Any MGB Owners? I May Get One Just To Mess With

[M.D. Holloway]

I have a friend who wants to sell me their 79 MGB. I don't know much about it yet. I have been told it is rust free, engine and tranny are solid, the top needs work and the window is hazed. It has 48K original on it.

Here is a pic that is said to be similar - same color. Love the green. The owner is a tight friend of mine and is looking to liquidate from a past life that went sour.




Thoughts? Concerns?

[ZOO]

That's not likely to be a favoured example, what with the rubber bumpers and raised ride height. But still a fun, simple, and cheap car to enjoiy. Moss Motors will be your friend.

[Embraer]

be sure it's truly not a rust bucket. no frame. they're slow and drive like a truck, but if the price is super-right, then go for it. still a fun car. i kept the TR4 and sold the MGB

[stomachmonkey]

Mike,

My personal experience with British cars can be summed up with "if it's for sale, I don't want it".

Meaning people that have trouble free examples don't part with them.

YMM very likely V.

[notfarnow]

Late MGBs make me sad... they went from a handsome car with ~90hp to an ugly duckling with under 70hp. Even the interiors are ugly in the later ones.

I think MG lost its way when the MGA twincam flopped. The MGB was a nice enough car, but they should gave just stopped making cars in '75.

[M.D. Holloway]

I think 79 all had rubber baby bumpers no? What would be a good price? I know thats tough without any intel on the thing - just wondering.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Mike,

My personal experience with British cars can be summed up with "if it's for sale, I don't want it".

Meaning people that have trouble free examples don't part with them.

YMM very likely V.

I don't think it would have been sold if it wasn't for a f***'d up split-up. Not sure what YMM or V means. I feel a bit slow today - not enough fiber in my morning grits!

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

I don't think it would have been sold if it wasn't for a f***'d up split-up. Not sure what YMM or V means. I feel a bit slow today - not enough fiber in my morning grits!

Your Mileage May Vary.

Swore off British cars after a couple of encounters.

Then someone once GAVE me a pristine Triumph with 23,000 original miles.

Thought, sweeeet!!!!. Thing looked like it just rolled out of the showroom.

After a year I could not get rid of that possessed POS fast enough.

[Hugh R]

Don't know MG's but do know something about British trash in general. If it has two SU or Zenith Carbs, you will need a Unisync to balance the flow of the two carbs. If it has an SU fuel pump there are some tricks to adjusting the points in them to make them run right, not hard, but some tricks that you will never figure out. I can help.

[oldE]

Very wrench-able cars.
The suspension, although live axle out back and trunnions and kingpins in front with lever-arm shocks is quite good for the era and there are tons of upgrades, including coil-overs.
The hot tip for the engine is a pair of Webbers on a new manifold.
If you don't like that, the Miata motor will fit.
The body was basically well put together. and replacement parts (up to and including a complete body shell, last time I looked) are available.

Should be worth 3 - 4 K depending upon condition.

Have fun
Les

[Rot 911]

Easy cars to work on, parts readily available, plenty of internet support forums, relatively fun and reliable. I have had a number of them. The rubber bumpers are not as popular as the chrome bumpers, but if the price is right, you can change them out. I would not pay more than $3500 for any rubber bumper MGB in existence.

[DARISC]

I had a ''71 GT this same color that I drove daily for a couple years w/o issues, until a drunk totaled it sitting at the curb.

It was a lot of fun; think "It's more fun to drive a slow car fast than it is to drive a fast car slow."

I've owned four British cars over the years and they were all fun, but this one was the only one that was...mechanically stable? The others suffered mostly from recurrent bouts with the Brit car trademark, "Lucas-refrigerator-warm-beer syndrome".

I agree with post #2.

[carlosR]

We had one years ago, it was fun. We drove from Montana to San Francisco down the coast highway, through the redwoods. That was a memorable trip. Good cars but weird engineering to them I thought. Working on the engine was like a tractor motor. I was looking at an ad for an MGB GT but I don't think I'll do it. My next car has to be a sand/salt spreader for my truck.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

I think 79 all had rubber baby bumpers no? What would be a good price? I know thats tough without any intel on the thing - just wondering.

That depends... how much is going to pay you to take it?

[tcar]

The rubber bumper cars (and lifted -like a Jeep- ride height) started with '74.5. Midyear.

The early rubber cars still had 2 carbs. Later ones had 1 carb and lots of emissions junk.

They are unibody, unlike the TR's which are flexi-flyers. (A lot of the suspension travel on a TR is the body of the car.)

MG engine is a not a powerhouse, it's torquey at low end, though. People that raced them in the 60's and 70's often dropped in Volvo 4 bangers.

But... you can get every single part, even a new body from MOSS.

And, but... they are surprisingly fun to drive. Exhaust sound is unique and cool.

Then, there was the MGC with an Austin-Healy 6 and MG-V8 with the Rover (nee Buick) aluminum V8 - only in the GT, not the roadster. These are both very rare.

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by tcar

Then, there was the MGC with an Austin-Healy 6 and MG-V8 with the Rover (nee Buick) aluminum V8 - only in the GT, not the roadster. These are both very rare.

A friend had one - V8. Plowed like a tractor.

[fuelie600]

If the price is right, buy it. Get a new top and a chrome bumper conversion kit from Moss. De-smog the engine and put a header on it.

Nothing like a slow, oil dripping, british car!

[typ550]

nah, get a MGA...

[sjf911]

I've owned 2, a '71 and a 79. Very minimalistic cars significantly underpowered and with terrible understeer stock. Very easy to work on with lots of room in the engine bay. The only real issue I recall was a tendency for the heads to crack between the middle 2 cylinders do to the Siamese configuration of the exhaust valves/ports and relatively poor cooling there. The coolant would leak out from the head crack and short the distributor. Also, the fuel pumps were relatively poor.

[Craig]

I say: get it!
I love my '69. Just finished restoring it last June.
They are just fun cars to drive. They need maintenance just like our P-cars, but they are simple to work on. Yep, they need the zddp oil additives just like our Porsches.

Definately look over the body in all the fender wells, rockers, and floor pans, trunk, etc.

Craig