Hello fellow listers, (and a warm welcome back to Dan Hughes!)
I spent an hour or two Saturday looking at an MGA coupe for sale,
the one I mentioned on the list last week. I'm somewhat interested
in the vehicle myself but will pass it on to other listers if I
decide (this week) not to pursue it. The owner has an interested
buyer and wants to sell by the end of the month. Car is in Washington,
D.C.
If anyone could help me judge the value of the car based on the
description below I'd appreciate it. Then I can decide whether I
really should buy it, given that my job situation is unstable, I
may be relocating to another state soon, auto transport costs are
$750 or so, my MGB project is currently occupying my single car garage,
and I do have other bills to pay. The car looked beautiful though, (I'm
drooling :-) so i don't want to pass this up if it's a good deal.
Aaarrrgghhhh - decisions!!! :-)
Description follows.
Thanks much,
Joe
1960 MGA Coupe
Single owner, garage kept
105,800 miles (5,8xx on odometer)
Has been sitting in a garage since 1986, still has 1986 license plates.
Owner was active in MG clubs, would like it to go to someone similar.
She said the car had problems with overheating, and overheated on
her as she was headed out for a club trip. She had to get it towed home,
then she put it in the garage and hasn't driven it since. Amazing.
She's been paying $75 / month to rent the garage - that adds up to $10,000!
Engine. 1600, not a twin cam :-(. Twin carbs, looked like everything was
there. Car wouldn't roll in neutral. I didn't check this, she said the
other interested buyer tried it. (My feeling is you don't own one of these
cars till you rebuild the engine yourself - call it's Joe Peck's LBC Maxim :-)
Body. Body looks to be in great condition, no dents or bondo that I could
see. No sign of rust on sills or anywhere else (I'm not that expert
at detecting it, but I didn't see any). I forgot to check the bottom edges
of the fenders, but believe me, there's no rust on this car. Doors, boot and
boot lid are all in excellent condition, and the rest of the body looked to
be as well. Doors close but not completely flush when closed. The lower
edge of the doors stick out a little, probably less than a 1/4". Flush near
the front, but by the rear of the doors they're not completely flush. I don't
think this is anything more than hinge alignment.
Head and tail lights all there, but I didn't check operation.
Body Defects: Only dent I found was a small one (1" or 2" diameter) low on the
grille. Also, the rear bumber was bent (pulled out) in two places, about
18" out from the center on each side. Looked as though someone attached tow
hooks and pulled too hard. How easy it is to straighten this?
One thing I wondered about was the body on the inside when the driver's
door was opened, at the front of the door. On the body, not the door. This
surface wasn't smooth, but was pitted and rough. Is it supposed to be like
this? I couldn't tell if this was from rust or not, since the paint job
covered it. I also forgot to compare this to the passenger side.
Paint. Had a professional paint job some time ago, still in good shape.
Black, seven coats according to the owner. Has a chip on lower corner of
driver's door, about 1" x 2", probably from hitting something when opening
the door. The chip is all the way down to the primer level. Also has a thin,
6" verticle crack in the paint on passenger door. Could this be from
fluctuations in temp combined with the paint being too thick, causing the
paint to crack? The car was covered with ten years of dust, so it was hard
to judge the paint's actual condition, but I didn't see any bubbling,
scratches, dents or other defects, except those mentioned above. My guess
is that it would clean up very well.
Glass. Good condition. No cracks, chips, or pits. Windshield was
replaced back when car was in use. Aluminum strip along top of rear
windshield on the left side was replaced. She called these strips
eyebrows, is that a term used for this part? She thinks it was
replaced with a plastic strip, and possibly glued in. Chrome trim
around the windows is all in place.
Interior. Off-white. Looked good. She had the interior reupholstered,
in fake leather - naugahide (sp?). Seats, dash, and carpets are in good
shape. Door panels are flapping loose, not the main panels but the secondary
panels on top of the main ones. Rubber on the shift lever is deteriorated.
Instruments are all there, look to be in good shape. I didn't try them
for operation. She said the tach was replaced.
Electrical/battery. She had the single battery replaced we two batteries.
I didn't look, but wouldn't that be the other way around? She didn't know
whether it was positive or negative ground. I'm not familiar enough with
MGAs to know what's standard on these.
Wheels. Solid wheels, not wire. :-( Spare tire was there but no rim for
it. Tires had plenty of tread on them, were about half inflated.
Gas tank. She said she didn't empty the gas tank before storing the
car and so the tank would need flushing/cleaning. The other interested
buyer pointed this out.
Car comes with empty whiskey bottle and cigarette packs in the driver's map
pocket :-)
So wise listers, what's it worth? Would I be crazy to pass on this if
I could get it for, oh, $1500 or $2000? I can't spare much more right
now, and I'm really not sure how much she wants. I wouldn't be able to
work on this until 6 months out, and will probably be moving in the
next 3 months. But the lines on this car are so sweet.
Thanks again,
Joe
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