It’s well worth taking the trouble to find the right.MGB

Not really of course. I thought I’d take time to relate my story of the purchase of a Chrome Bumper MGB Roadster. Here’s the brief – an early model MGB roadster, solid and reliable if not quite pristine. I can do all kinds of trim work (as most people can) but simply don’t have the time or tools to perform anything other than simple jobs. I will use it regularly, but only as a second car, my other baby being a very non-PC German car.

My first mistake was, with only cursory homework, try to find what I was looking for at around the £3000 mark. Not only do these cars not exist, when they do come up they are probably worth no more than £1200 to £1500 as restoration projects. Simply put, they probably need complete renovation. This was something that I did not want to contemplate, nor did the owners of these cars actually believe that their pride and joy required the necessary work and weren’t prepared to bargain. I needed to raise my sights and pay more money.

A couple of grand more should safely see me with my car parked in the garage. This was not to be. At this price level, things are just as bad. Whilst the cars aren’t necessarily as rotten, there are still pitfalls. Some, like the 1969, white, wire-wheeled dream car in London (you know who you are) with some slight bodywork surface bubbles, which turn out to be on the verge of self-destructing the bodywork. Very original, very rusty. Some are the result of over ambitious home restoration projects. The list of minor/semi-minor faults was endless, but the car that I drove 150 miles to see had a more serious problem. The bodywork seemed not quite right. The boot didn’t fit in the hole and one sill was completely out of line. Surely the subject of some rear-end damage not repaired correctly. Good luck in selling it, as it surely is still for sale.

I cannot confess to being an expert, but if these cars sell to their new owners at the prices being asked then there will be some tremendously disappointed people out there. It has been said so many times before, but you really must do all the homework you can and take all the advice and help you can get. Whilst on the subject of technical advice, I cannot praise the MG Owners’ Club too much (nice bit of sycophancy!). They know the cars inside and out and will always give straightforward and honest advice. Thank you.

And on I went. Learning the lesson of ‘Do Your Homework’ (something I was never very good at) I was now reading all the material I could lay my hands on. I was changing my idea of my perfect car, and what it needed to look like. Knowing that there were lots of cars out there, I refined my search to pre-’69, with overdrive.

Having seen a number that attracted my eye, I started to be quite downbeat, as I would have to travel a long way to see probably one car in an afternoon (or evening). So to start to compare cars of different ages and price levels I decide to visit a couple of dealers. One happened to be MGOC members’ recommended, one wasn’t. My luck seemed to be in. Two cars caught my eye – one a ‘68 Tartan red with definitely some paint and body tidying to do, but for all that, at a reasonable price. The second a ‘67 Tartan with a lot of restoration performed. A very tidy car but some suspicions on the paint job. It was extremely nice, detailed well and new leather seats. Chrome was lovely. It was almost too nice.

Phoning the Heritage Centre for details of the car’s original state was a bit like stepping back in time. To know that these people were touching and feeling the original records for the car was to almost be there as it rolled off the production line at Abingdon. Not surprisingly it wasn’t the original colour and had some other modification, but what was a surprise was that it was originally exported as a RHD car and then subsequently re-imported. At the time of writing I do not know where from.

But it was more money than I had considered spending. Were my standards going up, or was I mistaken about what I could find? It was certainly becoming easier to bracket cars advertised by price and description of their condition. A local private sale seemed to offer a solution. I knew by now that the price advertised would come down by several hundred pounds, but would it be a nice car? Well, not a bad car certainly, and honest. Going through the list of minor faults, and certainly looking at the condition of the body, I could only offer £800 pounds less than the asking price. Once again it would appear that my idea of the value of the car differs from that of the owner.

And so to D-Day. I had three cars to look at on a warm(ish), dry(ish) Tuesday. I must be able to find one car out of this lot. More so, since I had seen two of them before. Taking my trusty fellow MG owner and father-in-law with me, I set off on the 250-mile round trip which I hope will bring me my pride and joy. All sorts of thoughts were entering my head. Can I get insurance sorted, how will I arrange to pick it up, have I cleaned out the garage? (No). It was beginning to take rather too much of my time and I needed to get back to concentrating on my new job.

Sadly, the best candidate once again turned out to be the most disappointing. It looked like what it surely was, a nicely restored (10 years ago) car, very early – 1963, that had simply been neglected since. I don’t know why the owners of these cars take no effort in presenting the car for sale. Surely a clean up and a bit of polish would make the world of difference. Mind you, a bit of T-Cut isn’t all this car would have needed. It looked on the verge of expiry, having been fettled just enough to be sold. A real shame for quite a rare car.

So only two candidates left. A reasonable ‘66 car with plenty to do, none too serious, and at reasonable money; or the earlier mentioned ‘67 B, from a dealer and therefore just a little overpriced. An inspection on this car should tell me more about its condition, and for this I thank Trevor Taylor Conversions in Mitcham.

Having received the inspection report, and thankfully no major surprises, it was time to make a decision. It was taking quite some time out of my days to find this car, what with the travelling etc. The thought of my bright shiny new toy in the garage was getting the better of me.

Talking of the garage, now’s the time to start thinking of clearing space for the car. The garage having been the dumping ground during a new kitchen fit, it was full to the brim with rubbish. I wanted to paint the concrete floor to stop the dust build up and save time on cleaning the car. Having arranged to collect the car on Friday, and starting the job Monday wasn’t going to leave much time at all to pull it all out. Still, the motivation pushed me into the necessary and by the Thursday it was all ready. I couldn’t wait.

So, how do I feel now I have my MG? Well, I now know far more than when I set out on this process. I probably have more respect for the marque and the people who enjoy it too. I must say that I’m chuffed to bits with it. It drives just as it looks, a real car not separated from the driving experience like so many Eurohatch boxes. As can be expected, my association with spares suppliers has already started and the bills are starting to come in.

I’m looking forward to visiting a couple of shows this summer and getting out and about as much as I can. Watch this space.