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MG MGA Up date looking at 1959 MGA BBS discussion at MG-Cars.net
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MG MGA - Up date looking at 1959 MGA
| I looked at the car and the ID plate shows a number of HDK43/6723 with the plate is missing on the engine. The car is an older restoration done about 15 yrs ago and the previous owner paid $28,000 for it. The previous owner passed away and the seller is the son-n-law who I have known for 4yrs as a customer buying Dodge trucks from me (Yes I’m a car sales manager now selling Mercedes). The car is in an unheated shop but since I live near Houston that is not an issue. The problem is that salt water is within a mile from the shop. Looking at the paint there are bumps all over which I assume is from salt water in the air thus it will need a total paint job. No body work other than a complete sanding. The door sills look good and I don’t see any other body issues. The bumpers show some rust and will clean up but will need to be re-chromed in the future. The car was last started about 8 months ago. It is now a 12 volt system not sure if it is a positive or negative ground. It does have a generator and not an alternator. The top has a slight tear but can be repaired and the interior is in good shape.  |
| david kirkpatrick |
| Help!! I am trying to add additional pics and nothing happens when I hit the upload button |
| david kirkpatrick |
| May only be able to do one photo per post. |
| David Werblow |
another pic
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| david kirkpatrick |
| Dave, Easy enough to tell if it's positive or negative ground...which terminal on the battery (behind seats) is grounded? What is the current owner asking for it now? Obviously just based on what you've said so far $28K isn't in the ballpark. I just bought a coupe that had been off the road for 14 years. New battery and gas and it started right up...clutch was stuck to the flywheel but freed up using the tips on Barney's MGA Guru website. Good luck... |
| Gene Gillam |
another pic
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| david kirkpatrick |
another
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| david kirkpatrick |
| Gene, He was asking $10,000 but I think that I can get the car for $5,000, Your thoughts? |
| david kirkpatrick |
Been trying to upload some more pics but doing something wrong or I need another scotch. The car has rear drums and front disk brakes. Not sure which engine.
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| david kirkpatrick |
| If you can get it for $10K, much less $5K, you'd better jump on it...look at what people are asking on feebay for less car (for instance items 200877187021 and 181059370494). |
| Gene Gillam |
| Gene, I have looked on feebay and it appears that the market on MGA's are soft. The two cars that you mentioned have received no bids and very few have sold recently. |
| david kirkpatrick |
| Dave, Pictures over 1 meg will not up load to the BBS. Try saving to a smaller size or lower resolution. John |
| jbackman |
| Have you missed a digit off the chassis number (given as 6723)? If the first two numbers are correct with three following i.e. 67*** ,then the car was probably built in April 1959 which is just a month before the 1600 started. The rear lights are 1500 and it looks like the coil is on the dynamo so the front disc brakes were probably added later. I think $10,000-$12,000 would be the going Ebay price and if you can get it for half then you've got a bargain. My only worry would be the 'bumps' under the paint that you have noticed because if they are numerous and caused by rust coming through from beneath then you could have an awful lot of time consuming correction work to do. It's not just a job of sanding them off from above and respraying ..........Mike |
| m.j. moore |
| I wouldn't worry too much about it being stored indoors within a mile of the sea. My car has been stored within a 100 yds of the sea for nearly 40 years and I have never suspected any problem for this reason. Salt on the road is another metter and I avoid it like the plague. I do have a good dry garage. Paul |
| Paul Dean |
| Dave As Mike says about the chassis number. It also tells you it was originally red, so the previous restorer kept the same or similar shade of red. You mention it is now a 12 volt system. All MGAs are 12 volt. The previous comments were referring to the actual batteries and polarity. MGAs originally had 2 x 6 volt batteries in series, adding up to the 12 volts. It is quite common for owners nowadays to install just the one 12 volt battery, making one of the battery trays redundant and available for other purposes. Many also convert their cars to negative earth and as the earlier comment said, a quick check of the battery earthing strap will reveal all. If that car went on sale in the UK I would expect it to fetch in the region of $12,000 to $15,000. Let us know what you decide. Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
