In Praise of Parts Cars

Can you be considered a true automotive enthusiast without owning at least one parts car? Also known as donor cars or spares cars, these saved-from-the-scrapyard vehicles help keep many a classic car on the road and serve as a source of barter goods and make many goodwill gestures possible.

Naturally the best parts cars are the ones that can be had for free. It's not often that you run across a freebie but from time to time "just haul it off" stories surface. Even if the object of your envy is not available for free removal it may get the conversation started that could lead to a fair price agreement. Not surprisingly, many people with obviously unloved older cars think that they are much more valuable than they really are, especially if you've come knocking. It's difficult to negotiate a reasonable price in one visit when the owner thinks it's worth four times what it really is.

A Typical Parts Car - Photo Courtesy William Huggins

It's best to let the owner know that you have no intention of restoring the car (if you truly don't intend to, that is) and that your interest is strictly for the parts that you can harvest for your own project. If you have a photo of your restoration project - or better yet, you're driving it - show it to the owner and let them know what parts you need. If you can't buy the entire car, maybe you can get some choice pieces off it. If you still cannot come to a reasonable price, thank the owner for his courtesy but leave your name and phone number along with a written offer. Then wait a time with patience.

Richard Cunningham and I followed up on a lead for a Triumph Stag that we planned to part out. While it was a solid, complete car, it had an American engine and transmission transplant so we didn't think that it was a candidate for restoration. The seller was emotionally attached to the car and asked exactly three times what Richard and I were willing pay. We explained our intentions for the car, justified our offer and then left her with contact information and a standing offer. About six months later, events in the sellers life changed and she was willing to take the offer. At this point we had lost interest in the Stag, but one of our club members was in the midst of a Stag restoration so we brought the two parties together and a deal was done. Happy buyer, happy seller.

My brother and I renovated our 1976 MGBs during the late 1990s. In that time, we came into ownership of two '75 MGBs in derelict condition. My car needed body panels and trim items and my brother Alan's car needed engine bits. The first car we dismantled provided the engine pieces Alan needed and I picked up a fine bootlid. We kept gauges, driveline parts and other choice pieces for barter or future use and scrapped the remains of the body. The second parts car was much more complete. Alan picked up some useful interior pieces and I got the rest of the body bits I needed - namely front fenders (wings), doors and a better windscreen frame. As with the first car, we stripped out everything that could be sold or traded and scrapped the remains of the bodyshell.

Keeping a parts car is challenging in most locations. It is highly unlikely that your neighbors will see your new parts car acquisition with the same rose-colored view that you have, and in more and more cities code enforcement officers will make their presence known with a citation or cease and desist order. Unlicensed vehicles  - even those not visible from the street - are prohibited on your property in many cities. There are tales of properly garaged projects coming under official scrutiny, too. Some self-storage facilities will allow you keep a parts car in a unit while you dismantle it, but keep in mind you have to have space to get a truck in to haul off the major bits you do not want.

Me - The Day the 1969 E-Type was Delivered

Ideally, you could have a friend with property outside the reach of the code Nazis and that friend might not mind having a partially disassembled car on their property for a minimum period of time. You may even ignite some old car hobby interest in your bud as part of the deal. Alan and I swapped a rebuildable engine from parts car No. 2 for a spot to park the rest of the car while we finished the strip-out. Parts car No. 1 occupied the driveway of a friend who had found himself suddenly sans wife and there was no prohibition on old cars in the city of Mobile, Alabama at the time. He thought it was cool to have an exotic Brit in the drive for his buddies to admire. Needless to say, we moved quickly to strip the car and keep the neighborhood irritation to a minimum. 

As documented in other entries in this humble blog, the aforementioned Richard Cunningham and I bought a 1969 Jaguar E-Type for our amusement and mercenary intentions. Thankfully, Richard has a spacious garage outside the city limits where we dismantled and sold off bits to E-Type owners looking for original pieces to keep their cars on the road. It even worked out that Richard found a few pieces he needed for his 1964 restoration project. By the way, we still have some nice body bits available. 

