Newbie Intro and Question

[norcalnewb]

Good morning! I am new to the forum and to MG cars. I have recently come into a position I have been dreaming of for years. Both my wife and I have company cars, so I can now get a weekend car for tinkering with.

I have been a fan of the MGB and the MG Midget for a while, and have started to do some research. I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind me asking. First, what price should I expect to pay for a Pre 1975 MGB or Midget. I don't mind spending time working on a car, in fact that is part of the reason why I am looking for an older vehicle. This will be a bit of learning experience for me, but I am not afraid of a little extra work or reading.

The second question is what kinds of things should I look out for when buying a MG of this age? I don't really want to have to do a lot of body patch work for rust and such.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

 

[NutmegCT]

Welcome to the best forum this side of Betelgeuse!

Ballparking a price on a 10-year plus range of B's and Midgets is pretty much an exercise in futility; they'll run from free "please take me" to upwards of 10k. You get what you pay for, in more ways than one. You can't have both total freedom *and* total security, as my old junior high teacher used to tell me.

For an intro, you might want to start at nadaguides.com and choose the Classic Cars tab. Crank in a few specs and you get *general* values for low end (project cars), middle (running and good condition), and high end (nearly show cars).

I was really lucky, in that after several months of searching for my target model, I found a guy who was totally honest and worked with me from initial contact through arrival on my driveway.

Visit some classic car shows, talk to people, surf the web (especially this forum), see some sale cars (leave your checkbook locked up at home!), and decide what model(s) you're looking for, and what condition you feel comfortable working on. If you want a quick overview of the process, check out:

https://mgbexperience.com/faq/buy.html

Your reference to "a lot of body patch work for rust and such" gives me (and you) an idea of where you're starting from.

Hope this helps!

Tom

 

[Steve]

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your happy state of affairs! The MGB is possibly a little lower-maintenance than the Midget, in addition to being a little larger. Expect to pay slightly more for the 'B'. Price-wise, it's all depending upon condition. You could pay up to $12,000 for a show-quality chrome bumper car, or as low as a few hundred for a restoration project. A good, useable example might set you back somewhere between $3k to $7k, depending upon condition. There are a few genuine low-mileage cars around but this usually means that they have been in storage for a while, so check the state of the hoses and rubber seals.

An excellent book to invest in would be Lindsay Porter's "Guide to Purshase and DIY Restoration of the MGB". This goes into great detail about where to look, and what to look for, giving general estimates on repair costs. Not prices, but comparative ranges. The biggest problem with either the Midget or the MGB is rust. Check carefully, because cover panels and bondo can hide a multitude of sins. Genuine California cars should be okay here, but be sure of the origins of a car. If the body is good then anything mechanical is readily available and easy to fix. Also check on the condition of the interior, as trim, whilst available, is fairly pricey too. A new convertible roof would run you about $250 to $400, depending on what you wanted.

Good luck with your search, and remember.......never buy the first car that you see. Look at plenty, as there are many available, and if the first one you saw also happened to be the best then go back to it, but otherwise, keep looking. If you can find a knowledgable friend in the area (and we have many members in California) to go with you, then so much the better. He could also help negotiate on your behalf.......it's so much easier to drive a hard bargain when you aren't the one yearning to own the car /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[mgb182]

In regard to your second question, these are the most important things to look for in an MGB:

- Make sure all of the lights, indicators, and reversing lights and check that they work.
- Look and tap around the body of the car to locate any filler in the body.
- Check everywhere for rust, especially under the rocker panels and in the doors.
- Ask the owner to start the engine. Let it idle- thorough warming-up takes quite a while on the road - this will help.
- Check the engine/engine bay for general leanliness and absence of rust.

 

[Steve_S]

The main area of concern, of course, is rust. There are plenty of places rust can hide in a MG and you need to search them all. If there are rust bubbles in the sill area, beware! Light rust in the lower fenders is common and may or may not suggest deeper problems. Same goes for rusty floorpans - not a red flag, but certinly yellow. Rust bubbles in the doors is a bad sign and may indicate the car has been left outside on its own for some time.

Poke at the sills underneath the car with a screwdriver. If it bends or goes through, keep looking. Replacing sills is a very labor-intensive job and not for the faint of heart. If you can find someone from your local MG club to accompany you when looking at a car, all the better. He / she will be familiar with what to look for and where. There are, as with any old car, many other things to look for but in my opinion the chassis is the most important factor when contemplating the purchase of a MG. The MGB uses a unibody construction which means it will take a lot more work to repair rust problems than with a "frame and body" car.

Good luck!

 

[JTB]

I bought mine wrong...I bought the engine rather than good rust free body. Advice above is solid. A non-running car with great body is way better than rust bucket with a great engine. You can replace a whole engine cheaper than a lot of body work. You have the right attitude about owning the car. I liked buying something I could drive as I learned and brought it back so I kept my motivation up. 2nd car I do will be a frame-up 2 year project. Not a good idea for a first car.

 

[norcalnewb]

This is a great forum. Thanks to everybody for their responses. I appreciate it. A couple of other car forums I have been a part of in the past always chastised someone for asking newb questions. Thanks again.

 

[Guest]

Hi and welcome to the forum. That is something you will never find here is chastisment for asking any kind of question whether you think it is dumb or not. We were all once beginners and most didn't have a place like this to come and ask that question. We had to just blunder ahead and risk failure. What you will get is courteous, friendly, and helpful answers. Yes you will also get many different opinions and its up to you which is best for you.
Hope you find what you are looking for.
Bob