Thinking of selling up
 

but in two minds.

I have loved and still do, my S for 7+ years but have a deep hankering for an MGB roadster.
I love the thought of the MG as it's been on my wish list since I was a kid but each time I think I'll sell the S I get a real feeling that I may regret passing it on.

I'm at a time in my life when I think I've done with the joys of S ownership and would appreciate the quieter life behind the wheel of one of the best loved British sports cars of all time.

Tell me I'm wrong.

You're wrong. Sentimentality is the only thing they've got going for them

Don’t do it!

You’ll regret it the moment you see your S being driven away from your house by someone else.

I had both for a couple of years ,sold the MG when I realised I kept picking up the keys for the Honda every time I went out! Unless you pick up a really well restored one,the MG will cost an arm and a leg to keep on the road.

Currently looking for restored and well loved cars, they do seem to be around but just not as local as I'd like.

I've had loads of MGs including Bs.

Never found them expensive to run and there are few easier cars to work on.

Just don't buy a rusty one or it could easily be beyond economic repair.

Obviously light years away from an S2000 but then you drive it in a completely different way.

There's a lot to be said for just pottering in an old car.

I think you need both, really.

The two could not really be more different if they tried.

I wish I could afford and have the garage space to accommodate both, I'd do that in a heartbeat.

i recall the days of points, distributors, carbs and chokes and its all good so long as you are not relying on that car to start

how many miles do you do in the S?

Had one for years. It was shite. Slow, poor handling, leaking water everywhere. Lots of maintenance. Rust.

Selling up? Seems a major down to me if we're talking about the original MGB which I owned back in the 1970s. US Spec car so crippled with emissions controls that it was not fun to drive other than being a convertible. My maintenance officer walked into my office one day asking for my car keys so he could "check it out." Got the car back that afternoon running amazingly well. There were two large cardboard boxes in the trunk (boot) full of extraneous parts. No MOT here. :) Thing still had mechanical points for the Lucas ignition which I had to replace to make the car quasi reliable. I have not a tiny bit of nostalgia for this car nor my earlier TR4A which had the engine seize (and lock the rear wheels) at speed on the highway after 6 months.

Give me the Honda S2000 every day. :)

-- Chuck

So do I :ponder:
The S used to be a daily driver but now only weekend fun.

Not an Mgb but I bought a concourse standard Triumph Stag after wanting one for over 40 years. This was 3 years ago and 1 year after buying my S2k. My wife and I love one of the two and it unfortunately isn’t the one with 3litre V8 and if I have to let one go it won’t be the little Honda.

life is too short and all that, go for it, assuming you have many, many spanners :D

i dont miss chokes, mainly cos me bike has one.. they are a royal pain

MGB?

Fack no. Rusty scrap piles. No crash resistance and awful handling. No amount of retro cannot hide the fact they are AWFUL cars.

Now an MGA or MGC maybe. but as a 3rd car only and never to replace an S2000

You just sold yours.

Yup. 9 years of fun. But it has not been replaced with nasty old English rustbish.

Actually, to add context to this - it has taken 3 years of doing progressively less and less miles but equal amounts of tax / insurance and maintenance to get to the point of properly selling it instead of just talking about it. I have purposely NOT replaced it with something similar because there is little at this price point to compare to it. It was fun, exciting, reliable, a pleasure to own but i needed to replace it with a better car - it is not a good car no matter how good it is at all the things it does. That's the good thing about having a motorbike and another fun car, i haven't had to sell it and buy some dull family wagon.

If you want an MGB for a change that's fine but a cheap one will be an ongoing drive ornament and a decent one is silly money and will still disintegrate for fun. .

I last had an MGB in 2004, Midget in 2005, fun when running but!, if you want to go out and always start and be ready to go it’ll be costly, I couldn’t go back there now. A bit like when I recently attended a pit reunion, we all laughed and had a good time, but no one wanted “the good old days” back- regardless of how much money. Some things are kept as memories.

I think we all get these daft ideas from time to time.

I came close to buying a 124 Spider last year for 2+dog cruising. Fortunately, the seller never got back to me and I came to my senses.

However, I've learned that selling cars is normally a bad idea, however much interest you lose in actually driving them. Unless you have a motorbike or something...

I'm curious. Did the UK MGB version have those horrible rubber bumpers and raised chassis we were subjected to in North America (and all the power robbing smog devices)? There was a cottage industry fitting earlier model front suspensions (actually the whole cross-member) and rear to bring the height back to normal but no real solution for the rubber bumpers. There was a relay mounted on the right interior fender that kept the engine running for several seconds after the ignition was switched off but when (not if) it failed it cut the ignition even when the switch was on. I I bypassed that device.

