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To: triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: britcars
From: "Peter Mchugh" <PMCHUGH@mail.hq.faa.gov>
Date: Fri, 08 Nov 96 09:05:44 EST
Cc: emjacobyjr@juno.com
     Can anyone enlighten this poor soul???
     
     PMQ
     
     73 TR-6
     72 GT-6
     69 GT-6+ (2)


______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________
Subject: britcars
Author:  emjacobyjr@juno.com (Edmond M Jacoby) at smtpgate
Date:    10/30/96 6:49 PM


It used to be a simple world. If you wanted a sports car there were 
several, all British, and all required garage work on Saturday for a 
successful Sunday drive. It went with the territory.
     
I outgrew all that. I like my cars to go whenever and wherever I yearn, and I 
hate black grease under my fingernails.
     
On the other hand, I have this 14-year-old son who likes to get dirty and 
greasy, and who seems to need to do something in cooperation with dad, so 
a project car (spelled B-R-I-T-I-S-H-S-P-O-R-T-S-C-A-R) is an apparent 
necessity. It has to be something that can be wrested from pop's control 
just about the time he turns 16, you see, and the cars pop likes to drive 
all are big, like the old man himself.
     
So this Naval officer of dubious linage decides the time has come to sell
off his pride and joy, a 1970-something MGB, for which he wants $4,500. He even 
zero-times the engine, just to make the deal seem sweet. But
nobody takes him up on it, probably because the car has been wrecked twice and 
blisters are forming under the paint where the windshield pillars
grow out of the body. A few spots along the fender ridges are showing
orange through the white paint, and there isn't any chrome left on the front 
bumper, and there's a hole in the windshield big enough to use as a
gun port, but other than that it's a dream machine. I have been told it 
drives well, and the interior is in very good condition. The engine runs 
well, but I can't tell whether all the pieces were put back.
     
Anyway, the Naval officer decides the best route to his money is to 
donate the car to a school and take the $4,500 as a tax write off, since 
recent trades for such cars in mint condition happened to support that 
price. I wish I could be that brazen with the IRS.
     
During the summer, the school was asking $1,000 for the car, and somebody 
offered $650, but the school turned it down. Now it's nearly November and 
the school still owns the car, so they wish they'd taken the $650, but 
they'll consider $500.
     
My question to you, as an aficionados of BSCs, is this: as a project/toy, 
is it worth investing $500 in such a beast? Obviously, the $500 isn't the 
issue. If I buy it for $500 and have to give it away myself because it has 
no value, all I've lost is $500 and a few bucks for insurance. The issue 
is, how much can I be exposing myself to once I've committed to restore it 
as a father-son project? Are old MGBs restorable by someone with the kind 
of skills Larry, Moe and Curley would bring to the job? Do
you know of particular pitfalls I don't (I don't know any!!!), and can you tell 
me important things I should look for or look at when I go
evaluate this beast Saturday?
     
On the other hand, the same kid talked me into spending $70 on 
back-to-back flying lessons for him, and he wants to get his license 
badly enough he is willing to get a job to support the rest of his 
training. Cool, eh? Know what else?  He had trouble keeping grades above 
sea level last year, and with all this stuff going on he's getting A's 
and B's. So, dad thinks it's worth it to keep spending the cash and time.
     
You have any travel plans? Southern California is great this time of 
year. The mud slides offset the wild fires.
     
Say hi to Dee.


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