Tearing into a parts car can be a bittersweet experience. The car you are working on was someone's pride at one time. For me it's difficult to not wonder about the chain of ownership, the conversations (or other activities) that took place inside and when it became obvious that this vehicle was no longer worthy of repair. The personal items that you run across occasionally add their own bit of poignancy to the story. Once in a while actual cash money is found in the seats, carpets and various cubby holes making your cost of acquisition even lower! Richard and I found quite a few interesting items in the E-Type some of which include:

• A matchbook from the Sands Casino in Las Vegas
• A DIY repair manual (obviously unread...)
• A 1971 California road map
• An assortment of spare interior bulbs
• Pens and pencils from various Vegas casinos
• The ugliest hammer we'd even seen (dubbed the BFH on discovery)

As the years pass, usable parts cars are getting ever more thin on the ground making the few left more valuable for restoration spares. Let people know about your hobby. Mention that you are always interested in hearing about opportunities to check out any potential parts car. If it's not exactly what you are looking for chances are someone else you know would be thrilled to know about it.

British Car Festival 2011 is in the Books

The London Bus

As British Car Festivals go, the 2011 edition was one of the most successful events the club has put forward. The BCF committee chaired by John Shaw and co-chair by Dick Bishop and Richard Cunningham left nothing to chance. Everything ran according to the well-executed plan.

Row of Triumphs

The show site was on the lovely south lawn of Faulkner State Community College in downtown Fairhope, Alabama - the first change of venue for the show since 1999 when we adopted the bayfront site of a Fairhope city park. As written about before, the city decided that the park should be rented by any entity (other than a school in the city limits) for any reason. When the executive committee added up the cost for the use of the facility it came to over $1,000.00 - a sum we could not afford to pay and keep up our charitable contributions from the show's proceeds.The community-oriented leadership of Faulkner State Fairhope graciously invited us to host both the Friday night welcome party and the actual show on the campus.

We could not ask for better weather than we had for the day of the show. A cloudless sky with what seemed to be an endless supply of south Alabama sun dominated the day, giving every car on the field a brilliant glow - and a few sunburns to the participants. While there was more than enough shade at the edge of the field for refuge, most people simply enjoyed the early fall bonus sunshine. 

MINI of Pensacola Display

MGAs Aplenty

The field layout team got the class signs out and in order with the new field offering several challenges that were not expected but the layout was logical and easy to follow along with the popular choice ballot forms. As always, bright flowers were placed near the class signs to add beauty to an already gorgeous field of classic British cars.

The class areas were filled soon after the field opened with each car getting a souvenir photograph of the day. The kind folks of the OK Bicycle Shop - an eating and drinking establishment in downtown Mobile - brought their double deck London bus as a backdrop for the photo. And several members of the Dogwood Trail Court of Baldwin County were present in their pastel "antebellum" costumes to add an even more special touch to the photo. 

MINI of Pensacola brought two new MINIs to display as part of their sponsorship support. We had a newly-introduced MINI Coupe and MINI Countryman open for the crowds to inspect. It was one of the most popular areas of the show field and we certainly thank MINI of Pensacola for their support again this year. 

Jaguar E-Types

A Few of the MGBs on Display

The club was very pleased to see enough Lotus and Sunbeam cars present to create classes just for them. It was a treat to see two Sunbeam Tigers and a Lotus Exige and Elise. Both are not all that common in our area and the other entrants spent a lot of time talking to the owners about them.

 We also had a great turnout of Triumph fans, too. TR6s were on the field in large numbers and a tasty selection of TR4s and TR250s were on hand to keep the TR3s and Spitfires company. One lovely TR4 was driven to the event from Wheaton, Illinois earning the owner the Longest Distance Traveled Award with a one-way mileage figure of 1,082. Hope to see you again next year, too. 

As always, MGs were well represented with a crowd of T-series and one of the largest turnouts of MGAs in recent memory. MGBs and Midgets were thick on the ground as well. 

