Okay, I went and looked at the car, and here's the
scoop:
First of all, let me say that the car is in a small
and pretty dark one-car garage, and it's surrounded by
all sorts of stuff. So although I could crawl around
it quite a bit, I wasn't able to roll it out and
photograph it properly in the sun. I did take some
pictures, and I will post them as soon as they are
developed, but I don't know how valuable they are
going to be.
Also, please understand that I did my best here. I'm
not a professional car appraiser, and I didn't check
everything - only everything I could think of. I may
have missed something important, so don't hold me to
anything, okay?
Finally, please remember that I have NO FINANCIAL
INTEREST in this car whatsoever. I just tried to help
out. If you want to ask any questions, feel free to
call me, but as far as any price negotiations or
anything like that are concerned, take that up
directly with the owner. I'm just an impartial third
party.
Okay, here we go:
YEAR:
Thanks to the list, it appears that the VIN and engine
numbers likely match, and the car was built sometime
in late 1959. I believe it is titled as a 1961, but
the owner did not have the title handy when I was
there. She swears she has it (and it's a clear
title), and thought it was titled as a 1961, but she
wasn't 100% sure. The VIN is GHNL/82671 and the
engine number is 16GA-U-13896. It does appear to have
the "pushed in" grille of a Mark II, but someone who
really know the history of the MGA is better suited to
nail it down that I am.
IN A NUTSHELL:
In a nutshell, the car appears to be a relatively
unmolested and original MGA 1600 that needs a TOTAL
restoration.
THE HISTORY:
The owner is a very sweet and earnest sounding lady in
her 40s. Apparently the car was her husbands at one
point, but he is not in the picture anymore, and the
car has been sitting at her mother's house for more
than 10 years. She says it ran about ten years ago,
but the sticker on the windshield says 1982, and the
car looks like it could easily have been sitting 20
years, not 10. Who knows? Anyway, her mother has
recently moved into assisted living and they are going
to be renting the house out, and she is trying to
figure out what to do with the car. The car is
located in Concord, NC, which is about 25 minutes
northeast of Charlotte.
GENERAL:
The car is red (no evidence of a color change), with a
black interior and wire wheels. It's all there.
Nothing appears to be missing or removed.
BODY:
The body is generally straight. Actually, it's very
straight. There is some rust along the outer sills on
both sides, and some evidence of putty on the "dogleg"
area of both sides. There doesn't appear to be any
obvious putty anywhere else on the car, nor is there
any rust evident anywhere on the body. The aluminum
panels are all straight as an arrow. No dents or even
dings on the exterior. The glass is all there and
nothing is cracked or broken. There is one dent on
the flat panel inside the engine compartment that is
located right in front of the radiator, but it doesn't
look major or like it was caused by an accident or
anything. It looks like something was dropped on it.
The paint is totally and completely dead. Flat as a
pancake. But the body is very straight and really
quite unmolested. The door gaps look pretty even (how
even were they originally?) and the doors open and
close easily with the cord.
BRIGHTWORK:
The chrome is all there, and surpisingly decent. Much
of it will probably need to be redone, but nothing is
ghastly at all. Much of it might clean up just fine,
especially for a driver. The only thing missing on
the exterior at all is the diver's side tail light
lens.
RUST:
There is remarkably little rust. The rust in the
outer sills does not appear to have infected the frame
at all. The frame rails are quite solid, inner edges
and out edges. There is some light surface rust, but
I jabbed everything I could reach with a heavy and
pointy screwdriver and there is no perforation at all.
It's solid. The longitudinal frame rails are good,
and the wooden floorboards and complete and fine.
Lifting them up shows no sign of any rust where they
lay on the frame. The lateral frame rail (just below
the seats) is good. It's all pretty good under there!
There is some rust where the front of the rear
springs attach to the frame (not major, but not
insigificant either), and there is some rust at the
front corners of the battery boxes (very minor - just
the corners starting to eat away a little). I looked
way up into the fender wells and way up along the
bulkhead, and it all looks pretty rust free. The
fenderwells looks virtually perfect. There is no
evidence - from outside or inside or underneath - that
the car has ever been in any kind of signficant
accident. It all looks straight and original. The
floor of the trunk has surface rust, but jabs with the
screwdriver brought only frightened looks from the
owner - no perforation.
