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MG MGA - A visit to the dark side.

I’ve decided to visit the dark side - MG Experience. Seems to be a lot more action on their forums these days. Not as clean visually as this forum but seems to generate more traffic than here. Perhaps it is the advertising, owner profiles and multiple image displays that do it?
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

That site has been gaining popularity here and there. The owner has done a lot more to promote it than the owner here has. I still prefer this site but post over there on occasion.
Steve Simmons

The MG Experience has always been much busier than this one.
But even there activity has dropped considerably in recent years.
Looking at the bottom of their forum pages you can see that the number of participants at any one time peaked on the 30th of January 2014.
Perhaps this may reflect the ageing clientele with ever falling numbers of younger members as we older ones gradually pass on.
I suspect this is reflected in the membership profile and membership numbers of many MG car clubs as well.
T Aczel

I have to admit that I do post on the "Dark side" :^) every now and then, but like Steve, I also prefer this MG BBS website.

It is a little easier to upload pictures onto the MG Ex Forum, plus they have a Performance section that I am interested in.

I always assumed that the reason it seems to be busier than the MG BBS is simply that there are more MGs in the USA.

But it seems to me that there has been a big growth on the Facebook based pages and this is having an effect.
The Facebook pages are ok but the items on there seem to disappear a few hours after they are posted and it is really difficult (or maybe even impossible) to ever find them again. So not my favourite MGA media.

I really do like the archive feature on the MG BBS to search back to look at older discussions, it is really useful.
The US based MGEX Forum also has a search option but I have not really got the hang of it yet.

There are some great people on both forums though and I look at both of them every day.

Cheers
Colyn


Colyn Firth

What about the big difference - MGExp has adverts in every other post, one small banner advert here that can be very quickly scrolled past if you want.

I joined MGExp only to be able to contact someone and after this made three attempts to 'unsubscribe' and had no response, as I suppose it keeps the numbers up even though I make no action as a member.

I've nothing against the site, it's no good for me as a UK owner because there is so much confusion caused by US and other markets many variations.

For many years it's been fewer and aging classic MG owners and many of these owners own more than one example or model of MG, so in effect fewer owners. I don't know the average age of these owners but I'd guess it is climbing. Younger (and this is relative) owners may well be in the likes of Facebook groups, some within organised owners' clubs others more open.

Ever increasing sale prices partly keep the younger buyers away, this will lead to classic MGs actually being used and seen on the roads to a very rare sight. All but the very best concours and "original" examples of models will possibly decrease to no value as so few people are interested in them to keep them as a static work of art.
Nigel Atkins

The question popped up as to the membership profile on the "dark side". To be clear, I'm not speaking on behalf of the ownership of this site, but as I ran a survey a few years ago, I thought that some numbers may shed light on the topic. Its not a scientific survey, so take these numbers with a pinch of salt. Of the survey respondents, 5% were 39 years of age & under; 9% were in the 40-49 age group; 31% were 50-59; 37% 60-69; and 18% were 70+.

By the way, I frequent both sites fairly regularly and find both informative and enjoyable.
Nick Kopernik

I found my 79 MGB on the MGEp in 2001.The fellow I bought it from owned "Former Glory Racing" then located in New Haven, CT. He also had a few MG-TC and MGAs (both out of my $$). He taught teenage kids how to work on MGs etc.

After moving from New York to Florida in 2013, I got on line only to discover he too was now in Florida, some 2 hrs away. He invited me to see him but I never went. Some 5 years passed and I looked him up again only to find his website was gone. I strongly suspect he passed. I'd say he was probably 70-ish when I met him in New York.

Cheers to "Former Glory Racing"

Cheers

Gary
79 MGB
Gary Hansen

Nick,
interesting figures, I could well be wrong but I can imagine those figures more skewed towards the likes of B and Spridget ownership and further out from the likes of A and T-series. But of course some owners may own more than one or many of the models.

My personal experience from the very few shows I now attend (giving passenger rides for charity) is that general MG ownership is still to a very large majority, white, mainly middle-class, males aged at least 40+.
Nigel Atkins

Nigel I believe that you would be correct on all points. Most of us who have these types of automobiles maintain a link to the vehicles we grew up with: my first car was a 58' MGA 1500 and my current A has been with me for 40 years. I would expect that some of the cars of the current era will become classics some day to those who grew up with them the same way we did. I'd be hard pressed to consider the 90's models of Nissans, Toyotas, Hondas and Renaults as classics, but they may well be and this sea change will also usher in a a more diverse group of owners. As Sinatra used to croon: "That's life...."
Nick Kopernik

Like some of the others, I frequent both sites. There seems to be more traffic these days on the MGA Exp site. I put that down to the excellent archives on this site.
There are very few questions that haven't been asked previously, so on this site you can normally find the answer without the need to post a question. So maybe MGBBS is suffering because of its own informative archives?

Maybe it's my British upbringing but personally I prefer the contributions on this site but as its getting quieter, I find I have to cross the water for my regular fix.
Graham V

Nick,
90s cars are at shows and every bit as well presented as older classics. Some are stunning and probably more effort to get that way than the popular classics of the (40?) 50s onwards.

