mil76@juno.com wrote:
> While reading the LA Times classifieds today, I saw an ad for
> a
> 79 MGB with 5,000 miles on it for $10,500. The ad also proclaimed it
> to
> be "one of the finest in the world". While the thought of an MGB in
> nearly new condition is intriguing, are there any MGB's worth $10,500?
A few years back Scott Fisher wrote on the value of an MGB. (For those
of
you who haven't read this and Scott's other writings on MG's, I'd peruse
the
archives. It's well worth the effort)
Old Memory paraphrase.
Anyway at the time Scott made the statement the value of an MGB was
about $5000, and that any car selling for less than $5,000 would need
"delta" investment into it to get it to reliable daily driver shape.
Where
"delta" > $5000 - purchase price. This being said there can and are
some good
deals out there, but realistically they are few and far between. We
have to remeber
that the newest MGB is 17 years old and most of them are much older than
that.
With that in mind I think the concept of a 10,500 MGB is not that
unreasonable.
(although I'd not likely pay it for a 79). Take your $6,000 (inflation)
driver,
rebuild that tired 25-30 year old engine 2-3000, lets not forget the
transmission
1-1,500. Lets look a little at the body. Well we could get a $500
paint job, but
we really should get the proper work done, have it striped back to the
bare metal,
and any rust fixed up. Sills are a commonly needed at some time or
another. This
done properly can run $$$. And don't forget the interior, new carpets,
new door
panels, and new leather and foam for the seats, you can easily spend 1-
1,500 here.
We haven't even looked at the brakes, suspension, carbs, alternater, and
a whole
raft of other areas. When we are finished depending on the original
shape of the
car and how far we want to take it. we can easily be into the car for
10 or even
20,000 dollars. Now what is it worth. Well reallity is that you never
get out of
an old car what you put into it, but there has to be some value in
having this work
done. So a 10,000 value on a nicely restored B is not unreasonable,
and an
early model in mint shape might push 15K. (I've even seen professionaly
restored
early B's for 20 K but we are talking 100 point cars here.), and a few
years back
one of the british car mags had an article on a MGB valued at L 20,000.
Of course I'm sure others views will vary.
(And also it depends on whether your buying or selling. When I'm buying
there
is no such thing as a 10,000 B. The most any B can B worth is $5,000
:):) )
Gary
--
Gary Burrell
Design Engineer
Pentek Inc. One Park Way, Upper Saddle River NJ 07458
Phone: (201)818-5900 Fax: (201)818-5941 Email:garyb@pentek.com
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