Restoration Class

But this year's marque feature  - the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type - brought a record number of the show stoppers to the show. The committee separated the coupes from the open E-Types and those filling out the popular choice ballots were glad they did. It was difficult indeed to choose the finest of these beauty queens. We were indeed fortunate to have representatives form the very early days of the E-Type all the way to the end of production with the mighty V12-powered cat. 

The crowds strolling the field were just as thick as when we were at the bay front site. The new site also allowed for easier access to the shops of downtown Fairhope. It was obvious from the number of shopping bag-carrying ladies that new venue was OK in their minds.       

SABCC Chef-in-Residence, Chris Cronk kept the grill going all morning to make sure that the hungry crowds had plenty of ribs, sausage and hamburgers for their enjoyment. Nearly everything offered was sold out. 

MG T-Series Cars

Fairhope Mayor Tim Kant (left) Checks Out BCF

Ballots for the popular choice voting were passed out shortly after noon and the tough choices were made by the voters. The balloting was closed shortly after two and awards were presented at three. Needless to say, the voters chose some great cars for awards. And in keeping with tradition, the awards consisted of a specially-ordered twin photo frame with one side filled with a graphic indicating the winning position and the other side reserved for the souvenir photo taken at the show. 

As the sun sank lower in the western sky, the field started up and headed for home or for another night at one of the hotels in Fairhope. The show committee began the process of taking the show materials down for storage.

SABCC owes a great deal to the tireless efforts of the show committee, those members who volunteered for the various tasks, MINI of Pensacola, all the many class sponsors, door prize donors, Faulkner State Community College-Fairhope and most especially, those who brought cars and participated in the event. We thank you all and we hope to see you again next October! 

Sometimes a Handbrake...

... is just a handbrake. However, this 1970 UK advert for the venerable MG Midget pulled out all the stops to convince guys that it is indeed a man's car. So, what more incentive do you need to slide into a an MG Midget than a winsome young thing in a short dress carefully studying the handbrake lever?  In the late sixties-early seventies period MG used a number of images designed to grab the attention of a lad in rut.

Just an aside here: the young lady must be all of four feet-six and weigh 80 pounds. Helps the Midget interior look more commodious than it really is, I suppose.

SABCC Movie Night

The third annual SABCC Movie Night is scheduled for Saturday, November 19th at the Garagemahal Theater and Oil Change Emporium in Daphne. Better known as the spacious garage and workshop that belongs to SABCC'ers Richard and Donna Cunningham, the theater will be set up for your movie viewing pleasure along with an honest-to-goodness theater type popcorn machine, concession style candy and soft drinks.

We traditionally have Movie Night for a hot August event, but this year we're moving to November due to the full activities calendar we've had. As always, the members of the Panhandle British Car Association and the Mardi Gras MGs are invited as well. 

We will be showing Tucker: The Man and His Dream on a new, larger screen and kicking sound system. The main feature rolls at 7:30PM but there will be a few short subjects prior to the start of the film. Be sure to bring your own comfy chair.

See you at the movies! 

Check Engine Light

Yes, my classic British cars have a Check Engine light.

Fergus Motors- New York

Courtesy Morgan History Info

I ran across this gem of a photograph while trolling the net and it is a great example of how a number of  European auto manufacturers found customers in the US - through independent small importers.

The photo is featured on Hermen Pol's website Morgan History Info - a site with something for any Morgan enthusiast. Based in the Netherlands, Pol offers a more scholarly approach to marque enthusiasm. Any Morgan aficionado will find enough information here to waste an afternoon or two.     

Fergus Motors of New York was the official regional  importer of  a number of European marques with Morgan, Standard-Triumph and Alvis among them. The photo captures one of the firm's showrooms (there were three) with a rather tasty selection of cars on the street and inside the two story showroom.

See if you can identify them.

"Fonz's" Triumph Up for Auction

Courtesy Bonhams

The Triumph motorcycle that had its seat warmed by the buns of Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli (played by Henry Winkler) is to be auctioned by Bonhams at the Petersen Museum on November 12th. 

The 1949 Triumph Trophy Scrambler Custom was once owned by stuntman Bud Eakins who gained famed by jumping the barbed wire fence as a stand-in for Steve McQueen in the film The Great Escape. The bike is not in a velvet lined box and it shows its scars.

