Any MG Guys on here?

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'64 Cuda

'64 Cuda

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I know it's not a Mopar, but I'm hoping maybe somebody here can help me out a bit.
My youngest brother now lives in PA & also has an apartment in Brooklyn. He commutes a lot & needs a dependable car, which is why he drives a Toyota. He also owns a 1967 MGB GT. He has had it for probably 25+ years. It is currently closed up in a pole barn in Nebraska & hasn't moved for at least 15 years. When he lived with my folks my dad did a lot of work on the car (I helped some when I visited). It's had the engine rebuilt, lots of work done on the trans, new carpets, new paint, some new emblems, etc.
My brother doesn't know squat about cars. About the only thing he can do is drive them & maybe change oil & check the tires. He knows he would never be able to keep the car running if he had it in PA (I even offered to tow it out to him in PA if he had a place to keep it) so he wants to sell it & would prefer to keep it in the family. I am the only one who has shown any real interest in it. I have an older brother who used to drive MG's & he is actually the person who found this one. We all thought he was going to buy it, but he's showed no real interest (I think he's just too busy to mess with it). I have a place to keep it, the money to buy it (within reason), & kids who will be driving in about 3 years who would probably love it. I also have the ability to keep it running (I know they're not dependable, I used to work on it for him).

Can anybody give a ballpark price on what this car is worth? I found a site that gives prices, but was wondering about the real world. Any ideas anybody?
 
Heres a little Britsh car humor for you, "Why do the British drink warm beer?

Because they own Lucas refrigerators"


Chuck
 
Found one on s.f batyarea crageslist for $2500.
I had a 56 Austin Healy 100-4 I bought and fixed up; when I got back from Viet Nam in late '66. It didn't know how to go less than 100 miles an hour and it was a blast to drive.
 
When I was first asked by my Mother (the car is stored near where she lives) about what the car might be worth, I thought about it & $2500 popped into my head. Then I looked on a price guide site & condition 2 is $2000 & condition 3 is $4050. It's not a 3 but it's better than a 2. Even if the engine is still okay, the brakes will be suspect & the tires have to be shot. I talked to my brother today & neither of us knows whether mice have gotten into it or not. It's been closed up, & the last time I saw it I think the interior was still okay, but I didn't look at it very close. Also, I know it has at least one dent on somewhere from where some A**hole kicked it! Like I said, $2500 popped into my head & maybe I'm about right.
 
340mopar said:
Heres a little Britsh car humor for you, "Why do the British drink warm beer?

Because they own Lucas refrigerators"


Chuck
Click to expand...

Do you know why the British don't make computers? They haven't figured out how to make them leak oil.

I used to tell my older brother that the reason it took so long for new MG's to get here from England on a ship was because they had to stop & lower each car over the side into the ocean with a crane to be sure that they'd rust.

He had a '70 or '71 MGB & was driving over to somebody's house to look at a '74 MBG GT they had for sale. The B broke down on the way so he bought the B GT as a 2nd car. Personally, I think you'd have to be crazy to have an MG as your backup car in case your MG broke down, & I pretty much told him so. Later, when he had another vehicle, I can remember him pirating parts off of one MG to get the other running, then when it broke down, he'd pirate parts off of it & get the first one running. Vicious circle!

"Lucas, The Prince Of Darkness!"
 
The one on craiglist looked pretty nice in the picture and family ought to mean something.
 
340mopar said:
Heres a little Britsh car humor for you, "Why do the British drink warm beer?

Because they own Lucas refrigerators"


Chuck
Click to expand...

Lucas, god of darkness LOL! I used to work on British bikes back in the day and whoever at Lucas thought that using a Zener diode as a voltage regulator was a good idea must have drunken way too much warm beer.

Anyway, enough brit bashing. My fiance, a BMW master tech has had some experience with MGs. Her dad had one and she thinks the GTs (Hard Tops) are pretty cool. She feels that parts are still availible, but that dry rot and mice may be a serious problem in regards to the interior and wiring. Fuel tank, system and carbs will at least need reconditioning, not to mention that mice may think that a an MG cylinder would make a cool apartment. With the work involved, she thinks that it would make a cool Christmas present!

Good luck!
 
Got a friend with an Austin H it runs 5.88 in the 1/8th on 100 shot of baby bottle stuff

sayurday009da6.jpg
 
I had one brother with two MGs & another brother with one MG. I've never owned one, but I've sure had to pull the engines out of them enough times.

