That’s great news, I sold my Le-Mans a couple of years back, sometimes wish I’d never done it but, I know where it is and glad to know it’s in safe hands.
I’m interested to see how this all pans out…keep us posted !
Some current state pics. I’ve not seen her in the metal, but still very excited. Some of this work I kicked off in 2016; the rest has been done since I stepped away. I believe most of the welding is done now - I hope to get down there to take a good look in the next week or so.
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I’ve always been a bit rubbish at waiting, and with work not restarting on the LM until October, I’ve found myself daydreaming about some of the decisions yet to be made.
This is my first stab at Photoshop, so be gentle! That said, I’m quite pleased with how these came out, so thought I’d share. The idea of black wrapped livery over black car is really growing on me. I know it’s not original or purist, but… 
I’d also like to doff my hat to Andrew Coles’ excellent “Getting to know the 1991 MX5 Le Mans” article on this site, which I cheekily borrowed the images from. I do hope you don’t mind me using the excellent photography in this way.
MG
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That’s going to look great Matt.
It was a LeMans that had lost something that made it special.
As if the Le Mans wasn’t special enough that looks even more special.
I absolutely love it.
Just a quick update - I popped in to see the Le Mans today as work is starting to get going now. She’s looking fantastic underneath - I found myself staring and grinning as we stood under the ramp talking about next steps.
We’ll need to make some colour decisions sooner than I thought - not externally, of course, but there’s plenty of red and orange which I’d like to recreate or preserve where possible. That means the inside of the shell (under the carpets) will be red, as will the inside of the windscreen frame and some of the lower reaches of the engine bay.
When it comes to orange, the black respray was done without removing the scuff plates or the body kit, so there’s plenty of that on display if you look in the right places, too. Again, we’re going to try to preserve or recreate that look - it was fun to see the layers being uncovered as the car was stripped, which is something I don’t want to lose by spraying everything black.
I’m still undecided about the engine bay - it went (mostly) black when the car was re-resprayed in 1991, but it’s quite tempting to go orange. That’s something I’ll thing about this week - more to follow after some procrastination.
In the meantime, here’s a few pics of the colourful bits:
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Love the pic of the quarter panel showing the orange underneath keep sanding😂 that would be an amazing image of the whole 787b livery revealed.
It’s rather ironic that in restoration circles the gold standard is to return a car to the way it left the production line. Do that in this case and you would have a standard 1.6 non turbo classic red MX-5.
Your proposed scheme of black with the subtle markings will look awesome. That would be my choice too. As long as it is mechanically sound the rest is a minor issue. With it in the hands of the MX-5 Restorer that’s going to be well taken care of.
Can’t wait to see the finished result.
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Ive not been down to see J207 this year, but I’m going to go on Saturday - to be honest, I don’t want to hassle because I know the guys are as keen as me to see it progress, but are super busy. That said, there’s been some more prep work this month, which is great to see:
In the meantime, I accidentally bought a NB because, er, well, I have no willpower. 
. 4 journey so far, all with the roof down. The sills on a 2.5 may be suspect, but the heater is second to none!
Happy Monday, kids 
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Very jealous, I always fancied one of the LeMans cars
Lots of progress this week! 
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I dropped my NB impulse purchase off with The MX5 Restorer for a check over and a service today, but mostly as an excuse to nose about the Le Mans and everything else going on there. It’s always a hive of activity and hugely welcoming - we are very lucky to have such a great team of friendly and dedicated enthusiasts to take our cars to.
The LM is getting it’s underbelly painted next week as the welding, rust protection and other protective stuff is now complete. To say I can’t wait is an understatement.
We’ll put red in the places that Mazda couldn’t reach with their orange or black resprays, in order to stay faithful to the original. The rest will go black.
Hopefully more photos will follow next week - until then, here it is in expectant white primer !
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How was the NB did they find any hidden rot?
Find out next week !
Edit: Nothing disastrous - I’m pretty happy to be honest.
Aside from the service, it needs front discs and pads and a calliper. Oh, and a bulb. On the rust front - sills are good, but chassis rails unsurprisingly need doing at some point - ideally in the next year. I’ll probably book it in to be done before the MOT in August.
Pick it up tomorrow.
We have paint !!
Red in the places that Mazda could reach with their orange / green / black spraying and then black over the rest of her underbelly. Feels like a bit of a milestone to be honest with momentum really building now.
Fuel tank not far off going in…
And some nice discoveries along the way, including some green / orange original overspray on the hand brake cables (I think!) which Chris managed to clean up and reuse. It’s really pleasing to keep stuff like that in there, even though it’ll never be seen. Small things.
Really pleased - can’t wait to see what happens next week. 
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This isn’t very exciting for anyone else, but it gave me a real buzz!
We have subframes and fuel lines! That’s not massive in itself, but it’s great to see the car being reassembled and gathering pace. It’s also fantastic to see the thought and care that goes into the work that Chris, Garath and the team are doing.
On a separate note, I’ve found someone I really like who’s going to prep and paint a cam cover for me - more on that in a few weeks, but the aim is to introduce a bit of LM colouring into the engine bay without going over the top.
At risk of getting ahead of myself, I’m also starting to think about the wheels and seats. It’s interesting to see how different LM owners have refurbed their cars in the area - there’s quite a variety.
Wheels: I’m thinking OEM.
Seats: I don’t like the leather / red piping that were in the black Le Mans, so need to have a think. My last Le Mans had the standard cloth seats and I really liked them… but I need to do some research. That can be a job for the coming week…
I’m not visiting again until 1st weekend in March. I reckon there will be another big step. 
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Looks great, have you gone for oem bushes?
I’d be scared to drive the thing now in case it , God forbid, got dirty.
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Similar - IL motorsport, I believe.
It’s been a fairly quiet month for progress on the LM front, other than to say it’s now on wheels for the first time in several years. It’s nice to see it sat on the floor !
In other news, I’ve been continuing best efforts to bankrupt myself with some much needed work on the garage it’s going to live in, which in now structurally sound and looking much better.
… and upon realising there is definitely room for 3 cars in there, I got a bit carried away (again) and added this to the stable. Apparently two cars with rusty sills wasn’t enough…. 
More on the Le Mans next week. 
MG
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