wizardz wrote:
>
> ...again...pay attention to the exchange rates
> 1 $ AUS = roughly $0.65USD
>
... as warned, but the price comparison remains...
How many Americans would pay $US6,500 to $7,000 for, as I described it,
"probably good daily driver (no show pony) w/maint".
That is what my car is (and it cost me almost $US7,000). The paintwork
is faded with a few scratches and the odd bubble - none really noticable
from more than a few feet away. It has had a front end and front fender
rebuild... again barely noticable from a distance but she will NEVER be
a show car. Bondo lives in her soul... but nicely done bondo:-) The
re-paint was sloppy with plenty of overspray on the interior.
In the first 12 months of ownership (no, I won't do the complete parts
list that everyone here has already suffered through with me :-) I have
spent just under $US2,000 to partially re-build the engine and fix some
mechanical/electrical faults and for some general maintenance (like
stiffer front suspension, new SU fuel pump, Pertronix elec ignition,
some interior work, etc.).
She drives me nicely to work each day (yes, and back again :-) and I
take her on many long and winding drives through the hills almost every
weekend. For a while there I was putting well over a thousand miles a
month on her and punishing her occasionally with some fun "advanced
driver training" (i.e. fast starts and even faster stops on a racetrack)
and some quick twisty road driving... because it is fun!
BUT... she remains nothing but a decent daily driver and that is all.
Maybe if I win a lottery I will use the straight body to build something
faster for faster fun driving... when I get my MGA. Otherwise, despite
the thrashing I give the poor old girl, the regular maintenance I do
(serviced professionally every few thousand miles, too) means that I
could sell her tomorrow for a little bit more than I paid for her (to
put towards that 'A).
>From what I have seen on this list, she would be bought in the US for
around $US3,000 - about half of what I paid for her.
Maybe it just means that we end up valuing them more!! You certainly
won't find any of these cars under piles of chook-poo (chicken excreta)
in a barn somewhere... well probably not... in Australia. And those
"parts cars" many of you grab for a few hundred bucks... well we would
be paying a few thousand dollars for those.
This is why we have MG specialists here going to the US and bringing
back container loads of MGs... but why oh why do they keep bringing back
RBB's!???
Eric
'68MGB MkII
(maybe I really do love her)
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