A Question On Classics For The PH Collective????

[opieoilman]

Ok, my father who is now 71 and a bit of a car nut has fallen in love with a new car, well sort of.

Near where he lives is a cute little village, with a little stone bridge and on that bridge is a cute little garage that mainly deal in Morgans with the occasional MG or something.

At the moment they have and 1954 MGTF 1500 xpeg. It is in cream with red leather.

My father keeps making excuses to drive past and gaze and will not stop talking about it.

He has decided he is keen if the price is right.

What do you lot think its worth?

It is from a dealer and has been fully restored to A1 condition with 7,000 miles since completion.

They are currently asking £17,500

Is this a fair price?

Opinions please

Cheers

Guy.

Ps. I would post a pic if I could, but it is beyond me I am afraid.

[unrepentant]

The TF is a lovely old motor and £17.5k is probably about right for a minter through a garage (i've seen them at that sort of figure). Get a copy of Classic & Sportscar. They have a big MG classified section in the back. You could also contact the owners club. At that money it should have "matching numbers" but they can best advise you.

to your old man though.

[opieoilman]

unrepentant said:

The TF is a lovely old motor and £17.5k is probably about right for a minter through a garage (i've seen them at that sort of figure). Get a copy of Classic & Sportscar. They have a big MG classified section in the back. You could also contact the owners club. At that money it should have "matching numbers" but they can best advise you. to your old man though.

Will do,

Cheers.

Guy.

[ettore]

This is top money for a TF, but is fair if it`s a minter. They used to be the most sought after of the T`s but the earlier "square-rigged" cars seem to be more favoured these days. I beleive the 1500 is worth more than the 1250.

They`re incredibly well supported by specialists so are pretty easy to keep up and running. MG Car Club (best for a T)or MG Owners Club can advise till the cows come home...

Go on, tell him to get it!

[RichB]

Etorre is about spot on there. When MG launched the TF it came in for criticism because it was considered old-fashioned in comparison to the other manufacturers cars of that time e.g. Healey 100/4, TR2, XK120 etc. It was in fact a "stop-gap" prior to the launch of the beautiful MGA. The 1500 is more desirable than the 1250 although to be honest all TFs are nice. I guess these days a TA/B/C would be considered better, whilst the TD never really caught on because ironically punters didn't like the solid wheels, these being the same punters who later criticised the TF being too retro! Rich...

[IOLAIRE]

Could I just put a wee cautionary spanner in the works.
I don't know how many people that came into my workshop years ago to have these cars tuned because they assumed there was something wrong with them.
They look beautiful and are very reliable but they are abysmally slow, tell your dad to drive it before he commits himself, so that he is aware of the performance, or rather the lack of it, before he buys.

[Buffalo]

You can get a 5 speed conversion for them now (i think) and raising the axle ratio is also a viable option (i know a fellow MG owner who is doing the axle thing) to his TF.

XPAGs were pretty robust though - weren't they? Also i believe supercharging is an option on those engines...

FWIW...

[opieoilman]

Cheers for the advice chaps.

Keep it coming.

Thanks

Guy.

[RichB]

IOLAIRE said:

Could I just put a wee cautionary spanner in the works. I don't know how many people that came into my workshop years ago to have these cars tuned because they assumed there was something wrong with them. They look beautiful and are very reliable but they are abysmally slow, tell your dad to drive it before he commits himself, so that he is aware of the performance, or rather the lack of it, before he buys.

Yes that's true, take a look at this site MGTF 1500 0-60 in around 20 seconds. Rich...

p.s. IMO swapping to 5 speed boxes and supercharging rather ruins the old-time appeal of Sunday mornign drives in these classic cars. If you want similar looks with decent performance perhaps get a more recent Morgan.

[gt5s_1985]

RichB said:

Yes that's true, take a look at this site MGTF 1500 0-60 in around 20 seconds. Rich... p.s. IMO swapping to 5 speed boxes and supercharging rather ruins the old-time appeal of Sunday mornign drives in these classic cars. If you want similar looks with decent performance perhaps get a more recent Morgan.

That sounds about right, but a 50's MG T-series isn't about raw speed or acceleration. Mainly because it doesn't have an awful lot of either :-)

Last summer I put a full day in behind the wheel of my dad's '52 MG-TD. The polar opposite of my Pantera... but very pleasant to drive. It is refreshing how simple the car is. No fuel gauge. No synchro in 1st gear. No self-cancelling indicators. But everything on it is mechanical, and feels like a car from the 50's. (duh!)

Have him go for a ride. It is totally un-like any modern car. It is for puttering gracefully through the countryside, enjoying the weather and the scenery. It is not for setting the land-speed record from point A to point B. So it isn't for everyone, but for those that it is for, it is a great car. (that's a pretty ugly English sentance, but you get the idea)

[yertis]

Buffalo said:

You can get a 5 speed conversion for them now (i think) and raising the axle ratio is also a viable option (i know a fellow MG owner who is doing the axle thing) to his TF. XPAGs were pretty robust though - weren't they? Also i believe supercharging is an option on those engines... FWIW...

7 posts in and we're tuning it up already!

[ettore]

XPAG was tuned very heavily in period and featured in all sorts of racing specials (including Lotus and TVR!).

T`s can be made to go pretty rapidly if that`s your thing.

[Wacky Racer]

Suggest you have a proper AA/RAC inspection, if seriously interested, for a car of that age, beauty might only be skin deep..........

Many an E type Jaguar, for example has been sold for £20,000 that needed another £30,000 spending on it to put in in good order......

[Pigeon]

ettore said:

XPAG was tuned very heavily in period and featured in all sorts of racing specials (including Lotus and TVR!).

It was also the engine that Volvo used as the basis for their inline pushrod four, as used in the Amazon - a very successful line of engines - pushrod 6 and OHC four versions were later derivations, and the OHC lasted at least until FWD Volvos started being produced, at which point I kind of lost interest.

[M-G]

Price sounds about top end to echo the other comments here.
I would recommend an inspection, but not by the AA/RAC as they have probably never seen one before. Contact the MG Car Club or MG Owners Club to get some advice on inspections. The Owners Club ran a buyers guide once a few years ago in the monthly magazine IIRC.

I prefer the TC or TD myself as I don't like the headlights in the wings. I've wanted one for a few years but never managed to persuade the wife to sell the Midget and the BGT!

Mark

>> Edited by M-G on Friday 3rd December 14:57