When my brother used to drive the B GT that I'm looking at he had a lot of transmission problems, had to find parts, & sunk some money in it. Later, he was home from school on a Christmas break & he was having a problem with it popping out of 2nd gear. My dad & I took it to where my dad worked & pulled the engine & trans (the trans cross member is welded into the body, so you have to pull them both to get the trans out) & tore into it. It turned out that a small spring behind a detent ball on the shifter had broken in the middlle & screwed inside of itself, so there wasn't enough tension to hold the shift lever in gear. We went home & told my brother. He said something like "I suppose it's some special spring you have to order & it costs a whole lot of money!"

I said "No, you just go down to the hardware store & look in their box of springs to find one about the same size, cut it to length & put it in. It costs about a dollar."

His mouth kind of dropped open & he said "Really? Really?" He couldn't believe it was that cheap to fix.

I said "Yeah, but you gotta pull the transmission & engine & take the transmission part way apart to do it!" :banghead: He was lucky. We fixed it for him for free. I hate to think what it would have cost him at a shop.

I think I'm gonna' have a look at the car & if it is in the shape I imagine it's in I'm gonna offer him about $2500 & tell him that if he ever wants to buy it back I'll sell it to him for the same money. I told him on the phone today that he might inherit it back from me in 20 years. I'd be about 70 then, if I'm still alive. :toothy7:

For those of you who've never paid any attention to one of these cars, if you ever get a chance you should look at how the throttle linkage works on one of the pre emissions ones with the dual SU carbs. It's like the designers tried to think of the most obscure way they could to make things work. Instead of the throttle cable pulling on the carb linkage, the cable is locked in place & the cable sleeve slides on the cable & pushes the linkage. Another thing they do on the coupes is to use the dome light as a fuse. I think it was for the tail lights. I don't remember how they did that, but that's the way his car was. We almost never figured that one out! :cussing: Talk about bass-ackwards!
 
Doesn't look British Leyland to me either.

I owned an Austin America some years back that is how I know about the Lucas stuff.

Chuck
 
The Austin Healey 100-4 I owned it 1966-1967 would make the drive from Camp Pendleton in Oceanside to the Bay area in a little over 4 hours, going up Highway 99. I blew out the Fist Motion Shaft once but replaced it with one from another British car (much was interchangeable). Other than periodic bolt tightening, the car was relatively trouble free.
 
hay $2500 sounds like a good price to me do you know what your brother was thinking of price wise? i have owned several austin minis in the past and i'm between minis at this moment.

several of my friends have owned MG's they were good cars the electrical did suck but only if it was neglicted and was in a damp or wet enviroment(the mini was no better)

as a first car an MG would be a hoot, fun to drive but not rediculouse on power.
 
custom100 said:
hay $2500 sounds like a good price to me do you know what your brother was thinking of price wise? i have owned several austin minis in the past and i'm between minis at this moment.

several of my friends have owned MG's they were good cars the electrical did suck but only if it was neglicted and was in a damp or wet enviroment(the mini was no better)

as a first car an MG would be a hoot, fun to drive but not rediculouse on power.
Click to expand...

My brother doesn't really have a price in mind. We have to work that out. I'd have to tow the car home if I bought it. It's about 260 miles from here. The thing broke down enough that my dad finally made a tow bar for the car so it would be easier to rescue it! The bar might still be in the garage at my mom's house. I'll have to check. If it's not there, my older brother might have it.

Bit of a funny story. My older brother had two MGs & a junky van parked at his house. They all had tags on them but the city said they were inoperable & threatened to tow them. So my brother would go out & push them around to switch the spots where they were parked. Then the city said they had to be moved at least once every 72 hours. My brother got caught up in a lot of stuff that was going on in his life & the cars were towed off. About fifteen years later, he had bought a house with some land & out buildings in the country. He saw an MG for sale & went to look at it. It was one of the ones that had been towed off years earlier! He bought it back & has it in a shed now. I haven't talked to him, so I don't know whether it's the B or the B/GT.
 
