SOLON, Ohio – Bob Gecsi has had an affinity for MG cars since he first saw one as a high school student more than 65 years ago.

“I was taking a bus to school, and I saw one along the road and it just attracted me,” he said. “I was like, ‘Holy mackerel, I gotta have one of those.’”

Gecsi has owned several MGs – manufactured by a former British car company – over the years, but he always wanted to build one of his own.

It only took him 40 years to do it.

Gecsi, a 45-year Solon resident, had an unveiling ceremony for his self-made MG J5 Sept. 18 at a warehouse on Bainbridge Road, where he has worked on and stored the car for the past two years.

About 40 people attended, including Mayor Ed Kraus, who presented Gecsi with a proclamation from the city in honor of his unusual achievement.

“Robert Gecsi is a very meticulous person who took an MG frame and built this magnificent car by personally making all the sheet metal, seats and dashboard by hand, in addition to painting the vehicle,” the proclamation reads in part.

Gecsi, 83, is proud of the lime-green, open two-seater sports car, which he calls a J5 because its style is similar to that of the MG J3 and J4 race cars that were produced between 1932 and 1934.

“There were no J5s made, but this follows the looks of the J3s and J4s,” he said. “This would be the next model.”

The MG name originated from the initials of Morris Garages, a retail sales and service company in Oxford, England, that dates to the 1920s.

Gecsi continues to store his MG J5 temporarily in the warehouse on Bainbridge Road, courtesy of his good friend and fellow MG owner, Barry Jacobs, who rents space in the building.

“Bob is very deserving of the accolades,” said Jacobs, also a Solon resident. “To build a car from scratch is beyond my comprehension.

“I’m so happy that Bob finally finished it, and happy I had the space where he could store it until it was finished.”

Gecsi said he was initially reluctant to have an unveiling ceremony for the car, but Jacobs persuaded him to do it.

He credited Jacobs with pushing him to finish the car while it was stored in the warehouse on Bainbridge Road – just over a mile from his home on Harper Road – the past two years.

“He gave me a deadline (to finish working on the car),” Gecsi said. “So I was pushing to get it completed by that point.”

The two men met through the Emerald Necklace MG Register, a British car club based in Cleveland. The register presented Gecsi with a plaque – a “perseverance award” – at the Sept. 18 ceremony.

Gecsi said after he unveiled his newly completed car, a “parade” of about 20 MG cars took place.

“It was a fun event,” said Gecsi’s wife, Sandra.

Why did it take 40 years?

Gecsi, a Cleveland native, said he bought a frame 40 years ago from a 1950 MG that had caught fire and was scrapped, with the idea of building his own car.

“I liked the old-style MGs with the cycle fenders and all that,” he said. “So I bought the frame, sat on it for a couple years, then I started working on it, then I sat on it for a few more years.”

Gecsi started building his dream car in the warehouse of his former silk-screen printing business in Cleveland and had to disassemble it after he and his partner sold the business. He retired 20 years ago.

“When my son was 7 or 8 years old, I said, ‘I’ve got to get it done, so when he’s 16 he can drive it,’” he said. “But I didn’t finish it, and he’s 45 now.”

Gecsi acquired the motor, transmission and suspension for the car from what he called a donor car, a 1965 MGB. It has British motorcycle fenders.

“But the body is all metal; I completely fabricated it myself,” he said.

The MG J5 has no doors, following the style of the J3s and J4s. But Gecsi said he wishes now that he had put doors on it because it’s difficult for his wife to get in and out.

In addition, Gecsi built the steering wheel and gearshift on the right-hand side of his MG, as is the case with British cars.

“All the MGs, until 1950, were right-hand drive,” he said. “They never made them for export until then. After (1950), they made them both ways.

“With my first one, I kind of got used to (driving on the right-hand side), and I liked it, so I wanted to keep this looking like the old vintage cars.”

His first MG cost $700

Gecsi bought his first MG – a 1950 MG TD – in 1958 for $700.

“I wasn’t quite 21 yet, and my dad had to sign for it, and he thought I overpaid for the car,” he said. “But I had it for four years, and I sold it for $750.

“At the time, he said I could have bought a newer Ford or a Chevy, and I said, ‘Yeah,’ but I would have sold it later, probably for half of what I sold the MG for.”

Since then, he has owned several other MGs, including a 1959 MGA that he purchased 38 years ago and still has in his garage.

“My wife likes riding in the MGA, as it’s easy to get in and out of,” he said. “I had a couple other MGs for over 40 years and sold them recently.”

As for what he plans to do with his MG J5, Gecsi said, “I plan to just drive it around, take it to car shows, just play with it.”

Every Tuesday, from May through mid-October, a car show called Solon Cruise-In is held on Enterprise Parkway. Gecsi took his newly built car there Tuesday (Sept. 28), and Davis Automotive Group presented him with an award for it.

“I’ll drive it around in the summertime and store it in my big garage for the winter,” he said.