Mike, I did miss a number the correct ID number is HDK43/67203. Also the bumps on the paint are all over. They can bee seen in the following photo which might need to be enlarged to see. |
| david kirkpatrick |
| The bumps look like micro blistering to me. This has a number of causes - usually a reaction of the undercoat to the top coat sometimes due to moisture. Either way it will need to be taken back to a good surface - possibly bare metal - which is what I had to do with my car. You will have to factor the cost of a total respray into your final figures (mine cost £1000 to have just the 4 wings done 10 years ago)- don't forget that the wings will have to be separated from the body to do this. But $5000 sounds like a good price to me with plenty of room for you to spend money and bring it up to a good standard , without losing money if you have to sell it again. |
| Cam Cunningham |
| David That looks like poor paint preparation. Perhaps the sprayer did not have a moisture trap in his compressor. The trunk lid is aluminium so it is not going to be rust from the inside. Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| Just a comment. In the second picture, the rear fender seems quite high above the tire. Maybe its the photo angle, but this issue can be caused by replacement springs with the wrong arch. IMHO I'd say $10K is too much for this car. The body looks good (paint aside) but the engine bay suggests this car needs to be gone thru... Still, a good find. GTF |
| G T Foster |
| GTF, the left front tire blew out so it is flat and should account for the high rear fender, good eye. |
| david kirkpatrick |
| David, The bumps in the paint may only be what is described here (in Aus.) as "orange peel". I'm not sure what causes it but if you stand off about 2 metres (10ft.) you will not see it. Is that such a worry? If you expect a Concours car then maybe not so good - but for an every day driver --- not such a problem! Looks to be good in all other respects. Enjoy the thrill of driving an MGA! Just pure MAGIC! Barry. |
| Barry Gannon |
| Not orange peel. Orange peel is the sort of finish where there are very small waves in the paint, where it has flashed off before it runs flat. OP can be flattened by wet sanding and buffing. |
| Art Pearse |
| I believe that that is considered a form of "solvent pop". |
| Gene Gillam |
| I bought the car for $5000 delivered to my house. The adventure begins. :) |
| david kirkpatrick |
| David, Welcome to the club! Your new significant other is often cranky, a sink hole for your time and always expensive - but one nice drive with the top down and all she will blow all those worries away. John |
| jbackman |
| David, You say ... " bought the car for $5000 delivered" ... more likely I reckon you 'stole' it! Welcome and Good luck, Barry. |
| Barry Gannon |
| David A bargain. This was my $6000 car from San Diego in 1996. Steve  |
| Steve Gyles |
| A bargain indeed - you would be hard pressed to get an MGA in any condition for £5000.Your adventure starts here - have fun. |
| Cam Cunningham |
| Steve: You have to give us an 'after' picture. The 'before' was pretty bad. John |
| JRS Smith |
| John I did not want to steal the thread, just to show what a bargain David has got for himself. I deliberately went for a wreck as I wanted to do a total rebuild. It was great fun and gave me enormous satisfaction. Total cost of the rebuild including the original purchase and transportation to the UK came to £15,000 ($22,500).Most of the labour (mine) was free! http://www.mgaroadster.co.uk/psj_903_rebuild.htm Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| Steve what a great job. |
| david kirkpatrick |
| Actually, once you got it stripped down, the body and chassis looked pretty solid. John |
| JRS Smith |
| John Correct. In the 90s it was big business for suppliers in the UK to scour California for rust free wrecks and ship them back to the UK. Most of our home market MGAs were pretty rotten so the over priced Californian wrecks represented good value for money for us over here. Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| When I bought our A in 1968 it had "orange peel" all over. I thought it was a recent paint job that had not been rubbed out. After several evenings of polishing compound it came out really well. - Ken |
| Ken Doris |
| David, Wow...guess that it's true you never want to bargain with a car salesman...either selling or buying! Gene |
| Gene Gillam |
| Gene I'll take that as a compliment. :) David |
| david kirkpatrick |
| Hi Dave, You got a good buy all right! And regarding the paint bubbles, Cam Cunningham has identified just what I thought when we talked last night. Gene's "solvent pop" is the same thing I think. And by the way, you do realize, don't you, that by having TWO MGs are now a gen-u-wine certified MG nut. Cheers, Reed |
| R H Yates |
This thread was discussed between 16/01/2013 and 20/01/2013
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