STAY AWAY!!!! I had a 79 midget and in the 10 days I had it taged I broke down on my about 25 times (6 times in one day) first time the headlights went out on me on a very dark back road in the middle of nowhare then the engine died, it was an electriac problem got that fixed that night had to rewire part of the engine and the forward lamps, the next day I was on my way to work the alternator went up (so much smoke I could bearly see to get off the road) so I fixed that. was pulling out of work the battery died and killed the new alternator, the one I just got was the last one we had in stock. so I had to get one of the other locations to send one over, had to change the battery alt. then later that day I was driving home and the water pump went up on me. I could go on and on about the problems I had with that car, just glad I dont still have the car. And I almost forgot top speed was a whooping 45 mph
 
dartcustom said:
STAY AWAY!!!! I had a 79 midget and in the 10 days I had it taged I broke down on my about 25 times (6 times in one day) first time the headlights went out on me on a very dark back road in the middle of nowhare then the engine died, it was an electriac problem got that fixed that night had to rewire part of the engine and the forward lamps, the next day I was on my way to work the alternator went up (so much smoke I could bearly see to get off the road) so I fixed that. was pulling out of work the battery died and killed the new alternator, the one I just got was the last one we had in stock. so I had to get one of the other locations to send one over, had to change the battery alt. then later that day I was driving home and the water pump went up on me. I could go on and on about the problems I had with that car, just glad I dont still have the car. And I almost forgot top speed was a whooping 45 mph
Click to expand...

So you're basically saying you had a typical MG. :D


:burnout:
 
So the British made them small so you can push them?

If your brother bought a Dart instead of that Toyo, he could kill two birds.
It would be fun to drive back and forth AND reliable.
 
Saw an MG this Saturday........Broke down on the side of highway 285. Nice color though, british racing green.
 
I have a 59 Triumph TR3, bought it in 1978, never had a single problem with it while I drove it, it's been off the road for a few years now though. Right from the time I bought it I heard nothing but horror stories about that Lucas wiring, I must have been lucky :lol: Those little British sports cars are fun to drive though and for a couple grand what do you have to lose.
 
Have an 1980 MGB sitting in the driveway with a for sale sign

Has been sitting for the last 20+ years with the exception of the 100 miles we drove it in 2004

Have about $3,000 in parts asking $3,850. Has new top, tires and rebuilt head, guy that did the head work said the fuel pump was leaking into the trunk. It was new pump that I had bought but never installed. Guess I'll have to get the pos running again to sell it

Parts are available thru MOSS MOTORS and back when we were working on this there wasn't anything we needed that wasn't available
 
My dad bought an MG 1100 4spd when we lived in Vienna Austria in 1964 . He put a lot of miles on it here in the US after we got back. Motor was weak after a lot of miles . Can't remember how many. I told him I could rebuild it. I was 14. He went out and bought the service manual for it and told me to read it first. So I took the transverse mounted engine out of the car and disassembled it. Took the block and head to machine shop. Assembled the engine myself and returned it to the car. To my surprise , It actually ran !! That is after I discovered that I had the timing off 180deg. That was my first automotive experience, and I've never looked back. I now realize the faith that my Dad must have reluctantly had to allow me to do it. God rest his soul.
 
The G T 's are becoming very collectible and the price is climbing if you don't mind working on them I would get it at that price.
 
uh, you guys do realize this thread started in zero seven?


"Why is the weather so band in Britain?"

"So the British car owners can work on them on rainy Saturdays"
 
1967 is one of the best years for the model, maybe the best. It still has a non-smog motor, without the annoying air pump that came in 1968, but it has the newer 4-synchro transmission with better ratios. And it still has the classic metal dash with big instruments and glovebox, also replaced in 1968 with an ugly padded dash.

The GT is less liable to rust than the roadster, since you can't leave it under a tree with the top down <grin>. So the floors are likely to be better, but the rockers and doglegs are potential rust spots. If the seal goes bad they can also rust around the hatch.

If properly sorted, these can be reliable cars. I have had a 1966 roadster for the last 25 years, and it has only failed me on the road twice. But I strongly do not recommend them to people who can't work on their own cars. You need to have some mechanical sensitivity -- it will tell you if there is a problem developing, but you have to listen. They absolutely are not appliances that you can let sit for 4 months and then expect to start right up and function perfectly. The more you drive them, the better they are.

For sheer fun, MGBs are hard to beat. They are pretty much at the sweet spot of balanced power and handling, and size -- small and light enough to be nimble, but large enough for Americans -- the footwell is deep enough for NBA types.

There is no comparison between an MGB and an MG Midget (sized for smurfs, twitchy, underpowered). And the later rubber-bumpered emissions-choked MGBs aren't worth a look, either -- starting in 1975 they were horrible jacked-up gutless mockeries. Well, they can be fixed, more or less, but why not start with a decent one with better looks?
 
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