INTERIOR:
It's complete, but dead. It looks like it's been
sitting in a garage for more than a decade, which it
has. The seats are hard as rocks, and the dash is
covered with a layer of ancient filth. But it's all
there and apparently undamaged. The steering wheel
looks complete and undamaged. The wood trim on the
top of the door panels is weathered and warping.
Everything inside looks original to me, but again, an
MGA expert would know that better than I would. All
the knobs and gauges are there, and there is an
ancient AM radio that looks original to me. It looks
very complete, but needing an utter and complete
restoration. The top is there, but ancient and
crappy. There are no holes or tears in it, but it
just looks sort of, well... petrified or something.
Like if you smacked it it would shatter. The side
curtains are hanging on the garage wall next to the
car and they appear to be fine. There are carpets in
the car, and they are complete, but old and dirty. I
think a massive weekend of cleaning and scrubbing
would do wonders for the interior, but it's definitely
a total restoration candidate.
MECHANICAL:
I couldn't do much here, I'm afraid. But it looks
100% complete, just needing a total restoration. I
brought the wrong wrench and couldn't try to turn the
engine over by hand, but I talked to another guy that
saw the car and he said he turned it over and it moved
just fine. But that's second hand because I couldn't
check it myself. It doesn't have any evidence of mice
living in it or anything like that. I pulled out the
carb dashpots and they are full of oil and appear
totally normal. The throttle linkage moves freely.
The gearbox moves freely and appears to select gears
normally. The brakes are all there, the suspension is
all there... it's all there. But it's been sitting
forever, so it's all going to need to be gone through.
The underside of the engine and gearbox both have a
light wash of oil on them. I opened up the fuel
filler cap and smiffed inside, but it doesn't smell
like gasoline, so either the tank was drained when it
was stored or whatever was in there has turned to
amber or something. I honestly don't know.
CONCLUSION:
This appears to be a largely unmolested and original
car that needs a total restoration. I honestly think
EVERY SINGLE component on this car needs to be taken
apart and cleaned and looked through and put right,
but there is nothing that I looked at where I thought
to myself: "Oh, LORDY. That's a problem." Nothing
like that. It's just what it is - an MGA that has
been sitting for somewhere between 10 and 25 years,
untouched. I'm not good at values, but my gut feeling
is that it's worth maybe $1500 to $2500 to the right
buyer. It would be a good candidate for someone that
can do everything themselves and really WANTS a total
project. But if you're looking for an affordable way
to get into an MGA driver, this is NOT your car. It
looks like way too much work for that.
But it's the kind of car that's fundamentally pretty
solid, and I left thinking it would be a shame if it
was parted out or destroyed. Maybe I'm just nostalgic
by nature, but I'd like to see it get a home.
Please feel free to email me off list at
paul@sopwithracing.com or call me at home at (704) 766
0167 if you want to discuss the car at all. I'm be
happy to do so, but please remember that I'm on the
east coast, so try not to call past say, 10:00PM.
The owner's name is Beth Lomax, and her cell phone
number is (704) 425 1095. SHe's a nice lady, and I
told her everything I'm telling you guys. I also told
her that values are a difficult thing to pin down. I
told her:
"Look, the thing about values of cars like this is
that maybe the car is worth $2000, but maybe it would
three years to find a buyer that is looking for
something like this. If that's the case, then is it
really worth $2000? Probably not. Certainly not if
you want to sell it RIGHT NOW. This car is going to
be a lot of work, and it's going to take a certain
kind of buyer to want it, but at least you know
roughly where you stand and you can make your own
decisions about what you want to take or what you want
to do with it."
I hope all of this helps, and again, feel free to call
if you have any questions. I'll post the pictures as
soon as I get them back.
Cheers all,
=====
Paul Misencik
1971 MGB Vintage Race Project
Huntersville, NC USA
www.sopwithracing.com
Learn the truth at www.misleader.org
__________________________________
Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now
http://companion.yahoo.com/
|