my hand at painting as most of it was already gone.

It was even a surprise that this vehicle drove and hit 66mph (my friend clocked me on a flat as he was driving behind me). Would you believe this is what the inside of the steering box was when I opened it up the first time. Not a drop of oil in sight. LOL!

 

I got a real nice pair of seats and had them shipped for free during a Christmas sale by one of the East cost vendors. The originals were gone waaaay beyond.

Had a lot of fun (pun) rebuilding the mess of a dash due to some of the lower parts that were rusted out due to the drain being clogged at some time.

 

 

Got a chance to break out the welder and try out the MIG and my sheetmetal bending skills. Good enough for the driver. Even tried the dash covering. Will probably re-do that with a bit thicker material so the wrinkles don’t show so much.

 

 

Had some rattle cans mixed up locally and sprayed it on with a self etch primer. My skills improved quite a bit from the first panel (left wing) to the last I did (hood).

 

 

 

A cozy home for some critter at some point in the life of this vehicle. Thankfully there was no smell or other dead remains, so this cleaned up with an industrial vac’ quickly with no touch!

 

Spent most of the time trying to get the carb to run correctly, in the end had to pay a machine shop to rebush the shaft on the Zenith 36IV as I could not set the mixture too well with all the air leaks. Still need to find a newer style of the mixture screw that is not included in the carb repair kits. Good thing is I can pretty much take the whole thing apart and put it back together without missing any parts and it always run! Even lapped all the surfaces using the glass/sandpaper/WD40 method.

 

The tank had to be boiled out professionally, patched and sealed. The guys at Radiator City did a good job. Cost me an $$$’s but the original tank was heavier gage and welded seams not the light stuff available these days.

 

Coated it with some underseal coating before putting it back with the special sandwich rubber washers.

Cleaned up all the gages and redid the rats nest of wiring, cleaned up all the contacts to make sure all the lights and electricals work. What an amazing undertaking but really happy that everything electrical works as it should!

 

 

The work continues while raising an 8 year old and a career in the high tech world…..