Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Using my Classic as a daily driver

TBM there are indeed some good MGB guides out there. In the days before the interweb I used a Haynes guide on the inspection and restoration of B`s, though now with all that may be available on the interweb it seems so much simpler to educate one`s self. I suspect there will be many a well restored BGT out there with loads of life left in them, Mathewsons would seem to be a reasonable place to start looking as many a baby boomer seems likely to be looking to cash in...

If you looked at the pics in the links I posted the poorly repaired rot was on the B in the other pic with the panels required to repair it to reasonable condition. The section in the pic showing the sill below and in front of the passenger door with the wing removed and the "repairs" exposed..

B`s are super vehicles and like cockroaches will still be able to run after most of us are no longer around...

Good luck in your search.

The problem with MGBs, is like most classics, that replacement parts are truly rubbish. In 1980, the tooling for the front wings was so badly worn that even a BL wing would not fit without serious metalwork. In the early 1990's when I did my rebuild, hunting down genuine new old stock was a labour of love.

I see now that heritage Roadster shells are available, with doors, bonnet and boot, but at a whiff under £13,000. I mean, what happened???? That makes for a very expensive build, because these shells are not even seam sealed. All the cosmetic stuff went south in the 90's. Screen rubbers and trims, waist strips, bumpers and over-riders being examples of badly reproduced parts.
The rubbers and trims are oversized and really hard to fit. Waist strips are often thin metal and corrugated when viewed end on, and repro bumpers have oddly shaped ends, and so on.

Many rebuilds are a patchwork of different years and specs, so buying an MGB takes a lot of effort to find a decent one.

The most important tool when viewing any MGB is a magnet.

Thanks for the tips. When I start my search I'll be looking for a running 'doer upper' = something that may need a bit of work, but that is half decent structurally and mechanically. There's a ton out there in the sub £5K category on eBay, FB marketplace and Classic Car sales website. Probably go for a Sebring look, and spray her satin black to match my bikes.....

Wouldn't touch Mathewsons mainly because the bloke does my head in, and I'd rather see a price and haggle than go through an auction.

Even back in the '90s it was risky. I bought a couple of genuine NOS doors for my car, didn't realise until far too late that the passenger door was warped and couldn't be made to fit without dismantling and rewelding.

But surely all the MGBs will have been restored by now, and it would be a truly horrific restoration for them still to rust like they used to? I must have put 10 litres of Waxoyl into the cavities of my car once all the welding was done.

Bumped into a chap about 6 years ago who lives near me who had his 2010 Morgan as a daily driver and only car

He had got through 3 radiators, 2 hoods 2 sets of painted wire wheels, 2 sets of wiper motors, 2 MFU boxes and 2 windscreens in 6 years and he was just considering a re-trim

Paint and bodywork looked great though

Sounds like a Friday afternoon car.

I bought a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust, stainless steel case & bracelet, automatic, new in 1973. Worn it day & night ever since (except when it's away for service). Got through 3 bracelets and several glasses over the years. It's never been back in it's box!

There are some great posts here. no shortage of people prepared to use their Mogs as daily drivers, which is encouraging. Lets face it - they can take a beating.

Incidentally, I found where the missing nut and washer I found in the footwell came from. They had worked loose from the door check.

I doff my hat to those using their classics as a daily, the last time I did so was in the mid seventies and the car was a mid sixties Lotus Elan, that had been raced, it was the first car I truly lusted after, though in truth was a bit of an old lady of the night. Other than lacking oil pressure at idle when hot, starter/ring gear, substituting a coin of the realm for a core plug at the side of the road and so very much more, it broke my heart to sell it, the big issue was not so much that the Elan had all the usual Elan problems and more but that at the time my job involved rather a lot of driving on a daily basis. The Lotus Replacement was an Austin Maxi...Talk about chalk and cheese...!!! Still have lots of memories of that Lotus, it taught me a lot in my formative car years.

With the passage of time mundanemobiles became daily transport, and I would ever have some sort of old sports car for weekends and the like. I suspect having a metal mistress in the garage can add a degree of excitment in life, as opposed to something that fits into one`s daily routine... ?

In 1978 I bought my first TVR, a 3-litre Taimar. I saw it in-build at the factory in Blackpool, and a few weeks later drove in straight to Zurich where we were living at the time. For about 2 years it was my daily drive, until we realised that even a neatly-folded baby wouldn't fit. It took me to the office, shopping, holidays, business trips to Germany, and many times to the Alps in both Summer and in Winter. I kept my fibreglass mistress as a second car, but sold her in 1983 when we moved from Switzerland. The car turned-up again in Geneva c.25 years later, restored to probably better-than new. Last heard of in France in 2011, current whereabouts unknown.