u/MyMotorStory_app

Simply Italian day at Beaulieu

Toyota Supra A80 spotted at Simply Japanese 2026 at Beaulieu Motor Museum

Original 12-year battery replacement.

The Original Battery Finally Gives Up

After replacing my front and rear lights and briefly testing how the new LED bulbs worked (that story will come later), I tried to start the car—and, for the first time, it refused.

The basic electrical equipment still worked, but there was clearly not enough power to start the engine. To confirm the problem, I ordered a jump starter from Amazon. It arrived the following day, and as soon as I connected it to the old battery, the engine started immediately. The battery was clearly the culprit.

I then checked the date stamped on it and discovered that it was almost 12 years old—most likely the original battery fitted when the car was manufactured. Twelve years and roughly 57,000 miles is a remarkable lifespan for such a small battery.

However much sentimental value an original part may have, it was finally time for a replacement. I bought a Yuasa YBX 5053 50 Ah 500 A Battery (slightly more capacity than original 45 Ah and 450 A) and fitting it was straightforward. Just undo terminals and mounting plate with size 10 wrench. The car now starts properly again, while the original battery has certainly earned its place in the car’s story.

Long time no see, friends, and I'm with something truly special - Alfa Romeo Montreal from Port Solent Car Meet (UK) today, 13.09.2026.

Limited edition with customisations on top.

AMG 126C - is it too much red or not?

Quite an elaborate C126 but is it not too much red?

I've never heard of that make until it was uploaded here. The owner even wrote a book about restoration!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gbcqa94U5Saq2B6HoR4T1Kb0d0gN7HjY/view?usp=sharing

I've never heard of that make until it was uploaded here. The owner even wrote a book about restoration!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gbcqa94U5Saq2B6HoR4T1Kb0d0gN7HjY/view?usp=sharing

I've never heard of that make until it was uploaded here. The owner even wrote a book about restoration!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gbcqa94U5Saq2B6HoR4T1Kb0d0gN7HjY/view?usp=sharing

This Mini has had a full restoration and is more of a retromod than a traditional restoration. The car has had a 1380 16v engine from Specialist Components. The head is from a BMW K1100 motorbike giving the car the 16 valves, twin cam and ITBS that are so distinctive and help it deliver 155HP. The car had a brand-new shell from British Motor Heritage a new custom interior done by JCS custom trim. The rear seats are from an Alfa Romeo GTV. The wheels are also custom 10x6 inch wheels from Specialist Components.

This Mini has had a full restoration and is more of a retromod than a traditional restoration. The car has had a 1380 16v engine from Specialist Components. The head is from a BMW K1100 motorbike giving the car the 16 valves, twin cam and ITBS that are so distinctive and help it deliver 155HP. The car had a brand-new shell from British Motor Heritage a new custom interior done by JCS custom trim. The rear seats are from an Alfa Romeo GTV. The wheels are also custom 10x6 inch wheels from Specialist Components.

Yellow isn’t a colour normally associated with the BMW Z4, but Atacama Yellow was an official E89 colour offered with the Design Pure Impulse package.

Unofficial production estimates suggest that only around 1,250–1,300 E89s were painted in Atacama Yellow worldwide.

It looks like that particular BMW Z4 has some custom body kit, who can say what might be?

(copied with the kind owner's permission from here)

MG  B Year: 1967 Convertible 1800 cc Petrol Gear box: Manual

Owner story:

I bought my car way back in 1994. Back then I used it as my daily driver, through wind and rain, snow and ice. Then in 1999 life took over and it got parked in my mums garage. Fast forward 23years (my car was still parked in my mums garage) and although she made it through Covid, my mum died. I then had a big decision to make as my MG was looking a little tired. Do I sell it or do I start on the long journey of bringing it back to life? I chose the latter.

Day one

With the help of my nephews and a big hammer we managed to free up the wheels and drag it out of the garage. On first inspection I found that it had been a home to many families of mice, who had feasted well on my carpets. We managed to get it onto a trailer and transport it to its new home in my garage down south. So begins the long journey.

