MGB GT - Mission finally complete! Phew.

[barefoot]

I have never owned or driven an MGB, but my Uncle very wisely* invested in a run out special edition BRG thing in about 1990. It had only done about 1,000 miles and cost him the princely sum of £12,000. The very next day the arse fell out of the classic car world. He kept it for about a decade & sold it with a real world mileage for a considerable loss. I only sat in it once and experienced bitter disappoint because it was so badly made.

I didn't like the Spitfire that I once drove either.

Please disregard all of my views/opinions.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

buy one with fucked sills already for less

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1976-MGB-GT-In-running-order-needing-work-for-MOT-/162558235931?hash=item25d939d51b:g:B0gAAOSwHLNZRqpF

 

 

 

That's the one to buy - you can see where the problems are. A standard rubber bumper BGT is fairly horrid to drive but the ingredients are there to turn it into something really very good for not much ££ and effort. Tyres and telescopic dampers, shorter springs etc. I'd still raise the budget and get a chrome bumper one as they will always be worth more. 

 

A mate had a teal blue 1972 GT years ago with the handling upgrades and an Oselli 1.9 B Series - it really did go well and handled like a dream.

[Mally]

Having just checked the MOT details it has several advisories for rust on the fail, and a further advisory on the actual MOT.

I'd be a bit wary.

If they have a ramp ask to see it underneath. 

[SiC]

Had a look around. The guy seemed pretty sound.

 

The car is a local Bristol car. Lady who owned it had it in her garage for 20yrs and had to move to Wales. So had to get it removed from the garage and sold it to them. Had 4 flat tyres and a lot of dust.

 

It was a project for one of the guys in the garage and priced to sell. He admits there isn't too much history with it. Work done involved welding for the MOT, some work on the brakes (new drums iirc), new thermostat and a few other things. They've done nothing on the paintwork on top, apart from a good polish (apparently). Welding done was enough to get it through the MOT. So I guess I should take that as it's the bare minimum! I did stress a lot about welding. He admitted it probably would need something again in the future sometime. I asked about how much they charge for a whole new sill section - they usually charge between £1200-1600 for all 3 parts to be replaced. Dependent on exactly how far it needed to go.

 

I took a few photos of under the bonnet and under the tyre. He didn't seem to mind at all. To my inexperienced eyes it didn't seem too bad. There is a 5mm hole in the boot that has rusted, but didn't look too bad. I've seen worse in MX5 MK1 boots!

 

Could see rust around behind the engine, but I guess this could be surface rust. Again, seen much worse, especially on mx5s too!

[mrbenn]

When do you pick it up?

[SiC]

Oh forgot to say. Radiator wasn't replaced, it was reconditioned. Wings have been replaced in the past - not by themselves. Conventional pickup ignition - not converted to electric pickup.

 

I had a good grab all the way along the inner sills and my hand didn't go through!

 

 

 

I'll go back later and try taking pictures underneath.

[richardthestag]

do it

[UltraWomble]

Deffo a metal bumper one

[Asimo]

[Mally]

My electronic ign failed miserably.

Went back to points and carried a spare dizzy.

Boot looks a bit worse than mine, needs an oily rag.

Under bonnet about the same.

Is the heater hot? Both mine were poor, well known for silting up and not a simple job.

Does temp/Oil  gauge work? they are a bit expensive if you keep breaking the pipe like me.

Did you get a drive in it? Drive it down a long hill and rev it at the bottom.

If it doesn't smoke its better than mine, just buy it.  But don't blame me.

[Vince70]

It's worth buying that car for that lovely 70s colour alone.

Funny the heater on mine never worked either as the heater knob was siezed solid..

I wish autoshite was about when I was looking for one, it was pure luck I found a goodish car.

[Rusty_Rocket]

You've got to remember that it will always be an ongoing project.  This isn't down to the fact it's a good or bad one, it's because it's a very old thing built by BL!

It looks good, it's had work done, the garage seem to have been as honest as you can expect... it's cheap, go for it!

