>With the recent discussion of future car values, I was wondering
>about the appreciation potential of MGA vs. MGBGT. Personal
>preference aside(both have equal appeal to me)which is the one to
>have as an investment?
Well, since you're on this list, you must not be the kind of
reprehensible scumbag who'd take a car out of commission solely
for the purpose of driving the price up to the point where
enthusiasts who really want to DRIVE the things can't afford
them. Since that's the case, we won't tell you to drop your
pants and fill up with Castrol 85W-90 gear oil. (Uhhh, please
take two :-) :-) if you need them.)
The MGA is a jen-yoo-wine Classic, a car of the Fifties (even
though they made some during the early Sixties). It's also
fairly slow by modern standards (more so than the BGT), except
for the Twin Cam (rare) and 1600 Mk II (almost as rare), which
are sort of special. The Mk IIs also had a revised grille and
tail lights; I prefer the early style of both but chacun a son
gout, as the saying goes (I have actually grown to appreciate
the styling of the 1971 MGBs, now that I have one :-).
The MGB-GT is a comfortable vehicle that's usable as a Real
Everyday Car, even in bad weather with its nice tin hat and
roll-up windows. It's a little more powerful than the MGA
in the most common varieties of each that you'll find, and
it's also going to be a lot easier to find parts for it than
for the A. (There were half a million MGBs made, and though
the GT is the rarer of the variety, all but the main
chassis parts are basically interchangeable. Interestingly
enough, the MGB-GT and the MGA use the same springs; the MGB's
springs are somewhat softer, an interesting tidbit for people
who are looking to make their MGBs handle better.)
Neither of these cars, from what I've been reading and following,
will ever appreciate like Jags have been doing lately. For one
thing, they were never particularly exclusive -- the MGA and the
MGB were two of the most popular sports cars ever produced in
their respective decades, and rarety (to an extent) makes things
valuable. For another, they weren't particularly potent (though
they both have impeccable racing pedigrees, of course), so you're
not going to blow off the high-school kids in their jacked-up Novas
(at least until you get to the off-ramp, of course).
Given the current prices, which are running (from what I've seen)
about like this (in the US -- in the UK it's a quite different
matter -- let's say that the numbers are about the same but
in pounds sterling instead of dollars):
Perfect Nice Good driver Resto
MGA 10-15K 8-10K 4-6 K 2-4K
MGB-GT 5-6K 3-5K 2-3K 1K or less
The BGT has more room to appreciate. I know that R & T said
that the MGB-GT would be worth $25,000 by the year 2000. To that,
I can only say "Please insert $75 for the next three minutes, and
thank you for using Tokyo Telephone and Telegraph..."
When the British Motor Heritage BGT bodyshell is completed, I
expect we'll see a rise in the price of BGTs because it will be
both feasible and also not cheap to make what amounts to a brand-
new BGT the way you can do a brand-new tourer today.
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