Strip down and respray

After many weeks in the garage it was stripped down, flatted and ready to be sent off for a new coat of paint 🥳

Upholstering

Whilst my car was getting a new coat of paint I decided to teach myself how to upholster car seats. They were originally black with white piping and looked past their best. I decided to go bold and change this to red with white piping.

All red

With my seats now transformed from black to red it was time to do the rest of the interior. Go big or go home, so I put red everything to do with the interior, carpets, door cards etc.

Many a long night under the bonnet

With the body work now in fine fettle I set about teaching myself home car mechanics. Tidying up the engine bay, tuning and balancing carbs.

Undo stick/ fitting new wheels

I discovered that my tyres were a little past their sell by date. My right rear tire was made by a company called India tire company back in 1988 !! They were also the original wire wheels that back in 1967 had inner tubes and so weren’t easy to repair if I got a puncture. After long deliberation I decided to change these for a more modern variant by MWS. MWS wheels are made to the original spec but can be fitted without inner tubes. I put on new rubber from a company called Brockley which makes period correct tread tires with a modern rubber compound.

After putting new chrome wire wheels on I noticed that my locking nuts had taken a good hammering over the years and so I replaced those too. With lead hammers not easy to come by (a lead hammer was what was needed to tighten the nuts up ) I decided to go down a rabbit hole of how to tighten up my wheel nuts without damaging them or using a hammer. I found a man in America who produced a device called a “undo stick”. This is an amazing piece of kit and well worth the $90 I paid for it.

https://undostick.com/

(copied with the author's kind permission from here)

Steering wheel upgrade

After doing so much to make the interior look good I felt that one of the main things that I will look at and feel as I drive the car was looking a bit tired. The steering wheel was the original bakerlite and had chipped paint on the central hub.

I started by stripping off the remaining paint on the central aluminium hub. A quick rub down with some wet and dry and it was ready to by resprayed. 2 Coates of primer and 3 Coates of top coat black gloss and it was looking almost new.

I was looking through a magazine and noticed that MGC steering wheels were covered in leather. These steering wheels were identical to my early three spoke MGB steering wheels.

So after falling down a rabbit hole I realised that I could get a DIY kit to upgrade my steering wheel even though it was only supposed to be for MGCs. When it arrived I was a little apprehensive as it was just a strip of leather, some strong thread and a needle. Oh well here goes nothing and after several hours of head scratching, YouTube video watching and many many knot unpicking I was happy with my new upgrade.

After refitting and a quick drive a found that those MGC owners have been keeping a good secret. It felt so much better and easier to grip.

Easier start

I was beginning to get picky and noticed that my MG was sounding rather sluggish on starting, especially after sitting for a few weeks, even though it was plugged into a trickle charger.

Several evenings later I decided to change the battery from 2 6Vs to a single 12V. Upgrade the starter motor (still the original one) to a high torque starter motor and upgrade the dynamo (still the original one) to an alternator.

MGOC Spares sells a complete kit for the battery conversion so that didn’t end up being as daunting as I originally thought. Although it did take the best part of 3hrs.

The starter motor I got from power spark and was a simple 2 bolt plug and play. To be honest I was worried I must have done it wrong it was that easy. The new one is about ⅔rds the size and half the weight, with twice as much start up speed.

The dynamo conversion to alternator I also got from power spark as they do an alternator in an original dynamo case so the it kept its original look, at first glance. The original dynamo when new would have produced about 22amps, on a good day. The new alternator produces 45amps which would now allow me to run better and maybe support a radio. I also had to change the pulley wheel to get the correct ratio for the alternator to work to its best and change out the voltage regulator to make it all work correctly.

Music On The Go

After upgrading to an alternator I thought it would give me enough power on the go to put in a radio, so that those longer journeys would be a little easier. The big question was which radio. After being anal enough to want to keep it looking original-ish under the bonnet I didn’t want to mess it up and put a modern radio in.

Whilst researching how to do other things a came across a company called Reluxe. They were a new start up producing retro looking radios for older cars but with all the aspects that you find in a new car. It has DAB+/FM radio, Bluetooth connectivity, full Apple & Android CarPlay, usb-a & usb-c charging and can take and make phone calls.

