Build-a-B

The first car I owned was a 1965 VW Beetle, I wished I still had it. From there it was muscle cars, and hot rods. The list of automobiles I’ve had since the teenage years would make a great Barret Jackson show.

My experience with Lit’l British Cars began in 2002 when I bought a 1953 Sunbeam Alpine. The car was setting covered beside a barn north of Greer, I didn’t know what it was but it looked like a good candidate for a hot-rod. After purchasing the car, I began researching what I had bought. What I had bought was on the rare side; it was only produced from ’53 to ’55. The history of those cars was very interesting, and going over the car was an education in British sport automobiles that I’ll never forget. During this time while searching for parts I met Ron, who invited me to my first club meeting and took me to the meeting in his Sunbeam Tiger. I joined the club, attended meetings, and worked on the Sunbeam. The club was always doing something, the work on the car was slow, and I got bored. I needed a car-a British car to participate, and bought my Austin Healey right after the AGM in ’03. We began participating in shows, club events, and club trips. Driving the AH made the club more fun and rewarding, and SBMOC made owning the lit’l British car more rewarding and fun.

Over the past few years, I have acquired several more British cars. The ’53 was traded for a ’74 Triumph TR6. The Austin Healey remains, always fun. I’m slowly working on a ’79 Triumph Spitfire (with GT6 running gear) that is my favorite British car to look at and should be fun to drive when completed. There is also a few MG Midgets scattered around the place.

Then there are the B’s. I’ve resisted the B because they are so popular and plentiful. I had bought a 1973 sometime in 2003 that had been stored in a body shop. When I got into the car it had rust in places I didn’t want to try to repair, so I put it on the back burner. A friend of mine thought he wanted into British cars and traded me a VW

Vanagon for the B. I sold the Vanagon.

Sometime later I came across an ’80 B in Taylors, a nice running burgundy car, no brakes but mostly straight body. I began buying new parts, and started the refurbishment. The ’80 had the dealer option Air Conditioner installed. My friend had decided the ’73 was too big a project for him also and sold me the car back. I bought it back for the intake and exhaust manifold since I’m not really fond of the setup on the later model B’s. The trade was in for the TR6 and after picking it up I found I was no longer interested in or working on the ’80 B. That same friend was now interested and still wanted a B, so I sold him the ’80 and everything that went with it.

About a year passes and I come across another B. This one is a ’79 model with overdrive and wire wheels. This car had been disassembled several years ago and stored in a garage. I couldn’t pass it up. I started looking for a motor; the one with the car was in a box. My now famous friend came into work one morning and wanted to sell the ’80 B. I bought it. They keep following me home, so this time - I’m going to build one.

The purpose of this series of articles is to give me something to do, keep the club informed on the progress of the build, to invite advice and suggestions during the build, and mostly to keep me interested in completing the project. Maybe for certain sections of the build, a tech meeting or two might be interesting. A thorough going over the front suspension and brake system are areas I’ll be involved with very soon. I’m not claiming to be an expert but it might be educating, entertaining, and productive if anyone is interested. Hopefully every week will see progress and a new installment to Build-a-B. These are before and after pictures of the engine for Build-a-B.