Topic

The mgfs mgtfs are going through the rich tapistry of vehicle life which was at first fashionable desirable back in the mid nineties ,moving forward to 2004/2005 a bit of topless summer motoring at a reasonable price to where we are now and have been for the last couple of years A cheap run around for some who probably havent got the time inclination or finances to fix them when they inevitably go wrong.
What are there choices leave them to rot on the drive,weigh in for £80 to which they get the cat removed if a genuine one,alloys removed and then crushed.
Advertise them as in need of mechanical repair calling all enthusiasts to buy and repair to which the response will be nil.
Seems like a no win situation so the solution to some.Cut your losses and sell for scrap or
Break them up to try to maximise there finances and for enthuisiasts keep the endless 2nd hand supply cheap.

Back in 2006 when bonnets was fetching £300,TF front ends £1500 i am sure most wouldnt want a return to that.
At least as this site proves some are in the ownership of enthusiasts,but to some bloke who is skint with bills to pay i wouldnt begrudge him breaking his car to recoup a few quid. To some folk cars are not the be and end all of life.

Again some more good points made and ty to all those that have responded so far. @cairnsys i think your post sums it up nicely. @gt mg spares ty for your insight, i realise that as well as being your passion this is also your business, my aim is to hopefully get my own car up to the same high standard as yours one day. Just another thought but does anyone know how F/TF's are still on the road today?

Back in the mid-80's I worked for an MG specialist. We were regularly buying MGBs for parts for around $200. I still have the VIN plate off #4779, a pull-handle MGB we scrapped. "$200. thank you we'lll have it towed out of your yard."
In the early 90's, after I had left they moved shop and rather than move them the owner sent a truckload of MGB heads to the scrapper. He certainly regretted that move years later when MGB heads became scarce and their value was hundreds of dollars each,
Living in a country where the cheapest MGF goes for $5000.+ it breaks my heart to see decent cars getting scrapped for a head gasket. Mind you it costs thousands to have one shipped here so what can you do?

There is a website called 'How many left'!!

What I don't get are the ZR/ZS/ZT/Custom R25 boys, seen on a number of MGR "enthusiast" facebook groups who spend a fortune on them, customize them to the hilt, then lose interest and say that if they don't get £X000 this weekend they'll break it.

Denial, I have two businesses GT MG SPARES LTD doesnt make a great profit and i dont draw a wage so yes it is a passion.To do it properly unit rents,business rates,accountants,wages, the insurance on car spares is extremely high,waste licences,permits etc its not as straightforward as some might think.
I have never advertised or marketed the business but over a period of years have built up a extremely large stock of parts most i dont sell i sit on until the as discussed people who break up in the back garden will dissapear.
My time is limited with repairs as i have my own restores going on and for my employee in the workshop Dave i choose my customers carefully i turn down or recommend elsewhere more than i take on.We havent the time.
I have been slated on some forums over the years back in the day when i was buying cat B (cant return to the road)MGF MGTFS for prices in the thousands and breaking and selling for spares.Funny now they cheap as chips to buy quite a few at it.
I recently bought three from insurance company DAMAGED MG UK MGTFS two LE500s and a 1.8 135,I repaired and sold one LE500 the other two was too far gone so got broke,i might just about break even on the two i broke so why did i do it ?For some spares for my own TFS and to gather knowledge to the differences between MG ROVER built TFS so some peoples misconceptions i am raking it in are far from true.
Yes i have a nice house and some fancy motors but i was brought up on a tough council estate went to work on a building site at 14 and made most of my money from building and my window business.It is my hope to eventually concentrate all my efforts on my GT MG SPARES LTD business but for the time being my other business which supplys my bread and butter www.bloxwichwindows.co.uk takes priority.

