I'm considering buying another MGA this Friday. I looked at the car, and
it's very original (i.e. original spark plug wires, etc.) as it has not
been run or registered since '71. The fuel pump is different, however.
The body exhibits little rust, and even the mud shields inside the fenders
are totally intact. Inside the trunk, however, water leaked in and rusted
out the entire bottom right side (not just the corrugated portion)
including the bottom of the panel separating the passenger compartment and
the trunk. I plan on replacing the entire floor and the panel. I
attempted to use a crank to turn the engine over to verify if it was
stuck, but couldn't align it. Even though the body is undammaged, I
believe the bumper mounting bracket is bent. The car was abandoned for
the last 24 years, and I'm going to go to the DMV to verify that I can get
a junk slip. Now for a couple questions:
1) Is $1700 reasonable for this car when I have no idea about the
condition of the engine or tranny? I only paid $2000 a year ago for my
last one, and the engine had 2000 miles on the last rebuild. Did I just
get lucky, or what?
2) Has anyone else replaced this much of the trunk? I know where to get
the rear end of an MGA body with a good trunk, but how hard is it to weld
in this much of the floor? Does it look decent when finished?
3) The rocker panels exhibit two small rust holes fairly high up. Is it
likely that water leaked in and rusted the entire inner sills, or could
it be that the paint was chipped and it rusted from the outside in? I
checked between the sills and the frame and found no rust holes there,
whereas on my last, the sills had just begun to rot but the inner panel
was rusted through. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Doug Tietz
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