Tom,
I looked at a new body shell at TRF already. Theirs is about the same price
and I believe is the same source. If I did purchase a new body shell I'd
have over $10K invested without paint which would probably exceed the value
of the car even if I kept it for many years. MGs just haven't been really
sought after. But as others have said, it is not simply a money issue.
I recently became a TRF investor and will receive a 33% discount on most
parts, excluding the entire body. All of the panels I need come up to about
$1200 which will put new metal in most every location. It will take a lot
of work though and my concern is that after 400 - 600 hours of work I'll
only have a driver with a later engine and not a collector. That's why I
hesitate to make changes to the car that can't be easily reversed. It will
take close to $3000 in additional parts to make the car pristine (with
discount)so I could maybe break even on the value of the car and the cash
invested, ignoring my labor. I haven't even figured in paint. I will do
the body work myself but don't think a driveway paint job is warranted after
so much investment of time and trouble. I can live with that as I have
worked for years for nearly nothing anyway. The pleasure I get from the
work on the car and from driving it after the renovation easily offsets my
own time and effort.
It would be great to have a better example to start with and maybe have at
least an original car with matching numbers. However, I don't have one
right now and need to decide to press on or give up on the car. I am still
leaning towards saving it if only for the pure pleasure of beating the rust
and poor repairs and saving the car.
Thanks for the lead - I'll keep you all up to date.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Pokrefke [mailto:pokrefke1@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 6:34 PM
To: Peter Ryner; mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: rebuild or part out?
Peter Ryner wrote:
What about
> thoughts on the best way to proceed if at all?
http://www.bmh-ltd.com/mgbshell.htm
4,000 pounds ~ $8,000
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