thanks for that info Bryan some of those numbers really surprised me

This is an interesting discussion although it's probably not heading any where. I was 22 years old when I bought my first MG. It was a Mk2 Midget (1964) and was around 12 years old and cost not a lot. A 1960s 12 year old car was considered well past its use by date and was certainly not collectable but that little car never let me down and I was very sad when it met its end following a head on collision and a subsequent bounce backwards through a stone wall which removed most of the rear body work (I was the passenger at the time - I'd had a busy night shift and thought it would be irresponsible to drive). I traded what was left of the car in to a mechanic who worked from a lock-up. Most of the mechanical bits were re-used. So I think there are circumstances when stripping and doning are appropriate but like Denial I feel sad to see a relatively easily fixed car broken because it is worth more (in monetary terms) as bits. In the 'old' days if the body work was sound, it was nearly always worth fixing a mechanical fault. Not the case today. On the otherhand, 'we' are partly responsible for the market because we like cheap parts and we also like to 'upgrade' and trawl eBay for leather seats etc and help to encourage the 'its worth more in parts' brigade.

Richard

Great discussion guys. I have to say I agree with all that's been said, so far.
I think another driving influence on cars being scrapped or broken is the un-mechanically minded owner who falls into the clutches of teeth-sucking garage mechanicics. if you're told your £1000 car needs a head gasket and that'll be £1400 pounds please. What are you going to do?
Over time, on this forum. I've seen many poor people fleeced by unscrupulous beggars £800 for new discs and pads all around, £1400 for head gasket etc. etc.

Thanks for all contributors so far, having slept on it i have come to the conclusion that at least a moderate amount of my frustration with such posts, is partly fueled by my own financial inability to try and save some of these cars, and the snail like progress with my own car. I can't ty Bryan enough for www.howmanyleft.com which showed 261 examples left of the MGTF in question that caused me to post in first place, and only 424 left of my own MGTF 115.

Strangely though that website also has some strange anomolies like there are 69nr TF's with 1200 - 1299cc engines, more interestingly there is 1nr 3000 - 3099cc (i'd like a go in the latter)

As a newcomer (both to the forum & to MGFs), I thought I would chip in with my two cents worth.
Having recently changed jobs, I was looking for a reliable, economical, probably-diesel saloon for a 50 mile round trip daily commute. I had about £1500 to spend and loads of X-types, Mondeos, Pug 406 etc in the ebay watch list. And I had a very low (almost insulting) bid in on a soft top.
So I awoke to find the dreaded email, I had won a 1996 VVC in british racing green with a non-functioning speedo, no EPAS, a 2000 rpm idle and 8 weeks MoT. Yours for £250, sir.

So I collected the car, ran it home, and started googling. The speedo/EPAS was all down to the rear cable (now fixed), cleaning the IVAC sorted the high idle and things are looking up. The tyres needed replacing as those that came with it had badly-cracked sidewalls (£80 got me some good part worns), I’ve adjusted the handbrake so that it now works (some great guides on here, thanks to all that have contributed) and as soon as I can get my flash to work, I suspect it might even pass the next MoT.

Which is why I have posted here. I probably fit directly into the demographic that caused the OPs concern in the first place. I chanced upon a cheap soft top that, at sub £300, is all but disposable. If the MoT finds something horrendous that I have missed, then it’s going over the bridge. Similarly, the car has no history at all. The only paperwork I have is the V5C slip and the current MoT. The general air of neglect makes me wonder when it got serviced last, and the fact that the speedo wasn’t working makes me wonder if the 68,000 indicated miles is anywhere near accurate. And if it is, it’s probably overdue at least a cambelt, although the coolant looks brand new. So at that mileage, with no history at all, if the HG fails (they all do that, right?!) or if the cambelt fails, it’s going over the bridge. I’ll claw enough back from the VVC alloys, the seats and a few other bits to cover my money. I’ve had a laugh, covered my losses and the jobs jobbed, right?

Thing is, the car has got under my skin. It’s a right laugh to drive, bags of character and I’m enjoying the wind in my scalp motoring at every opportunity. My son thinks it’s the best car in the world. Plus I still have just over a grand left in the original budget, so if something does go horribly wrong I have enough cash to get a train to work for a couple of days while I sort out a reliable, economical, probably-diesel saloon, and take the pressure off the F. Even one as battered as mine is to nice a car to chop up just for the sake of a gasket or two…