Took advantage of the nice day to crack open the crate of parts that my dad ordered in the early 80’s and see what kind of damage the ravages of time had done to the parts inside. To say I was surprised with what I found is an understatement. We’ve actually got the original invoice in a folder in the office, along with a bunch of other paperwork. At a later date I’ll take to scanning and posting all that, along with as much as I can salvage from the newspapers used for wrapping in the crate.<\/p>\n
The first surprise was the luggage rack. I knew it was in there based off the invoice, but I was pleased to see it in such good condition (and painted, no less). After seeing the front frame and fender sitting slightly rusted, and how covered in rat droppings and plant debris everything was, I really expected things to not turn out so swell. Boy, was I wrong!<\/p>\n
All the rubber hoses and other parts were in great condition, but what really surprised to find the hood strap \/ belt in excellent condition… one less thing to worry about sourcing!<\/p>\n
The replacement bumpers and steering linkage were wrapped up together, and even the linkages’ rubber was in great shape. The bumpers have some strange corderoy-like adhesive film over their outer surface, probably there to prevent scratching during transit.<\/p>\n
The last item in the crate was a wide, flat wood box. I carefully popped the lid of that, and man it had some gems inside!<\/p>\n
The first odditiy was a couple of blue boxes with some cat head outlines on them. These turned out to be new headlamps for the Morgan… halogen headlamps… Didn’t even realize they had halogen headlamps that far back.<\/p>\n
The real surprises were under some layers of soft wrapping paper… a shiny new grill for the car and a new windshield, frame and all!<\/p>\n
All in all, quite a rewarding day, especially so since this means I’m going to have to spend a lot<\/em> less on getting replacement parts for the pieces I’m keeping.<\/p>\n\n\t\t