I can remember seeing the smallest 1980s British Ford about 15-20 years ago at our club's annual show (about 600 display cars) and it would have easily been at UK national concours level but it was too young and too low-rent for the old-boys of the 'classic' world. I don't think even in its condition it would have been worth a high sales value at the time but now it'd possibly be ahead of a very high show or even national concours MGA given the mad prices for classic Fords over here.

At least 25 years ago I saw a show winning condition early 70s Ford Mk3 Cortina 2000E at the time it'd be worth about £1,000 whereas the equivalent B roadster was £10,000 and the Ford would have taken a lot more effort to get one in or too the condition than the B.

Going back to 90s cars, I don't know how many of them you got in the US but how about -

Nissan
. Skyline GT-R
. Figaro ('classic' looks but with reliability)
. 200SX

Toyota
. Supra (a mate had a UK twin-turbo, far too wide and heavy for my taste)
. MR2 Mk2 (I knew someone that had owned 100s of cars from the 60s onwards and he said this was the best sportscar for touring in)

Honda
. NSX (for those that like supercars)
. S2000 (best modern roadster, just squeezes in 90s)

Renault
. Alpine GTA
. Sport Spider

Then of course there's TVR, Lotus, smart and others as well as the Japanese Kei cars that you could put on the bed of your trucks or in the boot of 50s sedans, Mazda Autozam AZ-1, Honda Beat and the MG midget of the 90s that MG didn't build the Suzuki Cappuccino (I had a s/h one).

Youngsters do own less expensive classics that you'd soon recognise and many are into shiny/detailing but I think better still some go much more for off-beat and unloved makes and models. Which they adventure with on long journeys knowing little about them just determined to drive them and get there, fantastic. Celebrating the unexceptional, average, the unloved, getting to and attending sh*tefests in them. None of the snobbish, boring mine's-better-than-yours, "this was only available in this colour on this model for 6 months so is very rare" (there's only x-thousand of them), which spoils much of the 'classic' world. :)
Nigel Atkins

On the Midget & Sprite BBS, many contributors appear to have already had 'the jab', so that gives some indication of average ages.

Of the two local clubs that I frequent, I am one of the younger members, and I had my first MG 40 years ago.
Dave O'Neill 2

Well something has just happened on the MG Experience MGA Forum that has proved that there really isn't a "Darkside" when you compare the two forums.

In fact, one person stands out and in "Star Wars" terms, you should definitely describe him as a "Jedi Knight".
There are some just incredible people in our MGA world.

Have a look at this thread on MGE.

https://www.mgexp.com/forum/mga-forum.2/mga-electric-power-steering.4294248/

Read both Post #1. Then Post #7

After these, even if the subject of the thread doesn't interest you at all, jump straight down to Post # 15 and read from there on.

You will be amazed.

Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

Fabulous, well done Gio and Colyn. 👍

I'd guess the term 'the dark side' was only meant as a joke, although when I referred to the chaps in a Kent club as the Kent Mafia it might not have been fully understood as a joke, so you never know.
Nigel Atkins

What a lovely thing to do - well done the two of you
Graham V

Cheers Nigel and Graham,

Gio is the Jedi Knight here, what an amazingly generous gesture by him, it just about reduced me to tears when I read what he had done for Brian Woods over in British Columbia.

My contribution is only a few pounds, plus some time which I am more than happy to contribute.

My heart goes out to Brian though, even though he is so ill, he is still determined to finish his MGA project regardless.

So I am pleased to be able to help him.

Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

What I find so nice about this story is how you and Gio have generously helped out a fellow owner, who you have probably never even met. At least I assume you haven't and that you wouldn't know him if he stood in front of you!
We read all day about online scams, it's refreshing to read about this
Graham V

A couple of comments about the Dark Side - I posted the same note about the use of an engine leveller to remove the body off an MGA on both forums - attracted more comment on MG Experience. An issue I noticed with MG Exp is that photos uploaded to the site are reduced to around 60 kB - while fine for viewing you cannot zoom in for closer detail like on this site.

There are some knowledgeable guys on their MG Performance forum (ie Hal Waldrop, Dave Headley, Sean Brown, etc) - might have to encourage Willie and Peter Burgess to visit!

Cheers
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

I have to agree Mike, there are some really brilliant guys on MG Ex. I particularly enjoy reading Bill Spohns posts too, he is one of those talented engineering types who converted a 5-brg MGB motor to fit a Twin Cam head.
(I know it has been done over here too)

We are very lucky to have them.
Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

Why not look at it the other way round and encourage others, perhaps on MGExp, to visit, post and advise on here?
Nigel Atkins

I tend to agree Nigel
This forum survives quite well and is easy to access , doesn't have to go out and promote itself, and allows a bit of off subject dribble
Mike Plumstead is always open to suggestions and I congratulate him on what he's doing here and hope it continues
The Midget General section is my favorite, just like a session at the pub with our mates but no beer--
William Revit

This thread was discussed between 18/02/2021 and 26/02/2021

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