-- Chuck

Are you on any medication.

:D

No but maybe I should be?

Just been out for a drive and I may have come to my senses.
Came upon a dawdling driver on a derestricted road and dispatched him rather easier than I suspect I would have done in an MG.

:thumbup:

Well yes, you would rather hope so but it's all relative.

I am currently considering two cars (not as alternatives, as a pair) - a two year old McLaren and a near 40 year old Triumph Stag.

My current daily is a 1.2 litre Corsa so work that out. I have a couple of old Alfas, a supercharged Jag and an S2000 in storage. Yes, clever me.

The point is that I have a completely different mind set for each car I drive and you will need to change the way you think if you want to enjoy an old car like an MGB.

You will not "dispatch" anything in an MGB, you will be the "dawdler" and the dispatchee. I used to regard S2Ks as prey cars when I had my M5 which brought out the bully in me. If I drive the Corsa, I know my place and that everything will want to get in front.

By the sound of things you may only cope with both cars. Once you start looking at the cars you own as inferior rather than different you are bound to be unhappy. I am sure this is why you see so many cars being driven inappropriately. Their owners cannot adjust to what they have under them.

The roads are busy today. I will be far happier pootling about in my old Alfa with the roof down than in any modern. By tonight with the roads empty, were I to be driving, an S2000 would be a good pick.

Have you driven an MGB, or anything else of that vintage?

Morris 1000 traveller = Learned to drive in
VW Beetle = First own car
Ford Escort MK1 1300E
Triumph Dolomite 1850
Ford Cortina MK4
Ford Cortina MK3

Then we start getting more modern with two MX5's, a 500 SL and various other vehicles along the way, so I would say I have an understanding of what it would be like to own and drive an MGB
BUT I may have to concede the S is a very special car and probably the best car I will ever be able to own.

I have worked on it and replaced a few parts, the clutch slave and master cylinder, both rear callipers.
Swapped the wheels for the latter version, had the roof and windscreen replaced and with all the comments above am coming to the conclusion that at least for the time being I will be happy to carry on looking after and enjoying my S.

think you are making the right choice, the S2 is a pretty unique proposition at its price

i went to poke about some Lotti in the week.. lovely, low, basic and some clearly cheap parts.. £66k new. clearly a class aside in performance terms but in 17 years would i be waxing lyrical about build quality and reliability?

still might buy one :)

I have a better idea, get an S600 or S800 to complement your S2k!

Agree...but more importantly if you had to live with it as a driver's car for years, would it still top the S2k? For me, mine didn't eclipse the S2k on track, and certainly doesn't beat it on the road. Would it even exceed the performance of your charged S2k? I've enjoyed every Lotus I've driven but none of them have the same finely honed driver interface as the S2k (seats and steering excepted).

If I was going the extreme side of an S2k again it'd be a Caterham, but it wouldn't replace the S2k. Has the OP considered this? Or if maintenance isn't a problem for you, an RX8, peanuts to buy now, different enough and therefore keep alongside the S2k?

There is no S2k successor coming, the MX5 has the jump on an already weak market, so better enjoy the S2k before they're taxed off the UK roads!?

Just been to look at some Caterham/Lotus 7's with a mate that's just sold his Griffith. We both agreed their a bit to extreme.

Down the lanes and through town I was enjoying the S with a renewed insight.

[QUOTE=Stevo071077;24592228]
I have a better idea, get an S600 or S800 to complement your S2k!

Nice idea but have you seen how much their go for now!?

dunno, maybe you are right. The charged S2 has c380bhp and is around 1300kg for 295bhp/tonne
the Exige weighs c1200 with c350bhp or 291bhp/tonne so really closely matched but the lotus is much lower and wider so a quicker track car by quite a chunk i imagine

i like the wolf in relative sheeps clothing i suppose, the delivery of SC is fun but both have that.. maybe i should stick, i am good at that haha.. S2 (NA) 17 years, BM 7 years (of bitching)

caterham is a big decision, hard to shift but great fun.. no e throttle shit ;)

Are these old things really suitable for modern road-(ab)users?

There have been a couple of nasty accidents recently on the Borgward-IG forum where 60 YO cars have been heavily rear-ended by fast-moving modern stuff. And 60 YO stuff isn't very accident-safe by modern standards.

It's relatively rare admittedly, but it does give one second thoughts.

Very good point given that most “drivers” are just A to B merchants who are to busy with their phones to even consider thinking about driving.

Well, if you want the old British car feel, you could always copy John McKeen and retro-fit the S2000 with unreliable aftermarket tat - best of both worlds!