The Return of Miriam

For my wife and I, our first MG experience was in 1978, an Aconite 1973 roadster. In 1988, we were living in Alabama when I noticed a 1969 MGB GT for sale in the Tuscaloosa News. When I went to look at the car, it was sitting in a carport, sadly well past its prime. However, it had some good points, the seller was the original owner, had driven the car to college. It ran and drove (to an extent). On the minus side, it had been painted silver (now cracked and faded) over its original British Racing Green and had some rust in the rockers. A deal was made for $1000 and I became the second owner, and it became my second MG.

1993: At car show in Fairhope, AL.

My wife and I ran an auto trim/striping business then, so I was able to get some replacement seat covers through a vendor we used, and bargained with a local body man to paint the car. I did all the body work and sanding, he painted it in his employer’s new down-draft paint booth (after hours). I in turn striped and lettered his 1966 Nova drag car.

When the car was back on the road, we christened it with the name ‘Miriam,’ putting a green decal of her name on the back glass. In mid-1993 I sold Miriam.

Fast forward to November, 2012, now living in Georgia and being MG-less I was cruising the internet looking to cure that situation. Nothing seemed available (at least in my price range) in the immediate area, so I decided to look in neighboring Alabama. As I looked on Birmingham’s Craigslist, I saw a 1969 MGB for sale. Not making the connection at first, I thought, “Oh that’s neat; I used to own one of those.”

Picking up the car in Tuscaloosa.

The ad said the car was in Tuscaloosa, and there in one of the photos you could see ‘Miriam’ on the back glass. I couldn’t believe it! I called my wife and she said, “Contact them, see if you can buy it.” (What a girl!) There was no phone number or price in the ad; it just said: sale or trade. I send an email and got a reply back a few hours later that he wanted $850, someone was offering to trade hunting equipment and if that didn’t work out he would let me know.

Initially, I did not mention that I used to own the car or that I was not local to the car, but when I received that reply, I decided to play all my cards. I wrote back stating that I was in Georgia, used to own the car and would give him $1000 if he would hold it for me until that weekend and that, by the way, this was no joke. It turned out that when he saw my reply and my name, he knew it was no joke, as there were some papers in the car with my name on them.

That Saturday a friend and I rented a tow dolly and make the drive to Tuscaloosa, which was also a college football home game day, so loads of traffic in town.

The story was that the gentleman who bought the car from me drove it until 1998 when it developed some front suspension issues, so he parked it in a garage. Then vermin decided the dash wiring looked tasty and when he next tried to start the car, a portion of the dash melted as ‘some Lucas smoke was released’ from the wiring harness. This 3^rd owner sold the car to a 4^th owner who stored it, and then it went to its current owner who also stored it. The good news in all this is that the car was out of the weather for over 20 years.

Miriam is at home now and is getting a proper restoration back to its 1969 state. At our old auto trim business, I installed sunroofs. I used the cut out pieces of metal in some of my “rust repair” back in the day. When tearing the car apart I was reminded of those days and how much of a hack I did on the poor car.

To date, the car’s body has been properly repaired and has a lovely base coat/clear coat paint job in its original color. The suspension is all rebuilt, interior nearly complete, some trim back on the car, new wire wheels and tires. The engine is currently at the machine shop, I’ll be putting it back together soon.

Hopefully, by spring time Miriam will be back on the road, with one smiling (2^nd owner, sort of) and a back glass with its 25 year old Miriam decal still in place.

By David Steverson
Marietta, GA. January 2014