MGB Value and costings
Discussion
My BiL has a 1981 MGB, rubber bumper, which he has owned for 32 years. He bought it almost new; apparently the first owner bought it, didn't like the driving position, and took it back to the dealer. It's now on 81k miles.
My BiL has no mechanical skills or inclination, and the car has deteriorated over the years. However he is very attached to the car. He needs to add another car to the household as my nephew is approaching driving age, and he doesn't know what to do with the MG.
Condition-wise, I'd say it's poor. Both front wings are completely shot (mostly around the headlights but also a little at the trailing edges). The driver's door is rotten at the bottom; the passenger door seems to have fared better. There is a small patch of rust - fairly heavy but not rotted out - at the base of the windscreen/A-pillar, and the rear wheelarches are scabby but not yet rotted through. Otherwise it looks, from the outside/above, fairly solid. Clearly I haven't been underneath it. It's reliable, used daily as a station car.
Broadly, the options are:
1. Sell it as-is. I'm sure it would be of some interest/value/worth, rubber bumpers notwithstanding (this can be converted AFAIK??)
2. Garage it and wait until funds permit to restore, then keep it, use occasionally/heirloom for the future.
The questions are:
1. What's it worth today? T&T, useable but condition poor, as above.
2. What would it cost to have the bodywork sorted? 2 new wings, some patch repairs, full respray. This assumes that it's not falling apart under the skin, which of course it may be. But a ballpark figure? Someone told him it would cost £1000 to have each front wing changed before anything else starts, which seems very high to me?
Another option I thought of would be to farm it out to a small independent where it can languish and be worked on occasionally as time/workload permits, say £1000-worth of work at a time. This would spread the cost (BiL has just been made redundant, but is far from destitute yet) and also would give the repairer a very flexible workload option. Do arrangements like this exist?
TIA.
My BiL has no mechanical skills or inclination, and the car has deteriorated over the years. However he is very attached to the car. He needs to add another car to the household as my nephew is approaching driving age, and he doesn't know what to do with the MG.
Condition-wise, I'd say it's poor. Both front wings are completely shot (mostly around the headlights but also a little at the trailing edges). The driver's door is rotten at the bottom; the passenger door seems to have fared better. There is a small patch of rust - fairly heavy but not rotted out - at the base of the windscreen/A-pillar, and the rear wheelarches are scabby but not yet rotted through. Otherwise it looks, from the outside/above, fairly solid. Clearly I haven't been underneath it. It's reliable, used daily as a station car.
Broadly, the options are:
1. Sell it as-is. I'm sure it would be of some interest/value/worth, rubber bumpers notwithstanding (this can be converted AFAIK??)
2. Garage it and wait until funds permit to restore, then keep it, use occasionally/heirloom for the future.
The questions are:
1. What's it worth today? T&T, useable but condition poor, as above.
2. What would it cost to have the bodywork sorted? 2 new wings, some patch repairs, full respray. This assumes that it's not falling apart under the skin, which of course it may be. But a ballpark figure? Someone told him it would cost £1000 to have each front wing changed before anything else starts, which seems very high to me?
Another option I thought of would be to farm it out to a small independent where it can languish and be worked on occasionally as time/workload permits, say £1000-worth of work at a time. This would spread the cost (BiL has just been made redundant, but is far from destitute yet) and also would give the repairer a very flexible workload option. Do arrangements like this exist?
TIA.
just my opinion based on the very little you've put about the car -
sell it now before it rusts away to nothing
you'd be very lucky to find any professional company that would take it on at a £1k per session to restore that you want to do the work, and he'd probably need to spend many thousands
if someone buys it and takes on the work to find there's not as much as expected good luck to them they took the risk
short distance daily use will not be helping the car as much as you think but theses cars are all about bodywork and chassis condition without those they are donors
sell it now before it rusts away to nothing
you'd be very lucky to find any professional company that would take it on at a £1k per session to restore that you want to do the work, and he'd probably need to spend many thousands
if someone buys it and takes on the work to find there's not as much as expected good luck to them they took the risk
short distance daily use will not be helping the car as much as you think but theses cars are all about bodywork and chassis condition without those they are donors
CAPP0 said:
OK, thanks, will pass that on to him. He asked me what I thought it was worth at the weekend. He really doesn't want to get rid, but it may be his best option.
