Keith,
FWIW. I bought my first MG from Syd & Malcolm Beer in Houghton
in England in 1972. It was a US spec. Harvest Gold MGB-GT w/ overdrive, and
rostyle wheels. When the car arrived at the dealership, Malcolm was
anything but pleased with the paint job ( apparently they'd been haveing
some problems that year). He said come back in 3 or 4 days, and he'd make
it worth my wait. I gave him a week, didn't want to
rush him, and I had another vehicle anyway.
When I came to pick up the NEW CAR it had been transformed. The
paint was all new, and very well done. The rostyles where gone, and in
their place where wider alloy wheels with Dunlop low profile ( for their
day)
high speed radials. To accomodate the new foot gear, all the wheel
openings on the car had been very slightly flaired out ( maybe an inch), but
very tastefully. Malcolm said that as long as he had the engine and
transmission out anyway ( you know you can't do a good paint job with
them in), he went in and did a 'stage three' tune on the engine to give
it a little more pep, and he added a 3/4" front sway bar, rear sway bar,
and an aftermarket electric fan .
To say the least, the car was nothing like it had been recieved from
the factory. I was very pleased. Total cost to me of the changes?
175 pounds ( about $450 dollars at the time). Total cost of the car?
$3012 . (tax free). Miles on the odometer? About 37 if I remember
correctly.
Harlan.
-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Wheeler <keithw@sand.net>
To: mgs@autox.team.net <mgs@autox.team.net>
Date: Monday, June 22, 1998 1:28 PM
Subject: Subject: Heritage certificates
>Kevin Richards wrote:
>
>>How does one get their car researched and receive a certificate.
>>
>>I am interested in getting my 77B's certificate so I can learn exactly
>>how it came from the factory.
>
>This is a pet peeve of mine, so bear with me. The heritage certificate
>is a great resource, a neat item and good information, (I make a point
>to get one for all my cars, even modified cars that will never return
>to all stock). But, please people, do not base a restoration on a single
>$25 piece of paper. By 1977 MGs were a bit more mass produced than say
>a MGAs, but still these cars were built by hand. And if the goal of a
>restoration is to be original, that is historically accurate, then, as
>in any historical work, some further research can be very beneficial.
>
>Some other things to consider. Are dealer modifications original?
Consider
>this story: It's 1958. Joe Cool, cash in hand, wants a sports car. He's
>dreaming of a BRG MGA with wire wheels. He walks in to the local dealer.
>Yes, they have a BRG MGA, but no wires. There's a red one with wires, but
>Joe doesn't want a red one. Is Mr Slick (the salesman) going to say
>"wait for a couple of weeks and we'll order one" or is he going to
>say "wait for a couple of hours and we'll have your car ready"?
>Not hard to figure that one out, and two hours and some wrench turning
>later, Joe Cool is out on the roads in his wire-wheeled BRG MGA.
>
>So, is this car no longer original? It was delivered to the first owner
>with wire wheels. And if that's not original, then what about all the
>stripe kits, luggage racks, and radios installed by American dealers?
>Are those unoriginal? Are these items listed in the heritage certificate?
>
>Here's another story. John Sprinzel in "The Spritely Years" mentioned a
>Healy 100-6 that was returned to the factory and rebuilt as a Healy 3000.
>Is that sort of information reflected by the Heritage certificate? Can
>you imagine the damage to the history of this car is some schmuck armed
>with good intentions and a $25 piece of paper decided to restore it and
>repair what some "DPO" had done to it?
>
>It's amazing, to go to shows and car club meetings and hear people make a
>big deal of little things. "Well, this car *can't* be original. Those
>lights are from a '59 and this car is a '60" blah blah blah. Look, I hate
>to break it to you, but those lights were put on that car by an out of work
>plumber. He didn't car if they were "correct", there were the next lights
>in the parts bin. In "Making MGs" there is a comment that during any given
>day of production, no two MGAs were the same. Gee, that's hard to believe,
>because when you go to shows there are rows upon rows of perfect red MGAs
>with wire wheels with black interiors with red piping. It gets boring.
>
>Another item to consider when restoring a car is period modifications.
>I'm not saying they should or shouldn't be kept, I'm saying they should
>be kept in mind. Do you want a car that looks like what it would've
>if it were new, or as it was used when new?
>
>I remember a car club meeting where someone was concerned about the
>whether the knock off wheels on his MGA where original, because they
>just didn't look right. Yep, throw them away, I'll help you, dunlop
>disc knock-off racers are just trash anyway.
>
>I recently bought a (heavily modified) MGB GT. It has the most gorgeous
>set of magnesium revolutions on it I've ever seen. Well, maybe not the
>most gorgeous, but hey, these are mine. Can you imagine, some folks
>think I'm silly for loving those wheels. But then some folks have MGs
>that are worth less than those wheels...it pays to know what you're
>looking at.
>
>-Keith Wheeler
>Team Sanctuary http://www.teamsanctuary.com/
>
>
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