This Tartan Red MG Midget will not only be the owners first classic car but their first car at all because can you believe he is still in high school! It is great to see the interest in these cars continuing and with modern SpeedHut instruments, Weber carburetor, and fully digital 123ignition distributor this classic looking MG is outfitted with the equipment that will be the future of these classics.
In the sixties if you wanted more power out of your Mini, Austin Healey Sprite, Austin A40 or Morris Minor the Shorrock and Judson superchargers were about the best as you can get. This very rare Shorrock supercharged A-Series engine is going into one of the FIA race car Austin Healey Sprites we are currently building.
This 1973 Jensen Interceptor with 7.2 L Chrysler V8 engine runs but has seen too many years in the Texas sun. A modern drivetrain and styling is in the works for this transformation.
Now wearing the correct Woodland Green paint the sleek body of this post war MG looks terrific.
The TC was the first post-war MG and probably the first to become popular in America. With extra interior space and a bigger engine than the TB that preceded it the TC is still very usable today.
In July of 1951 the MG TD2 pictured in white on the right was introduced which came with many upgrades over the standard TD. Although both of these TD are 1952 models the red car on the left is a “competition” version designated the TD/C Mark II which came factory will all of the competition equipment that MG offered such as dual shocks on each corner and a more powerful high compression engine.
The BN7 model is a two seat six cylinder version of the 3000 as apposed to the BT7 which has four seats. This car has been painted at least once before and is currently in a non-original green color.
The original Tartan Red color came out beautifully on the Midget. The wire wheels have been media blasted and powder coated the correct color with fresh set of Vredestein tires.
The Italian manufacturer Innocenti whom started producing cars in 1920 but is most famous for it’s Lambretta scooters of the 1940s to 70s started making their own versions of Austin’s best cars in the 1960s. Each of the cars on the right is the Innocenti version of the Austin car on the left. The Minis were still called Minis but the Sprites were called Spiders.
The GT body style was first introduced in 1964 with a Volvo B18 unit with overdrive gearbox and De Dion rear axle. In 1966 they switched to the Ford Kent “Formula Ford” engine. The plywood chassis was glued together from 386 separate pieces and was not only light and strong. Although most people have never heard of Marcos which ceased production in 2007 you have heard of the drivers who raced them. Among the drivers were Jackie Stewart, Bill Moss, John Sutton, Jack Gates, John Mitchell and Jackie Oliver, as well as Jem Marsh.
This Sprite arrived in typical fashion exactly as you see pictured here. The owner has decided to put on hold the 1958 Sprite we started and move the racing engine and suspension over to this car instead and then restore the other car to a more factory condition. This car has signs of being an old race car with the roll bar cut off near the mounts and when finished will be faster than ever.
Rolls Royce has famously advertised the horsepower of their cars as either “adequate” or “sufficient” instead of printing an actual number. Today we find out if the power made by the 6.25 Liter Rolls Royce V8 in this 1961 Silver Cloud is actually adequate.
With the metal work finished, including new floors, rear quarters, battery tray, trunk floor and one new front fender this car has come a long way in the last month. After the suspension is done we can start the prep for paint.
The DynoJet is a great tool for more than just seeing horsepower and torque numbers especially on a car with a small engine. Using the DynoJet on this 1953 Ford Anglia we can scientifically check how the carburetor is functioning, ignition health, top speeds in each gear, and accuracy of the speedometer.
Both of these Land Rovers are 1972 model Series III 88s but one is an original right hand drive and the other is a US spec with added reflectors and slightly different lighting configuration. After some testing on the dyno the advantage of the add-on overdrive units is clear and with the overdrive the trucks could travel at 80 mph if you were brave enough to do so.
This non-original Chevrolet color works beautifully on this Big Healey. With a small amount of work on the brakes and carburetors this car is ready for another year cruising the backroads.
The Lotus engine is rebuilt and sitting again now in the 1973 Jensen-Healey. Without the intake manifold and carburetors mounted the Lotus 907 engine looks tilted 45 degrees. This early Jensen-Healey is only a few hundred before they made the first big revisions to the model. The later Series II and JH-5 models seem more common at shows.
Originally brown this Stag came to us in red. The engine is in assembly and will soon be returning to the engine bay. Over the seven years of production the Triumph Stag was available in 25 different colors. Everyone agrees that brown looks great on this one.
Jensen used Chrysler V8 engines for the Interceptor with a 4-barrel carburetor 440 c.i. engine they produced 305 hp SAE net. Mated to an automatic transmission this car was a true GT that could cross continents effortlessly.
We have had the DynoJet for just shy of a year now and by the end of the year it will have seen a fair share of interesting makes and models. The DynoJet is great for much more than just finding out how much power or torque a car makes. You can analyze the fuel to air mixture, ignition condition, finding leaks, engine break-in, and even aero dynamic effects on gearing.
