Description
The car has been in my personal ownership for 50 years, so as you can imagine I have a great personal attachment to it. During that time the car has been totally rebuilt by myself and various specialists. It has a British Motor Heritage cerificate which says it is an original UK supplied car in Old English White with black leather upholstery. As an older restoration, the car is not in concours condition, and there are areas where a new owner might want to improve. For example the paintwork has blistered in areas , more particularly on the bonnet and the boot. From a distance , this does not show, and some might feel that this adds to the patina of the car. Before I was a custodian, the car had been fitted with fibreglass wings, which still remain. I have chosen not replace them with steel , in part due to the cost, but also I felt it might add unnecessary weight. Other non original items are a stainless steel exhaust system, and a thermostatically controlled electric fan for those extra hot days. Needless to say , it isn't on that often. In general , the car is in good useable condition.
The car is currently insured for £25k . Obviously that is a replacement cost for a total loss. Therefore I have taken 20% off that value as an asking price. I bought the car as a teenager from a local sportscar specialist called Richardsons in Moor Park , Herts. Eventhough it had an MOT then it was basically a project for me to do up . However on stripping it down the extent of corrosion became more apparent, to the point where major surgery to the chassis was needed. Luckily through the MG car club, I managed to source a replacement chassis in Abingdon. It had come out of a crashed racing car and had been slightly bent at the front offside. The owner of the chassis had managed to acquire a brand new chassis to rebuild his racer direct from the factory . At the time there were a number of unused MGA chassis at the factory, and he had managed to secure one before the rest were sold off for scrap. Apart from the damage at the front of my chassis , the rest was in perfect condition with no corrosion at all. A specialist company called Blakes was employed to rejig and align the chassis at the front , before any assembly took place. At this point a total rebuild was in order , which I undertook myself with the help of various specialists , and was finally completed in 1988. Many bills and receipts for parts and work carried out have been kept in a file over the years of ownership.