So, what's a t&t rubber bumper MGB, 81k miles, almost one owner
but needing a lot of work, worth??
£750, if he can find someone who is actually looking for a project.So, what's a t&t rubber bumper MGB, 81k miles, almost one owner
but needing a lot of work, worth??jagracer said:
If he wanted to keep it he could buy a new shell for around £6K and swap everything over which would probably be cheaper and quicker than repairing it. MGs also seem to rust from the inside out so there'll be plenty hidden underneath.
I think that, particularly if it could be converted to chrome, would be a great plan but I don't think he has the mechanical inclination to take that level of work on!Edited by CAPP0 on Tuesday 7th May 22:21
jagracer said:
If he wanted to keep it he could buy a new shell for around £6K and swap everything over which would probably be cheaper and quicker than repairing it. MGs also seem to rust from the inside out so there'll be plenty hidden underneath.
This. Don't even waste your time trying to save a really shagged out MGB body. Complete BMH shells are readily available. If you want to punt the project on sell via MGCC or MGOC guys and girls as you'll probably get a better reception than the time wasters on fleabay.If you watch the TV prog, A car is born, think that was the one, where Mark Evans, totally rebuilt an MGB Roadster you'll see how bad a rusty MGB can be in the places that are hidden from view.
Sadly I guess your BIL's car is destined to Rust in Peace, not financially viable at present unless it has particular sentimental value. ie first time, first time with wife, etc
Sadly I guess your BIL's car is destined to Rust in Peace, not financially viable at present unless it has particular sentimental value. ie first time, first time with wife, etc
lets be realistic - many owners for some reason they fool themselves that a car can be left to deteriorate for years or decades rather than selling it on whilst it can still be sensibly saved, when they finally realise that something needs to be done they've left it too late
what your BiL sees as the car now probably doesn't match the reality of how it actually is
if the general condition is not good then no one will get away with just swapping the existing parts to a new shell, the restoration costs become 'how long is a piece of string'
just because the car runs and has a MoT doesn't mean it runs well or is a reasonable condition now, that's one of the problems with classics they continue to run despite the lack of servicing, maintenance and repairs and abuse (recent or not) from the owners
your BiL can treat his car how he likes, he's kept it going all this time but you and he mustn't think that makes it worth anything or compare it with better examples of the model
if he can sell it on then he should treat that as a bonus and as I've put if the purchaser can turn the car around and give it more value good on them as I doubt your BiL would
HTH
what your BiL sees as the car now probably doesn't match the reality of how it actually is
if the general condition is not good then no one will get away with just swapping the existing parts to a new shell, the restoration costs become 'how long is a piece of string'
just because the car runs and has a MoT doesn't mean it runs well or is a reasonable condition now, that's one of the problems with classics they continue to run despite the lack of servicing, maintenance and repairs and abuse (recent or not) from the owners
your BiL can treat his car how he likes, he's kept it going all this time but you and he mustn't think that makes it worth anything or compare it with better examples of the model
if he can sell it on then he should treat that as a bonus and as I've put if the purchaser can turn the car around and give it more value good on them as I doubt your BiL would
HTH
Thanks for that. I don't think he's in any way being unrealistic. He's attached to the car, possibly even very attached, but he knows it's in a state and fears the end of the road for the pair of them! It was more a question for him of "is it in any way feasible for me to keep this car which I love, and slowly bring it back to it's former glory" or alternatively "how much should I put it up for if I want to sell it". i don't think the specs are rose-tinted, apart from the fact that yes, it would have been his car when he met his wife, etc etc.
Further, I didn't realise that these were so cheap in a usable condition. Examples which *look* reasonable in the pictures, certainly much better than his, seem to kick off at around the £1500 mark. Take this one for example. OK so the seats need changing but it looks pretty tidy.