2X Cylinders = 2X Fun

You may recall an earlier post wherein I found a deal on a factory hardtop for my trusty MGB. The trip that brought that particular bit of good fortune my way came about when a group of us gave ace car restorer and all-round top bloke Mike Darby a hand in getting a couple of cars back to his shop in Silverhill, Alabama from Meridian, Mississippi. 

In addition to a pre-war MG, Mike repurchased an MGB GT that he had converted to Rover V8 power for the owner some years back. As usual, the GT was finished to Mike's typically high standard when it was delivered to the owner. Over the ensuing years, the owner had focused on a couple of other projects and felt the need to sell it on as it had sat unused for some time.

Mike has made good progress on the car by getting it running reliably and stopping surely. A flawless respray in bright red is the icing on this particular cake. Still to go is the interior trim, exterior chrome and installing the bonnet.

Richard Cunningham and I paid Mike a visit yesterday while he was working on a lovely MG-TC that he is restoring for an out of town client. Richard needed to press in some new rubber bushes on his E-Type trailing arms and I rode along to enjoy the gorgeous almost-fall weather.

I saw the GT sitting outside Mike's shop, engine ticking quietly while it cooled off from a run. Mike noticed my interest and asked if I've ever been in a V8 'B. I hardly had the negative answer out before he motioned me into the passenger side and he had the 3.5 liter V8 started. We got out to the rural road that fronts Mike's property and he buried the throttle. Since Mike failed to tell me that the passenger seat wasn't fastened to the floor, I found myself looking at the ceiling of the car as the tach needle shot up the scale. 

The sound of the aluminum V8... oh, mommy. 

Mike ably demonstrated that the car is very docile at low speed and the torque is such that downshifting the Rover 5 speed is an option unless you just wanted to hear that lovely exhaust note. Acceleration is astounding in that the view from the passenger seat is typical MGB, so the unusual amount of "umph" doesn't compute mentally at first but after a few miles it is nothing short of grin inducing.   

The car is for sale and my inner hooligan has been throwing temper tantrums almost non-stop since my ride. My inner accountant, however, has been tapping his pencil on my depleted bank book. 

I hate my poverty.  

21st Annual British Car Festival- Are You Registered?

British Car Festival 2011 is less than two weeks away and the show committee is planning a spectacular event.

This year marks the first time that we will be in our new venue, the south lawn of Faulkner State Community College in Fairhope, Alabama. The site is just a block away from the heart of downtown Fairhope famous for the many art galleries, restaurants and antique shops. The show field is level, open and compact, alleviating some of the issues of distance at the old bayfront show site. 

This year, we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Jaguar E-Type, with the shows artwork on T-shirts, dash plaques and trophies. Once again, we are grateful for the continued generous sponsorship of MINI of Pensacola. 

As in the past, a portion of the days proceeds will be donated to a worthy cause. This year's donation will be made to the Fairhope campus of Faulkner State Community College for use as they see fit.

I hope to see you at the show!  

American Heart - British Soul

If there is one thing that the world most closely identifies with American cars is the rumble of the V8 engines that powered many of them. At one time, nearly every American car had a V8 power option with some models offering multiple 8 cylinder choices. Even today, European endurance racing commentators remark on the low-revving thunder of competition Corvettes. Auto enthusiasts in England were not immune to the charms of V8 engines, either but they did have the venerable Ford flathead V8 in regular production.    

Allard J2X - Courtesy Allard Owners Club

Postwar England was a fertile breeding ground for cottage industry automakers and more than a few chose to power their creations with American V8 engines. Here is a brief sample of some of the more famous ones.

 

Allard Palm Beach-Courtesy Allard Owners Club

Allard's J2X model was originally powered by a Ford flathead V8 but soon the new overhead valve Cadillac V8 worked its charms on Sydney Allard and the more powerful Caddy engine supplanted the Ford unit. It didn't take long for Allard to figure out that shipping engines from the US to install in cars destined for the US made little sense. The firm later shipped J2's as "rollers"  - cars without engines so the selling dealer in America would install the power plant and essentially finish the car for delivery.

