Timothy Lyle Smith complains:
>I figure that since I bought the car it has probably cost
>about 2 times it's purchase price, in 5 years.
Only twice the purchase price in five years? Either you
got taken on the purchase price or you've been very lucky
with your car. :-)
Whenever anyone would ask how much MGs cost, I'd say "Four
thousand dollars." "Then the one I saw in the Pennysaver
for $1500 must be a good deal?" they'd ask. "No," I said,
"it just means that you'll have to spend $2500 to get it
to work right after you buy it." I think the numbers might
have gone up over time, but the concept is still right on
the money.
A lot depends on how much you do yourself, though I think
dumb luck is still the most important factor. On my first
MG, I ended up spending about 3X the purchase price in the
three years I owned it. Part of that, however, was because
I was upgrading it (tires, suspension, other bolt-on TRS),
and part of it was that I did comparatively little myself
in those days -- maintenance, carb rebuild, etc. but had
shops do clutch jobs, install new trans, etc.
My second MG also cost me about three times its purchase
price, in less time. Again, much of this was for tires
and shocks since I was autocrossing the car, and I was
trying to get more power out of it, and the transmission
went bad.
We won't talk about how much the Lotus Cortina cost me
during the year that I had it, partially because that
cost was such a minuscule fraction of what Lo-Corts are
going for today that it makes me sick to my stomach. (On
the other hand, I sold the Bugeye for more than I paid for
it. Considering that I did nothing to it other than knock
some of the mud off the inside of the fenders and try to
polish the chalky paint on one of the doors to see if it
was worth cleaning it up, that was a good return on my
investment.)
Dumb luck... One reason I like the green B so much is
that the repair cost on this one, after three years of
ownership, has been 38% of the purchase price, excluding
things like gas, oil and filters. I wish I could say
that this is all due to my skill and expertise, but there
are enough people on this list who've worked with me and
therefore know better. It's dumb luck.
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