Hey Glenn and Listers:
Well, this has certainly been a week of interesting mail! FWIW, I have
sold the TR6, MGC GT and roller RB B roadster to a British Columbia
exporter. The two '70 MGB GTs have garnered some local attention and in
all likelyhood will be sold complete to someone soon! Their sale is NOT
restricted to enthusiasts who claim CA or Oregon residency; bring your
truck and trailer from all parts of the country!
Last night I sold my '50 Austin Devon 4 door to a British car enthusiast.
It was 8:30PM and he was starting his 2 hour drive home and saw the car and
for sale sign. He is a body man, so really didn't need light to check out
the panel conditions, etc. (I need some major tips here!)
So with the light of his Jeep Cherokee shining on the car, he wrote me a
check for the full amount! What a great way to finish Thanksgiving Day!
More importantly though, is the good feeling one has when you see a very
unique car move on to someone you feel will maintain and improve it. I
originally bought this car 2 years ago from a nearby storage facility. The
owner had failled to pay his rent, the car was put through a lien sale, but
had garnered zero interest when attempts were made to sell it by the
storage yard owners. The car was headed for the crusher because the
business needed the space. From my point of view, we can save some of
these cars, but not all of them.
One of the best ways we as a body of enthusiasts can help the hobby is to
DRIVE our lbcs when ever we get the chance. I had tons of fun this summer
driving a beater '78 Spitfire. A lot of times kids in mall parking lots
would ask me questions about the car. Most of them thought it was "way
cool", even though there is a huge crushed area in the rear!
have a great lbc filled weekend!
Cheers,
Jim Boyd
Paradise, CA
At 01:21 AM 11/26/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Randall <randallyoung@earthlink.net>
>To: Glen Wilson <RoverCar@voicenet.com>
>Sent: Thursday, November 25, 1999 11:22 PM
>Subject: Re: MGB GT Questions an Editorial
>
>
>>
>> Glen, I may be off-base here, but I think John's comment was directed
>> more to the people who, as someone else posted, say "I'm going to get my
>> money, or it's going to the crusher". I may be living in a fool's
>> paradise, but IMO it's very unusual that a complete car is so worthless
>> that someone won't 'adopt' it, at least as long as there is some chance
>> of making it a 'roller' without major expenditures of money. There are
>> still plenty of kids around, without much money or expertise, that would
>> love to have a neat old car, even with duct tape over the rust holes and
>> coat hangers holding the exhaust up. I think sometimes as we get old,
>> we forget what that was like.
>
>
>Randall,
>
>I bought my first British car, an MGB-GT faded to a Pepto Bismol color, for
>$125. It was a total rust bucket, but it was my first and it filled me with
>wonderful dreams of what could be. I must have been 25 years old when I
>bought that car, so it's not just young kids that get nostalgic for what
>they once lusted after.
>
>Lately, however, I have indeed seen old British cars that no one local would
>take on and no one at a distance would pay to transport. I know of one guy
>with six old Rovers he's tried to give away a couple of times, and at this
>point they are getting pretty rough and are heading to the crusher in the
>next few weeks. I've listed them twice on the RoverNet mailing list and at
>least once on the British Car list. No takers yet.
>
>On the other hand, Randall, if you're in the New York City area, this is
>your chance. If you're not in the New York area, we could certainly make
>all of the arrangements to ship one or more to you or your son or some eager
>young car buff you know of.
>
>Rovers are interesting cars with overhead cam engines, semi-independent De
>Dion rear suspensions, four wheel discs (inboard at the rear) and body
>panels that unbolt for easy repairs. Not only that, but they are a very
>solid, very safe automobile no parent would have to worry about letting a
>young driver head out in.
>
>> Also, I don't know Jim Boyd (except perhaps by reputation), but it does
>> seem odd that he's only willing to sell to someone from "Northern CA or
>> Oregon". I took his post to mean that, even if I were willing to drive
>> 500+ miles to Paradise, CA and trailer them home, he wouldn't sell to
>> me.
>
>This is ridiculous. Of course he would.
>
>If someone sends an auto transport to Jim's place, I think he'd be tickled
>pink to send both cars eastward or anywhere else. He probably just doesn't
>want any "time wasters" (as they say in the British car ads) since it hardly
>seems practical to ship the cars. If there's no one in Northern California
>or Oregon interested in these cars, then interest must be severely lacking.
>
>Glen Wilson
>Email: RoverCar@voicenet.com
>Rover Saloon Touring Club of America
>Website: http://clubs.hemmings.com/rovercar/rstca.html
>
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