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MGC Prices.

Posted by dbd74mgb 
chormy Avatar
Shaun Holmes
Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom   gbr
1963 MG MGB MkI "3330 PE"
1968 MG MGC "Crosby"
1969 MG MGC GTS "Yippee"
2005 Land Rover Range Rover
Nice Richard, yes we all labour over our toys had mine since 82, just got another C roadster same tartan red as urs, in the middle of having it restored, so I'm feeling the pain lol! but at the end of the day I have a car i want to use , fortunately I have them to play and don't have them as everyday transport.
I wish I could have kept the B as well but no garage space left and the wife will only drive a auto .
I wish I was home this year for MGC day but as usual I will be at work, seem to miss everything, maybe do MGlive at silverstone took the GTS last time surprised it made it this time will take the two son can drive the other. DO you do anything in yours.

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Swamperca Avatar
Swamper CA
Nor Cal, USA   usa
1969 MG MGB GT "Rat"
1969 MG MGC GT "A 69 MGC"
1970 MG MGB GT "Widow"
1971 MG MGB "Ruby"
1974 MG MGB "Groovy B"
simon58gladiator Avatar
Simon Wilkinson
Colne Classics, Colchester, United Kingdom   gbr
1966 MG MGB "Harvey"
1967 Jaguar Mark 2
1969 MG MGC "Maisie"
1969 MG MGC
Prices are relative to people and their cars. I spent way too much on mine, about £13k on parts, paint and materials, but also put well over a thousand hours into it. Why, because I wanted too. I wanted a car I restored and I wanted it to last a lifetime. I do these restorations for other people too and they enter into it knowing the car will not be worth it on retail value over the resto costs but that rarely matters as they want what I wanted. What it does do is keep putting these cars back on the road when they would only have been good for breaking up for spares.
Would also like to add I drive my car anytime there is no salt on the road, it's no trailer queen and rain doesn't bother me in the slightest.

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Big6Mark Avatar
Mark Miller
Springfield, OR, USA   usa
1960 Austin-Healey 3000
1968 MG MGC "Red Tail"
1968 MG MGC
1968 MG MGC GT "The Wreck"
1969 MG MGC GT "The Lump"
X 2 + !

C Ya,
Mark
dbd74mgb Avatar
Don Dean
Frederick,MD, USA   usa
1974 MG MGB
A lot of good info from everyone. thanks to all of you for the education.
As to the panel beaters, I have a friend who is really good at this. He owns his own restoration shop and was taught by his dad and of coarse
has improved his skills over the years. He recently showed me how to stretch and bend a piece of sheet metal to form the curve on a wheel well
on a Midget. It was impressive.

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GMDad Avatar
Don Nicholls
Southern Ontario, Canada   can
1966 MG MGB
1970 MG MGB
1971 Triumph Stag
Not that it means a lot but I heard from another fellow who had talked to the restoration shop that did the black MGC GT that sold on Barrett-Jackson. They told him the owner had spent in excess of $70,000. to do that car which ends up less than 50 cents on your dollar. One thing to overpay for a restoration and keep it forever to enjoy but to turn around and sell it for half of the money you spend? Hard to justify for me. But then there could be some business tax write off that we are not aware of. Bottom line is you pay what your are comfortable with and enjoy it.



Don Nicholls
Ontario Canada
1970 MGB Roadster "mellow"
1963 MGB SCCA Racecar
1940 Chev Street Rod
1965 Chev Pickup restored

"I get to drive them when the wife says I can"
chormy Avatar
Shaun Holmes
Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom   gbr
1963 MG MGB MkI "3330 PE"
1968 MG MGC "Crosby"
1969 MG MGC GTS "Yippee"
2005 Land Rover Range Rover
Well I'm upto $63k from what I know I've spent plenty of small stuff forgotten and I don't even have a heater!! Mind you I have no intention of selling , told the kids to bury me in it if they cannot afford a box.

Swamperca Avatar
Swamper CA
Nor Cal, USA   usa
1969 MG MGB GT "Rat"
1969 MG MGC GT "A 69 MGC"
1970 MG MGB GT "Widow"
1971 MG MGB "Ruby"
1974 MG MGB "Groovy B"
You see these professional car restorations going on all the time. They do a great job, but they add up their total labor hours then times it by the shop hourly rate and say they have X amount into the car. Reality is they are using an amount about 3 times their actual outlay. Can't blame one for doing it but that's were the inflated figures come from for these types of cars. The MGC mentioned I heard was restored by the owner of a Jag restoration shop. They do the same with the parts they buy, they get them for around 50% off retail but they figure in the retail pricing. It's probably the better way to show the car for sale rather than expose the true outlay cost then add on a profit number that they may want.
I've got a good friend that has been doing this restoration game his entire life. He told me once that the true cost is about 1/3 parts and 2/3 labor. So if that is the case a 100K restoration real time cost is around 39K. I know everyone has to make a living out there and run a business but it really inflates the values being talked about.
7mg2 Avatar
Andrew Hardie
Calgary, Alberta, Canada   can
1969 MG MGC GT "Mr "C""
1972 MG Midget
Swamprs, restoration costs are REAL, no mater how you calculate them.