 

Seriously, it's an 'eyes wide open' process; it's going to need plenty of repairs and you'll learn new skills along the way.  You'll love it I'm sure and it will of course appreciate in value, unlike the moderns you have.  Take the plunge!

[Mally]

Thinking about it the bottom of my boot was painted Hammerite smooth.

Same colour as that one and almost matched.

[SiC]

So I went back. Twice. I forgot my magnet the first time! I just hope they don't check their CCTV often. I did wonder how long it'd be before someone turned up and asked wtf I was doing.

 

I've taken loads of pictures but its not the easiest thing to photograph! Running the magnet along seems to stick to all the sill surfaces. I did make the mistake of bringing a neodymium magnet - one that is known to be incredibly magnets - so it may be strong enough to stick through filler! However it felt a consistent touch all the way along.

 

Most of these here are of around the sill area, as this obviously is the hardest thing to be repaired. Please take a look and see if anything looks amiss:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1597tajhlq39s19/AABDRH-2k0KS40K1ykpuC78wa?dl=0

 

Some pictures of looking straight down each side:

 

Nice to see this still stuck on the back:

 

To me, it looks like its pretty much fine. But I have this niggling doubt in the back of my mind that it seems too good to be true. Well its still not a bargain price like they were 6-10 years ago, but its still a good price for nowadays.

 

A shot of the front to remind again:

[SiC]

I keep meaning to do this, so here are some (bad) pictures of the car graveyard outside. A bit of a small treat to thank everyones input into this thread. Possibly the most tortuous buying thread in a long while! I get a big dread when buying cars. Literally uncomfortable, sick to the stomach level of worry and fear. Am I doing the right thing? Is it a absolute heap and I'll regret? Will it be a deathtrap? Will it be completely unreliable? Will the wife kill me because of all the previous?

Interestingly, some of the really utterly rotten MGB GTs look like they've been disposed of recently. Which actually bought me to this though. If this was fucked/not worth saving, would they not just have stripped it for parts? I mean they frequently get MGBs in and as they said, they restore and sell many of them.

 

Finally, this will have some love on here no doubt, even if it is on the price side!

 

Thanks!

[AlabamaShrimp]

You have to buy it, it's got a piss sack!

 

[SiC]

My electronic ign failed miserably.

Went back to points and carried a spare dizzy.

Boot looks a bit worse than mine, needs an oily rag.

Under bonnet about the same.

Is the heater hot? Both mine were poor, well known for silting up and not a simple job.

Does temp/Oil  gauge work? they are a bit expensive if you keep breaking the pipe like me.

Did you get a drive in it? Drive it down a long hill and rev it at the bottom.

If it doesn't smoke its better than mine, just buy it.  But don't blame me.

I've not test driven it yet, that is hopefully tomorrow. I mentioned that I need to speak to my wife, so he advised me getting permission from her first about me buying it.

 

I also didn't want to go out today, as I wanted to do a quick bit of research (which you've done mostly for me already!) on what to look for.

 

Is it realistic or would it be frowned upon if I took it up to the dual carriageway near me (50mph limit anyway) to give it a run at those speeds? I usually find that a run like that gives a good idea on what state things are in.

[Luxxo Waftybarger]

I've bought from these people, got my Volvo V70 from them. I literally only drove the car, paid and then picked it up a week later though. Not much interaction. They seem like a genuine bunch and have been around forever. Did the belts water pump and ATF change for the asking price. No nasty surprises with the car and they were polite to deal with.

[richardmorris]

There's a hole and rust leaking through shutz in photo8. Rust bubbles and wobbly sill line in 14. Shutzed newspaper in 15, melted something in 19, snail in 21, more rust bubbles in 23, 24, 25. 30 looks like rusty metal behind new shutz. 34 looks like it's been wire brushed. 51 is holed through the panel.

 

 

I know you want to buy it, but this is dressed up for summer.

[BorniteIdentity]

I'd say you want to give it a good run and offer to put fuel in it. Then they'll know you mean business and want to be give it a proper run.

