breakdown truck

[rich.]

11to 20 grand for an mgb? has you gone mad ght? get her a tf & for a couple of grand & leave the rest for those minor repairs! a friend had an mgf from new & ran it to nearly 200,000 km with only a minor problem with the passenger door lock.. he sold it to help fund his divorce he really misses her.. its surprising how you get attached to cars....
meanwhile, just for you john..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/smart-car-/32 ... rmvSB=true

[GHT]

11to 20 grand for an mgb? has you gone mad ght? get her a tf & for a couple of grand & leave the rest for those minor repairs! a friend had an mgf from new & ran it to nearly 200,000 km with only a minor problem with the passenger door lock.. he sold it to help fund his divorce.

Rich, let me reassure you that no such amount of wonga will leave my pocket for an MGB. As Chris pointed out, you can pick up a restored one for far less. By the way, the TF that's the late one not the 50's one, is a non starter simply because the K series engine, is an absolute pig to work on when mounted amidships. It's the strengthening bolts that go through the head, block and main bearing caps that are the cause for serious wallet breaking. And given the fact that the TF overheats and blows head gaskets, replacing said gasket, if you don't do it yourself will set you back £750. It's a quote I got from no less than three different sources.

Chris, you are right about restored cars, rarely does a restoration recover it's cost. Here's a car like mine being sold at South West Vehicle Auctions next month. Anticipated price £13750/£14750. Restoration costs £35000. Someone stripped it right down to it's knickers and rebuilt it to brand new and will now take a twenty grand hit on it.
https://www.swva.co.uk/classic-car/mg-y-type-1951/

[Grumpy Northener]

11to 20 grand for an mgb? has you gone mad ght

Rich you have been in Froggy land for way too long now - prices for properly sorted MGB's are now well up there

Chris, you are right about restored cars, rarely does a restoration recover it's cost.

GHT - You are right - you have to be real lucky and purchase the right thing for next to nothing and hope that it does want too much doing to it - some dealers squirrel motors away and sit on them for a couple of years / predicting the market or awaiting for the next must have classic trend to emerge - before restoring them - I don't really know of anyone that has purchased a classic, spent a bundle restoring it and then sold it for profit - the market is now hyper with stupidly priced restored cars (especially the blue oval sporting / XR / RS badged brigade) but equally the 'Ho' look what I have just found in my barn and I only want ten times it's actual real value sorts (I reckon that there must be a living to be made out of hiring your barn out to all the rust peddlers - if only for the e bay photo shoot)

[JPB]

Rich, that thing would only work as a Diesel, as it is, the second set of rear suspension bits is right in the way of the bottom three spark plugs and even without that metalwork in their way, most non-specialist garages only change the upper three in any case, mostly because they don't know that there are six of the blighters.

The builder has, however, made a seemingly decent job of extending the frame backwards along the sides, I'd expect to see lots of ripples as the outer layer of the tubes is pretty thin where they're deeper behind the doors, hence the dealers' habit of sending anything showing the slightest frame damage for scrap or export, the latter being the fate that befell my Diesel one, which had two cracks in the frame at the upper mounts for the front springs, another at the sleeve of the rear DeDion tube, and sundry seams that were starting to blow at a mere 2 years and 40000ish miles from new. It was fun while it lasted, handled well (think Imp but with more forgiving suspension) and went like stink but sadly, the lazy French peasants who built the thing forgot to make the frame strong enough for a heavy driver whose daily drive involves many miles of unmade road and badly maintained, potholed "proper" road.


MGBs may well fetch such daft amounts of cash if they're perfect and look like new, but the ones that are actually selling and not sitting around waiting for buyers for years tend to be those cars with a few minor blemishes, not the overpriced toffee apple shiny ones illustrated by images taken using the HDR setting so that the photos are less revealing of anything more serious, such as rubbish panel gaps and a dog's toilet for an interior. A set of chrome plated bumpers and an earlier grille does not a 1960s B make, though the silver one in that link is quite an attractive car in its own right.

[GHT]

MGBs may well fetch such daft amounts of cash if they're perfect and look like new, but the ones that are actually selling and not sitting around waiting for buyers for years tend to be those cars with a few minor blemishes, not the overpriced toffee apple shiny ones illustrated by images taken using the HDR setting so that the photos are less revealing of anything more serious, such as rubbish panel gaps and a dog's toilet for an interior. A set of chrome plated bumpers and an earlier grille does not a 1960s B make, though the silver one in that link is quite an attractive car in its own right.

John, especially for you and Rich. This link comes with a health/wealth warning. Have the smelling salts ready.
http://www.mgownersclub.co.uk/classifie ... gc-gt-1970

[rich.]

ght, a fool & his money are soon parted
while i like the b & the c i wouldnt pay that sort of money...
meanwhile here is something else thats overpriced...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORIGINAL-CLAS ... rmvSB=true

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252806737208? ... rmvSB=true

[JPB]

That very correct looking MGC is probably worth almost its asking price as many have been overdone to include things that shouldn't be there in the mistaken belief that such tat as wooden dashboard covers and thicker carpets, fresh from the sheep, are the things that define a car's desirability but that C has stamped steel wheels with nave plates, is a period colour and hasn't been ruined with stuff that it doesn't need, IMHO.

It's got its essentials absolutely spot on, but none of the pointless borst that some folk consider necessary and that's the sort of car that the prize fiends want, so for a serious competitor in the concours d'état discipline, where Kunifer pipes and modern hose clips are polizeilich verboten, punishable perhaps by being made to sit at the back in future club meets, I could see that getting close to the price which is still a tad ambitious but not from a different planet.
Its Grampian Grey finish reminds me of one of the best A60s I ever owned, which is logical enough..



The Panda would be my preferred way to pish some cash up the wall though, it's quite possibly one of Ed's best works to date and a good one of these will embarrass the driver of many a modern 4x4 which is reason enough to buy it, though I'm holding out for the even less commonly seen CVT version to come along (preferably with ferro fluid that hasn't rusted away to the point where the clutch papers are being torn to shreds). I'm told that there were only 40 4x4 Pandas made in RHD with the CVT option so anyone finding such a device for sale in the UK will be given their own flypast and presented with a medal. OK, maybe not the flypast.

[Grumpy Northener]

The Panda would be my preferred way to pish some cash up the wall though, it's quite possibly one of Ed's best works to date and a good one of these will embarrass the driver of many a modern 4x4 which is reason enough to buy it, though I'm holding out for the even less commonly seen CVT version to come along (preferably with ferro fluid that hasn't rusted away to the point where the clutch papers are being torn to shreds). I'm told that there were only 40 4x4 Pandas made in RHD with the CVT option so anyone finding such a device for sale in the UK will be given their own flypast and presented with a medal. OK, maybe not the flypast.

John is this close enough ? - I can't see a clutch pedal so I guessing that it's an auto http://angliacarauctions.co.uk/en/class ... panda-4x4/

[suffolkpete]

I think that if you look closely, the clutch pedal is largely hidden by the rim of the steering wheel and the gear knob has a shift pattern on top. You'll have to wait a little longer for that medal Chris.

[GHT]

I think that if you look closely, the clutch pedal is largely hidden by the rim of the steering wheel and the gear knob has a shift pattern on top. You'll have to wait a little longer for that medal Chris.

I noticed that too, but didn't comment because if you look at the rubber mat, there's no left foot heel wear, or even any impression. Of course the mat could have been replaced.