With all that going on I was then left wondering how I could fit speakers that would allow me to hear all that whilst not cutting big holes in any of the internal panels. After a deep dive into how classic car speakers I came across a website called CEN that sold a single 5”x7” speaker that could do the job (RetroSound Premium Single Triax Speaker 5x7 Inch with Bracket RS-UB1KT 60w RMS). This would give me stereo sound through one speaker, which would allow me to put it in the central console in front of the gear stick, which is where a speaker was originally designed to go in the 60s if it ever had one fitted.

As much as I have dabbled in the car’s electrics before, I considered this beyond my abilities, so I got this all fitted by a professional.

As my MG had never had a radio fitted before, this meant that it didn’t have an aerial either. With all the work put in so far and the fact that it had had a new paint job, I was reluctant to go drilling holes in the bodywork. I then discovered a simple DAB/DAB+ aerial at Halfords that was magnet. So I threaded it under the carpets from just in front of the boots (for best signal and to protect it from the wind when I was driving). Who would have thought that a £11.99 magnet aerial would pick up better than a panel fitted or wind screen fitted one (accorded to the fitter).

https://www.reluxedesign.com/index?gad_source=1&ga

Overdrive

Up until the 1970s overdrive was an optional extra along with a heater and several other things on MGBs, one which the original owner of my car never purchased. However, about 2 years ago I managed to track down and buy an original 3 synchro gear box with overdrive for a secondhand MG specialist in Hampshire (Andy Jennings). It then sat in my garage with great intention of swapping it out with my original non-overdrive gear if or when it broke or the clutch needed changing. As time went by I became less and patient for this to happen.

So in June 2026 I bit the bullet and being a great lover of the TV car restoration programme Car SOS, I enquired where they took there gearboxes for restoration and maybe fitting. This lead me to Harding Engineering in Leatherhead. Not knowing the condition of the overdrive gearbox I asked Hardings to work their magic and completely rebuild it and make it like new. Due to it being over the summer holiday period it was 6 weeks before I got the call to bring my car up to have the gearboxes swapped over. This was not a job I had the courage, space, knowledge or skill to do, no matter how many YouTube videos I watched. I asked them to change the clutch and engine and gearbox rubber bush mountings too while they had the engine and gearbox out. It now runs a lot quieter with less revs on long journeys.

https://www.hardyengineering.co.uk/

(copied with the author's kind permission from here)

Steering wheel upgrade

After doing so much to make the interior look good I felt that one of the main things that I will look at and feel as I drive the car was looking a bit tired. The steering wheel was the original bakerlite and had chipped paint on the central hub.

I started by stripping off the remaining paint on the central aluminium hub. A quick rub down with some wet and dry and it was ready to by resprayed. 2 Coates of primer and 3 Coates of top coat black gloss and it was looking almost new.

I was looking through a magazine and noticed that MGC steering wheels were covered in leather. These steering wheels were identical to my early three spoke MGB steering wheels.

So after falling down a rabbit hole I realised that I could get a DIY kit to upgrade my steering wheel even though it was only supposed to be for MGCs. When it arrived I was a little apprehensive as it was just a strip of leather, some strong thread and a needle. Oh well here goes nothing and after several hours of head scratching, YouTube video watching and many many knot unpicking I was happy with my new upgrade.

After refitting and a quick drive a found that those MGC owners have been keeping a good secret. It felt so much better and easier to grip.

Easier start

I was beginning to get picky and noticed that my MG was sounding rather sluggish on starting, especially after sitting for a few weeks, even though it was plugged into a trickle charger.

Several evenings later I decided to change the battery from 2 6Vs to a single 12V. Upgrade the starter motor (still the original one) to a high torque starter motor and upgrade the dynamo (still the original one) to an alternator.

MGOC Spares sells a complete kit for the battery conversion so that didn’t end up being as daunting as I originally thought. Although it did take the best part of 3hrs.

The starter motor I got from power spark and was a simple 2 bolt plug and play. To be honest I was worried I must have done it wrong it was that easy. The new one is about ⅔rds the size and half the weight, with twice as much start up speed.

