> The shells are heritage shells. They ran around $2000 IIRC, but I
> don't think you can get them in the US anymore. Another note on
> those however, is while $2000 seems pretty cheap (again IIRC)
> there is a LOT of work around one. You have to install EVERY
> little nut, bolt, clip and clamp on them. Lots of work.
That's a little off the mark, Andrew. More like $4995.95 plus a $500
crating and truck shipping fee (and that figure is for when they were on
sale). TRF may still have an MGB shell in stock.
Now, my diatribe about MGB Heritage Shells. Yours may end up sucking.
Heritage announced new MGB shells in 1989/1990. A friend purchased his in
1992. As of 2001 the car has rusted out quicker and more completely than
his original shell was in 1992 (originally a 1972 shell). So much for their
special electrically-conducive primers and extra rust corrosion protection
in known weak areas.
Major weaknesses? The sills of course, by 1998 his door shut lines were
showing obvious signs of closing up on each other. The bonnet, the area
where the bonnet latch attaches has rushed through (I've never had an
original bonnet that had that problem!). Dog legs of the fenders shot.
How good of a restoration was my friends car? Excellent, it was probably
one of the best 1972 MGB Roadster when it was completed in 1993. The major
body components of the shell were taken off when it arrived, the shell and
exterior body components prepped and painted separately and reassembled.
And if anyone remembers the Mid-90s Sunoco commercial with a BRG MGB in it,
well that was his car.
Photos will be forthcoming, well sometime anyway, as the owner cries when
goes near his garage. The demise of his MGB has led him to purchase a "IT
WILL NOT RUST" Miata! He has an imported Fiat 500 too... which surprisingly
is rusting slower than his MGB did.
Possible causes? We had some lengthy discussions about it. We concluded he
may have gotten an early Heritage shell which was left from when they were
still figuring out how to put the damn things together or more likely the
shell sat around a long time in bare metal before being dipped in primer and
the sills and other hidden components were subjected to surface rust and /
or flash rust (did David Bishop spill his Coke on it?). Either way, he
didn't pay close to $7000 (that is how much they were in the early 90s) to
have a rusty shell in less than 10 years.
I'd like to know if anyone else has had issues with their Heritage shells.
Kai
///
/// mgs@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
///
|