mgs
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Original MGB costs through the years...?

To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Original MGB costs through the years...?
From: MGMagnette@aol.com
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 11:55:02 EST
I think the best way to guess the price of an MGB today would be to compare 
it to the price for a Miata now.  Its is very hard to compare car prices 
backwards and forwards like that.  In the 60's a car that was three years old 
was in most cases well and truly shot.  No american car was certainly worth a 
damn over 75,000 miles.  They were cheap and had low quality.  Now we make 
much better quality cars the last a hell of a lot longer.  But they also cost 
a great deal more, with the average middle class family no longer replscing 
thier csr every two or three years. 
    My favorite advertisment is as as-seen on the back of an old MGB Driver 
issue.  I no longer have it, but the prices for the Midget MG1100 MGB and MG 
Magnette were listed.  The cheapest car was the basic sidescreens and rubber 
floored Midget, then the MG 1100 (the best selling car platform in Britain 
back then), the MGB and the Magnette.  The MG 1100 was a truly advanced 
little automobile, especially compared to the truly antique-even when 
new-Midget. The Magnette, when fully equiped with an automatic transmission 
radio and rimbellishers cost one half more again than the MGB.  The Magnette 
is in the $30,000 near-luxury class today... which put the MGB at about 
$20,000 which is what a decent Miata costs and thus we run full circle.
    So if we had to buy a MGB today it would be abuot $20,000.
    But, I don't expect BMW to produce an MGB.  They will make a super-B of 
some sort in a higher  price market.  The MG name I don't think means cheap 
and cheerful to most people any more.  In fact its been out of the American 
lexicon for so many years that MG could mean anything BMW wants it to mean.  
I think MG will come back as a premium high quality sporty-car maker.  They 
will also have some front wheel drive sedans.  The sports cars will all be 
RWD.  We already know the next MGF replacement will not be mid-engined, so we 
can drop that thought from the start, it will be a BMW Z based car which 
should make it rather nice.  I think that BMW has a strong leaning towards 
making 'image cars'  like the Rover 75 and the car James Bond just drove (but 
got sliced in half, HA!).  BMW is also masters of building car in small 
quantities at a profit.  It is truly a unique ability among large 
manufacturers.  BMWs abilities and thier past suggest we can see some sort of 
very special limited production Super-MG in the future.  It would be almost 
certainly BMW engined.
    Lets be happy though that BMW is in control and not say Ford.  For as 
nice as the are, JAguars are boulevardiares.  Now it would be nice to have a 
four seat MG convertible like a YT again, but we need most of all a two seat 
sports car.... HEY NEW THREAD... THE RECCOMENDED MG PRODUCT LINE UP

    John

John Elwood
Visit The World's Greatest Site Devoted to Farina Magnettes:  
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/farina

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>