The dynamo conversion to alternator I also got from power spark as they do an alternator in an original dynamo case so the it kept its original look, at first glance. The original dynamo when new would have produced about 22amps, on a good day. The new alternator produces 45amps which would now allow me to run better and maybe support a radio. I also had to change the pulley wheel to get the correct ratio for the alternator to work to its best and change out the voltage regulator to make it all work correctly.

Music On The Go

After upgrading to an alternator I thought it would give me enough power on the go to put in a radio, so that those longer journeys would be a little easier. The big question was which radio. After being anal enough to want to keep it looking original-ish under the bonnet I didn’t want to mess it up and put a modern radio in.

Whilst researching how to do other things a came across a company called Reluxe. They were a new start up producing retro looking radios for older cars but with all the aspects that you find in a new car. It has DAB+/FM radio, Bluetooth connectivity, full Apple & Android CarPlay, usb-a & usb-c charging and can take and make phone calls.

With all that going on I was then left wondering how I could fit speakers that would allow me to hear all that whilst not cutting big holes in any of the internal panels. After a deep dive into how classic car speakers I came across a website called CEN that sold a single 5”x7” speaker that could do the job (RetroSound Premium Single Triax Speaker 5x7 Inch with Bracket RS-UB1KT 60w RMS). This would give me stereo sound through one speaker, which would allow me to put it in the central console in front of the gear stick, which is where a speaker was originally designed to go in the 60s if it ever had one fitted.

As much as I have dabbled in the car’s electrics before, I considered this beyond my abilities, so I got this all fitted by a professional.

As my MG had never had a radio fitted before, this meant that it didn’t have an aerial either. With all the work put in so far and the fact that it had had a new paint job, I was reluctant to go drilling holes in the bodywork. I then discovered a simple DAB/DAB+ aerial at Halfords that was magnet. So I threaded it under the carpets from just in front of the boots (for best signal and to protect it from the wind when I was driving). Who would have thought that a £11.99 magnet aerial would pick up better than a panel fitted or wind screen fitted one (accorded to the fitter).

https://www.reluxedesign.com/index?gad_source=1&ga

Overdrive

Up until the 1970s overdrive was an optional extra along with a heater and several other things on MGBs, one which the original owner of my car never purchased. However, about 2 years ago I managed to track down and buy an original 3 synchro gear box with overdrive for a secondhand MG specialist in Hampshire (Andy Jennings). It then sat in my garage with great intention of swapping it out with my original non-overdrive gear if or when it broke or the clutch needed changing. As time went by I became less and patient for this to happen.

So in June 2026 I bit the bullet and being a great lover of the TV car restoration programme Car SOS, I enquired where they took there gearboxes for restoration and maybe fitting. This lead me to Harding Engineering in Leatherhead. Not knowing the condition of the overdrive gearbox I asked Hardings to work their magic and completely rebuild it and make it like new. Due to it being over the summer holiday period it was 6 weeks before I got the call to bring my car up to have the gearboxes swapped over. This was not a job I had the courage, space, knowledge or skill to do, no matter how many YouTube videos I watched. I asked them to change the clutch and engine and gearbox rubber bush mountings too while they had the engine and gearbox out. It now runs a lot quieter with less revs on long journeys.

https://www.hardyengineering.co.uk/

(copied with the author's kind permission from here)

Steering wheel upgrade

After doing so much to make the interior look good I felt that one of the main things that I will look at and feel as I drive the car was looking a bit tired. The steering wheel was the original bakerlite and had chipped paint on the central hub.

I started by stripping off the remaining paint on the central aluminium hub. A quick rub down with some wet and dry and it was ready to by resprayed. 2 Coates of primer and 3 Coates of top coat black gloss and it was looking almost new.

I was looking through a magazine and noticed that MGC steering wheels were covered in leather. These steering wheels were identical to my early three spoke MGB steering wheels.

So after falling down a rabbit hole I realised that I could get a DIY kit to upgrade my steering wheel even though it was only supposed to be for MGCs. When it arrived I was a little apprehensive as it was just a strip of leather, some strong thread and a needle. Oh well here goes nothing and after several hours of head scratching, YouTube video watching and many many knot unpicking I was happy with my new upgrade.