 

Maybe this is the time to recommend an independent inspection? A few quid but some peace of mind.

 

I think it looks great and I'm not a huge fan.

[SiC]

I've just realised that I haven't taken pictures of the interior! To be honest, not too much to report in there. All is pretty normal. Wires are hanging down from the clock area a bit, but electrics I'm not worry about anyway.

[SiC]

There's a hole and rust leaking through shutz in photo8. Rust bubbles and wobbly sill line in 14. Shutzed newspaper in 15, melted something in 19, snail in 21, more rust bubbles in 23, 24, 25. 30 looks like rusty metal behind new shutz. 34 looks like it's been wire brushed. 51 is holed through the panel.

 

 

I know you want to buy it, but this is dressed up for summer.

Oh that white thing was a plastic bag, at first I thought it was newspaper.. I might have/might not have pulled it out to see what was hiding under it in later pictures...

 

Underneath is some modern plastic lump thing. Looks a bit like a emissions canister. I assumed the bag over the top was to protect it when they sprayed that black stuff all over (waxoyl?).

 

Should I be worry about those rust bubbles? Magnet sticked to them and pushing them didn't make them go in or out really.

[DeeJay]

 

It looks a bit grotty/bubbley around the bottom corner of the windscreen top of the wing.

[SiC]

I forgot to say, all the lumpy bits I gave a push with my index finger and none of them really gave. I'm not sure if some of them are lumps of paint from its bit shit paint job.

 

At this price, I guess I have to be realistic that its no show winner.

[SiC]

Where abouts is the hole on this picture (pic 51), I genuinely can't see it! The bit on the orange paint was a rust blister that the paint looks to have chipped off.

 

My biggest concern is in the front of the front wings, there is a hole behind there. I tried to take a picture.

 

Nearside is the worst:

 

Offside:

 

Poking my finger in there found that it was a bit flaky on the edges, but pretty solid on the rest.

 

If anything, I'm finding this a great learning exercise when looking at classic cars!

[AlabamaShrimp]

I didn't know there was loads of pictures!!

 

You've seen the worst bits with the inner wings. The sills do have some bubbles and there are scratches in the paint showing someone has tried to tidy the area up. Far too much black shit has been sprayed on underneath.

 

From the professional bodger perspective I'd say it's OK but you going to need to do some work on it besides the obvious holes. Saying that it's in better condition in places like the arches and doors than you'd expect so nothing that can't be fixed.

 

If you want it make a deal, but don't be walked all over as it's not worth it.

[New POD]

I'm going to Pin my colours to the mast, and tell you my highly biased opinion.

 

This is because back in 80's me and my mates, had spitfires and Mgb gts and Midgets, and sprites and 1275GT's and dolly sprints, and TR7's and quite frankly they were ALL SHITE THEN.

 

And over the years I've had friends "invest" in MGB's and Mini's and quite frankly they are STILL SHITE.

 

The only difference is then they cost £500 and Now they cost ££££££'s more. and there's just 35 years MORE bodgery to avoid.

 

But you've done the Mk1 MX5 thing, so you know about reliable, well designed easy to maintain soft tops, so if you must, you must.

 

At least you'll learn everything a 1970's Sherpa mechanic needs to know.

[Bianconeri]

I've bought from these people, got my Volvo V70 from them. I literally only drove the car, paid and then picked it up a week later though. Not much interaction. They seem like a genuine bunch and have been around forever. Did the belts water pump and ATF change for the asking price. No nasty surprises with the car and they were polite to deal with.

That's something I was going to say. I lived in that neck of the woods as a teenager in the late 1970s and they were around then if it's the showroom at the bottom of Cleeve Hill in Downend.

[SiC]

Yes, yes it is that one. The current owners/directors took over in early 2000 if I recall correctly.

[SiC]

I guess this is more the thing that I should be looking at?

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C879813

 

I.e. a bit more expensive and chromed bumpered.

 

When its getting to that money though, its getting more to something I'd have to polish and look after...