John,
The standard advice is to never restore it yourself but to buy one someone
else has done because they'll lose their shirt and you'll come out a winner.
I don't know if this is so true. The big variable is quality of restoration
and most cars are botched. Very few are really correctly maintained or
restored. I bought a '59 Riley 1.5 that was a near-perfect original ten
years ago. The last owner probably did $2,000 worth of foolish
modifications and neglect to it before I got it. The cars that I've been
most happy with were well-maintained originals that hadn't been messed up or
restored improperly. When I go to British car shows, most of the cars are
really pretty amateurish. A lot of the parts Moss and others sell are poor
copies of the originals in terms of correctness and just quality. I've had
British cars for so many years that I know, at least with MG's, what is
correct and what isn't.
Thanks for the advice!
Don Scott
At 06:33 AM 10/23/98 -0700, you wrote:
>
>I've seen 4/4's and +4's available as basket cases but never a +8. If you
>do find a +8 basket case and perform most of the restoration yourself,
>the cost will probably be at least 30K+. However, if you enjoy restoration
>work and would like to gradually pay for the car, this is probably a good
>way to go. On the other hand, It seems that there some good cars out
>there selling for less (some much less!) than the amount of money spent to
>restore them. I've personally spent more restoring my own car than I'll
>probably ever get if I ever decide to sell it...but at least I know it was
>restored properly and I was able to make my own choices for exterior color,
>interior, options, mod's etc..Hope this helps. Good Luck!
>
>John
>
>
>
>
>From: don <brgmgb @ napanet.net> on 10/22/98 08:45 PM PDT
>
>To: morgans @ Autox.Team.Net@SMTP@Exchange
>cc:
>Subject: Morgan +8
>
>Dear Morgan folks:
>
>I am British car nut from way back, having owned my first British car in
>1965- a '57 Ford Anglia. In the interim, I've had a lot of British cars.
>My dream car is a Morgan +8, gasoline powered. Do they ever come up for
>sale as basket cases or in need of restoration? I just don't have $30k+ to
>plunk down all at once on another car. Anyone have any advice or tips?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Don Scott
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
RetroMobilia w/ original advertising artwork featuring:
Riley 1.5, '62 Buick, '91 Miata Special Edition, & MG TF, & 215 V8
Check it out:
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Track/2508/
|