After refitting and a quick drive a found that those MGC owners have been keeping a good secret. It felt so much better and easier to grip.

Easier start

I was beginning to get picky and noticed that my MG was sounding rather sluggish on starting, especially after sitting for a few weeks, even though it was plugged into a trickle charger.

Several evenings later I decided to change the battery from 2 6Vs to a single 12V. Upgrade the starter motor (still the original one) to a high torque starter motor and upgrade the dynamo (still the original one) to an alternator.

MGOC Spares sells a complete kit for the battery conversion so that didn’t end up being as daunting as I originally thought. Although it did take the best part of 3hrs.

The starter motor I got from power spark and was a simple 2 bolt plug and play. To be honest I was worried I must have done it wrong it was that easy. The new one is about ⅔rds the size and half the weight, with twice as much start up speed.

The dynamo conversion to alternator I also got from power spark as they do an alternator in an original dynamo case so the it kept its original look, at first glance. The original dynamo when new would have produced about 22amps, on a good day. The new alternator produces 45amps which would now allow me to run better and maybe support a radio. I also had to change the pulley wheel to get the correct ratio for the alternator to work to its best and change out the voltage regulator to make it all work correctly.

Music On The Go

After upgrading to an alternator I thought it would give me enough power on the go to put in a radio, so that those longer journeys would be a little easier. The big question was which radio. After being anal enough to want to keep it looking original-ish under the bonnet I didn’t want to mess it up and put a modern radio in.

Whilst researching how to do other things a came across a company called Reluxe. They were a new start up producing retro looking radios for older cars but with all the aspects that you find in a new car. It has DAB+/FM radio, Bluetooth connectivity, full Apple & Android CarPlay, usb-a & usb-c charging and can take and make phone calls.

With all that going on I was then left wondering how I could fit speakers that would allow me to hear all that whilst not cutting big holes in any of the internal panels. After a deep dive into how classic car speakers I came across a website called CEN that sold a single 5”x7” speaker that could do the job (RetroSound Premium Single Triax Speaker 5x7 Inch with Bracket RS-UB1KT 60w RMS). This would give me stereo sound through one speaker, which would allow me to put it in the central console in front of the gear stick, which is where a speaker was originally designed to go in the 60s if it ever had one fitted.

As much as I have dabbled in the car’s electrics before, I considered this beyond my abilities, so I got this all fitted by a professional.

As my MG had never had a radio fitted before, this meant that it didn’t have an aerial either. With all the work put in so far and the fact that it had had a new paint job, I was reluctant to go drilling holes in the bodywork. I then discovered a simple DAB/DAB+ aerial at Halfords that was magnet. So I threaded it under the carpets from just in front of the boots (for best signal and to protect it from the wind when I was driving). Who would have thought that a £11.99 magnet aerial would pick up better than a panel fitted or wind screen fitted one (accorded to the fitter).

https://www.reluxedesign.com/index?gad_source=1&ga

Overdrive

Up until the 1970s overdrive was an optional extra along with a heater and several other things on MGBs, one which the original owner of my car never purchased. However, about 2 years ago I managed to track down and buy an original 3 synchro gear box with overdrive for a secondhand MG specialist in Hampshire (Andy Jennings). It then sat in my garage with great intention of swapping it out with my original non-overdrive gear if or when it broke or the clutch needed changing. As time went by I became less and patient for this to happen.

So in June 2026 I bit the bullet and being a great lover of the TV car restoration programme Car SOS, I enquired where they took there gearboxes for restoration and maybe fitting. This lead me to Harding Engineering in Leatherhead. Not knowing the condition of the overdrive gearbox I asked Hardings to work their magic and completely rebuild it and make it like new. Due to it being over the summer holiday period it was 6 weeks before I got the call to bring my car up to have the gearboxes swapped over. This was not a job I had the courage, space, knowledge or skill to do, no matter how many YouTube videos I watched. I asked them to change the clutch and engine and gearbox rubber bush mountings too while they had the engine and gearbox out. It now runs a lot quieter with less revs on long journeys.

https://www.hardyengineering.co.uk/

Ideal condition of the true Japanese classic!