If you’ve gone back into lockdown due to Omicron, Fluorna or just having given up, restoring something like today’s Nice Price or No Dice MG might the days not seem so long and boring. Let’s see if it’s worth the effort.
Yesterday’s candidate was a 2004 Infiniti G35, a model I’ve always thought of as the Nissan 350Z for people who shun aggressively cartoonish door handles. All around, the Infiniti version is generally considered better looking than the Z, and yesterday’s car had the benefit of both a six-speed manual and the optional Brembo brakes, both appealing add-ons.
Unfortunately, there was not much appeal to be found in the ad, which presented the car in ALL-CAPS fashion and described it as though the seller was Black Sabbath-era Ronnie James Dio. Based on the comments, that ad didn’t do the car justice and that couldn’t get a majority of you swayed to its $6,200 asking. In the end the G35 fell in a 73 percent No Dice loss.
The other day, Jason was holding court in the palatial Jalopnik offices, by which I mean over dial-up Slack, wondering why MGBs haven’t caught the crazy train to at the very least even the seedier parts of of downtown Cantaffordia. I think there was also some talk about whether circus peanuts are the ultimate shelf-stable food or are packing crate filler with a flavor purposely concocted to prevent people from eating them. Anyway, the MG talk led Jason to search for MGBs presently on the market and that led to him finding only one for sale. That one had a pretty woeful ad which might be evidence as to why no one is paying big bucks for these models.
The thing is, I tend to do a deeper dive into such questions and having done so, I think we can make two assumptions: there are sellers of old MGBs that do put some effort into their ads and there are enough clapped out MGBs out there that average prices on the model are still pretty low.
This 1969 MGB, in respray fly yellow is a prime example of an MGB with what we might consider to be… oh, I don’t know, potential? The car is offered in New Orleans and almost looks as though it was born on the bayou. It also looks like it’s been quite a while since it’s been rolling with any sort of Cajun Queen.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing as MGBs are solid project cars for even the least accomplished driveway wrencher. And the best thing about them is that damn-near every single piece of the car is still readily available at not so crazy prices. Seriously, you can get yourself one of these and a Moss Motors catalog and have yourself a pretty swinging-good time. With everybody hunkered down due to the Corona surge, what better time is there to take on so simple a project?
The ad is light on the details but pretty comprehensive with the photos. The extent of the description is as follows:
In running condition. Runs decent. Interior needs replacing. Some rust issues. $2500 obo.
~86,000 on the odometer. Original engine. Heater doesn’t work.
I think the tilde on the rounded-down mileage is a nice touch. That note about the rust is backed up in the pictures. The left-front wing has a good bit of it and is blown out at the base. There’s also a small bit of bubbling on the passenger door. Overall, though, it seems pretty solid and a lot better than this car sent to me by Jalop Jerry C. The door pillars and floors look decent and the driver’s door doesn’t even evidence the traditional MGB stress crack at the trailing edge of the vent wing.
Only surface rust is evident in the battery box behind the seats and the car has been converted to a single 12 volt from the original twin sixes. Up above, the convertible top looks perfectly serviceable.
Wire wheels underpin which fit the chrome-bumper car well, but but do require tubes. Also needed are an interior kit (and someone to get rid of the spiders) plus some minor mechanical fixes — brakes, fluids, that non-working heater, etc. The title is clean and the car seems to have 2021 tags so it probably is still in the DMV system making transfer of that title a fairly easy task.
The asking price is $2,500 and I will have to abstain from the voting since I have a soft spot in my heart for these cars — I once owned a ’69 B-GT — and would buy this MGB in heartbeat if it weren’t almost 1,900 miles down the 10 freeway from me.
But it’s not all about me, now is it? Let’s consider those poor souls who aren’t me, and whether or not they should consider paying $2,500 for this MGB. What say you; is this project MGB worth that amount? Or, for that much would you demand a working heater?
You decide!
New Orleans, Louisiana, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Matthew Derieg for the hookup!
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