Depends on whether you want to buy a car or buy a hobby. If the former, buy
the best running car you can afford (allowing about 20% for fix-up of
whatever turns out to be wrong that you don't discover until after you buy
it.
If you've got the time, the motivation, the space, and the understanding
spouse, finishing this car is not impossible, but if it takes you less than a
year, you'll be lucky and or obsessed.
But actually, it all comes down to what you want to spend. $5 grand will buy
a beautiful, running MGB. $5 grand may not be enough to buy all the parts
you'll need to finish this job, much less compensate you for the time you
spend.
Make the right choice for yourself and you'll have a ball.
Having said all that, if you haven't done any of this before, my advice is to
look for another MG, one that is pretty, clean, runs good (all the things
they say in the ads) and buy it. The second LBC is about the right time to
contemplate serious restoration work; not the first.
Kind of like marriage.
Gary Anderson
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