{< Around here, anyway, an MG in very good shape is easily worth as much as a
{< five year old econobox. Is a daily driver LBC doable? Of course. Economic?
{< No. A five year old econobox will not need to have all the rubber brake
{< bits replaced, new suspension bushes, a patch in the gas tank, rust-related
{< bodywork, a new radiator, or perhaps a new wiper motor. A five year old
{< econobox will not have corroded electrical connections, a scratched up
{< windscreen, tired seats, a worn carpet, or worst, six previous owners. What
{
{Depends on the starting condition of the LBC and what you consider as very
{good condition. I expect that $1500 can get you a solid, if not pretty,
{MGB. Driveable on a regular basis. Fixing the problems that come up is
{part of the LBC Easy-Payment Plan.
{
{< An LBC is *not* cheap transportation for someone who just wants cheap
{< transportation. It's an alternative where one trades lots of time, TLC
{< and significant money for something fun and a little different. Resources
{< like this list are a big help, but you still have to change your own U
{< joints. And yes, you get a good feel for your car and some personal
{< satisfaction, and while I find making up TRF orders entertaining, lots of
{< people would rather spend the time going to the movies. Or spend the money
{< on a VCR.
{
{A strict comparison with middle-aged econoboxes is probably never going to
{be quite fair without some weighting for ownership/driving enjoyment. It
{particularly depends upon what you want to end up with. Perhaps an
{economic factor to consider is what you have after spending
{repair money on it. $1000 spent on a $1500 econobox leaves you with
{a $1700 econobox. $1000 spent on a $1500 MGB leaves you with a $2500+ MGB.
{
{(If you wanted to do it all at once, I would also contend that $1000
{and 3-4 weekends is more than sufficient to turn any reasonable non-rusted-out
{MGB with a decent tranny into a reliable commute vehicle.)
{
{Part of the respect I have for my 68 MGB is based on how few times it has
{let me down over the past 19 years. Under all conditions including years of
{regular commuting. In fact, seems that most problems that kept it off the
{road occurred after sitting for some time. Its only been in the past few
{years that it has received much more than just regular tuning and maintenance.
{
{
{John Sanders
Normally I would have snipped the preceeding text to keep the length of
the article down, but it's shaping up into such a nice analysis of the
costs involved with running a LBC vs an Appliance that I've retained it.
Anywy, this thread prompted me to dig out an old Scott Fisher article on
the subject:
-To: british-cars@encore.com
-Subject: Re: MGD??
-Date: Tue, 13 Aug 91 14:15:25 PDT
-From: sfisher@Pa.dec.com
Timothy Lyle Smith <tsmith@plains.nodak.edu> 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.
|