Jensen CV8- Courtesy Jensen Owners Club

Another American V8 powered Allard was the Palm Beach which was Chrysler powered and sold through Dodge dealers in an attempt to compete with the Chevy Corvette and Ford Thunderbird. This two seat car did not sell all that well and today remains quite rare.

Jensen Interceptor-Courtesy Jensen Owners Club

Jensen, in the news lately as a possible revival candidate, brought to market a Chrysler V8 powered grand touring car called the CV8 in the early 1960s. This fiberglass bodied four seater was quite attractive in profile, but it could be considered less than beautiful at the front. The CV8 was superseded by the stunning Interceptor. This Italian designed GT car was defined by an expansive rear screen and powerful 440 cubic inch Chrysler V8. 

AC (Shelby) Cobras-Courtesy AC Owners Club

Take a six cylinder-powered open two seater sports car, add a Ford V8 and create a legend. That's exactly what happened when Carroll Shelby surgically implanted a Ford 260 cubic inch V8 in an AC Ace. Produced during the Ford Motor Company's "Total Performance" glory days, it was sold at Ford dealers as the Shelby Cobra  to compete with the Corvette both on and off the track. Over its life the Cobra was powered by successively larger displacement Ford V8s including the 289 and 427 cubic inch lumps. 

Tiger Owners Manual Cover

While we're talking about one C. Shelby, I would be remiss in not mentioning another Shelby-massaged conversion: the Sunbeam Tiger. More than just an Alpine with an engine transplant, the Tiger was the brainchild of the American west coast sales manager that wanted to go upscale in performance. With an Alpine as a reference, several American V8s were measured up and it was found that the Ford 260 V8 would fit with some minor bodyshell modifications. Rootes Group (Sunbeam's parent firm) contracted Shelby to finalize the design. Once approved for production, Tigers were contracted out to Jensen for manufacture. 

TVR Tuscan- Courtesy TVR Car Club

TVR, that on-again, off-again builder of awesome cars built the Tuscan, a Ford 289-powered fiberglass bodied closed sports car in the late 1960s. Jack Griffith, a US TVR dealer, installed a 260 cubic inch V8 in a TVR Grantura and sold them in the US as Griffith 200 and 400. In the UK and later in the US, the British built car was sold as the TVR Griffith and later, TVR Tuscan.

MG-ZT260

Finally, MG jumped into American V8 power a little later than the rest of the group noted above. Prior to MG-Rover's implosion in 2005, the firm created a Ford Mustang-powered, rear wheel drive saloon and estate car (that would be a sedan and station wagon, cowboy) from a front wheel drive platform. The MG ZT 260 and ZT-T 260 were well received by the buying public even with fuel prices nearly 2-1/2 times that we pay on this side of the Atlantic. One MG ZT-T even topped 225 MPH at Bonneville. And if you're brave enough there is a ZT-T 260 for sale in Florida, but good luck getting it registered.   

You'll notice that I did not include cars powered by the aluminum block Buick V8 as the manufacturing rights were purchased by Rover and as such became a UK-built Rover engine. I know this is not a complete list of American V8 powered British cars, but it covers some of the more well known ones. You can make your voice heard in the comments section where you can add your own to the list.   

A Monument to Triumph

Near a sidewalk in the British city of Canley stands a rather imposing monument to a couple of marques no longer in production. Standard and later Triumph cars were but two of a number car lines built in the heart of Britain's industrial center - Coventry. Sadly, very little remains of this important chapter in the British motor industry.

This lovely stainless steel rendering of the Standard-Triumph wings or "book" logo is sited at the location of the Triumph factory on Herald Avenue, near the Standard-Triumph Club. The inscription on the plaque reads - in part - "dedicated to the manufacturers and employees of Standard and Triumph motor vehicles, whose cars were built on this site from 1919-1980".

Today, the Triumph marque name is owned by BMW which causes rumors of a Triumph revival to crop up frequently.