Truth is, were these cars Delages, RR's, Delahaye's or such that you would see on the grass at Monterey most owners would have paid the price to have their car DONE. Big bucks. And the prices on these cars reflect that.
The fact our Cee's are simpler, and perhaps less "significant" means that most of us do our own, or place a lesser value on the labor and time it takes to do the restoration.
Like it or not, we should put some real value on the time it takes to do one of these, whether we do the work ourselves or hire someone to do it. Perhaps when people apply such value to their OWN time, prices will get to a more realistic level and we won't be quite as upside down. I'm all for a bargain, but I have a real problem when I offer something for sale and the prospective buyer doesn't place a realistic value on the time it took for me or a PO to get the thing to the level it's at, and I get low balled because "it really didn't COST you that much to do the work". You did it yourself!!!

Fact is, the guy who bought the black car at BJ, paid what he should have, perhaps less. Were Chormy to sell his GTS, I wouldn't be offended if he placed the real value on the car, and would be prepared to drop the 63 large to own it were I to actually HAVE the dough.

I generally pay too much for my cars. Guess now it's no secret why. Hmmmm.



Andy

robert kirk
Davenport, Iowa, Rock Island, Illinois, Clearwater, USA   usa
Andy
Please let me know the next time you pass thru and plan on spending a little time. I have a place for you to park the big rig.....





Come empty...grinning smiley



Regards,
Robert Kirk
kirkbrit@yahoo.com
563 323 1017
Moss distributor UK importer
Beat or match any retail/delivered quote
Kirk's Auto Parts for your classic British and Italian car. 30 years in business.
7mg2 Avatar
Andrew Hardie
Calgary, Alberta, Canada   can
1969 MG MGC GT "Mr "C""
1972 MG Midget
LOL Robert



Andy
ron neal Avatar
South Carolina, USA   usa
1962 MG MGA MkII
1968 MG MGC
1969 MG MGC
1969 MG MGC
1969 MG MGC GT   → more
I dont think I ever sold a car at a profit. I am a hobby guy but can appreciate what it costs to restore one of these cars.

Right now I am working part time on a MGA 1600 and I am only half done. There will be some sticker shock when the fat lady sings. It will be nice though, it went down to parade rest and back. I am about half labor and half parts. My parts cost me more than 50% of retail. I should finish the car with somewhere between 600-800 hours.

Ron

Swamperca Avatar
Swamper CA
Nor Cal, USA   usa
1969 MG MGB GT "Rat"
1969 MG MGC GT "A 69 MGC"
1970 MG MGB GT "Widow"
1971 MG MGB "Ruby"
1974 MG MGB "Groovy B"
I'm not saying the Restoration price isn't deserved, I was trying to point out that the figures these guys come up with are inflated by the way they calculate them. Using a hourly shop rate of 125-150 for a restoration project when their worker is making 15-20 an hour. I did say everyone has to make a living, myself include, however the true restoration pricing isn't very accurate that these guys are using.
Kevin Whitehead Avatar
Berkshire, United Kingdom   gbr
1968 MG MGC
Could be - but cost is cost, running any business is a mixture of prime cost and overhead. In my line of work the prime cost (labour materials etc)represents about 40% of the rate (its professional services) and the overhead is 40% with the balance being risk and associated profit (some hope). Where you have a high labour input business and are not trading products by adding a margin onto supplied items than net cost of labour will always be higher as there is a lower cash base on which to spread the overhead.

My C was rebuilt about 5 years ago and cost the same as a new MX5; it was not a commercial decision to rebuild the car, it was an emotional one - I wanted it and for me, a person naturally gifted with two left thumbs the right thing to do.

You cannot place a normal commercial value on a car that is subject to an emotional decision; the journey of rebuilding the car was enormous fun, I met people in the MG world who were a font of information and guidance and I was lucky enough to find a garage who treated me fairly and with respect. So for me it represented good value.

This is a long way of me saying that labour rates may look high when compared to what the bloke is paid, but that ignores a long line of cost that sits behind him and as such a rebuild, which is labour intensive will always look expensive on a relatively low value car.

A market value for the cars is just that, what the market will pay, if the market value exceeds that above so be it, but these cars are relatively low value so it’s very unlightly….. However had I bought a new MX5, how much would it be worth now?

stephen curtis
berkshire, United Kingdom   gbr
what about me !!
Kevin Whitehead Avatar
Berkshire, United Kingdom   gbr
1968 MG MGC
"I met people in the MG world who were a font of information and guidance "

It was you!

K

stephen curtis
berkshire, United Kingdom   gbr
kevin , your the best.. hope to see you soon

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