On that basis, even the £750 valuation on this thread seems very optimistic!
but it looks pretty tidy. On that basis, even the £750 valuation on this thread seems very optimistic!
yes, now I think you understand what I mean, about the value at least
you could get reasonable examples for even less
if you think it about from another view even at these prices these cars are expensive compared to what you can get for the same money
what I think you and your BiL also don't understand is the time, hassle and cost of any reasonable restoration let alone to its former glory, unless you can do a lot of the work yourselves and even then you'll be into the thousands of pounds
don't take any notice of the absolute rubbish they give to the cost of restorations on TV programmes or the likes of that Mark Evans with an MG is reborn as if it's like the ones he done on building a Cobra and restoring an E-type the financial costings are the usual TV fantasy
have look and see how many classic car 'unfinished projects' you can find for sale and look at how much they say they've already spent and the selling price they are asking, same with restored cars for sale look at how much they say has been spent on them (and compared to the asking price)
the costs that are put often are not the full costs just those with receipts, they exclude many uncosted items too
also look at the time these finished and unfinished cars have taken to get to the state they are at
your BiL would be better off buying a similar car to his that is in better condition or already restored (for probably a fraction of the restoration costs)
you could get reasonable examples for even less
if you think it about from another view even at these prices these cars are expensive compared to what you can get for the same money
what I think you and your BiL also don't understand is the time, hassle and cost of any reasonable restoration let alone to its former glory, unless you can do a lot of the work yourselves and even then you'll be into the thousands of pounds
don't take any notice of the absolute rubbish they give to the cost of restorations on TV programmes or the likes of that Mark Evans with an MG is reborn as if it's like the ones he done on building a Cobra and restoring an E-type the financial costings are the usual TV fantasy
have look and see how many classic car 'unfinished projects' you can find for sale and look at how much they say they've already spent and the selling price they are asking, same with restored cars for sale look at how much they say has been spent on them (and compared to the asking price)
the costs that are put often are not the full costs just those with receipts, they exclude many uncosted items too
also look at the time these finished and unfinished cars have taken to get to the state they are at
your BiL would be better off buying a similar car to his that is in better condition or already restored (for probably a fraction of the restoration costs)
v8250 said:
jagracer said:
If he wanted to keep it he could buy a new shell for around £6K and swap everything over which would probably be cheaper and quicker than repairing it. MGs also seem to rust from the inside out so there'll be plenty hidden underneath.
This. Don't even waste your time trying to save a really shagged out MGB body. Complete BMH shells are readily available. If you want to punt the project on sell via MGCC or MGOC guys and girls as you'll probably get a better reception than the time wasters on fleabay.
Park it up until he can afford a shell & the costs to get it swapped over. Add a bit more for various bits that are bound to be needed & enjoy spending £10k (my guess) to get a £5k car.
v8250 said:
...or spend £15k, buy a V8 ready roadster shell, an appropriate EFi V8, gearbox, Hoyle suspension front & rear, refurb' the other components and interior and have a cracking car that's genuinely worth £15k. It can be done...carefully.
My 1973 Roadster had this treatment. Bare metal up restoration with a V8 thrown in. Agreed value for the insurance is £12k.LordBretSinclair said:
Whatever rust you can see there will be 10 times as much that you can't see.
It'll be a money pit, I'd get rid of it now whilst it has some T&T
^^ This. I've owned 2 MG Bs since 1997. If the rust is where you say it is, it really needs a new bodyshell. The sills will be shot, as will the scuttle and probably the inner wings too. That's a prediction, obviously need to get under the car with a screwdriver / rust detector.It'll be a money pit, I'd get rid of it now whilst it has some T&T
The car is worth perhaps a grand as it is (again, depends on state of interior and hood and engine state) but will take upwards of 5 grand to get it back to decent condition if your b i l has no car skills.
There are plenty of good Bs out there for about 4-5k which don't require any fettling. And the usual PH response of MX5 is a good one for a reason.
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