BCW in the far north

[storyboy]

I’ve got a deal tentative on a British Coachworks MGTD that appears to need carpet, new top and side curtains and depending on my taste, a change out from the “auto stick” transmission. It has a dual port engine and a light gray color I have never seen. I currently have a Fiber Fab thats fun but always wanted the BCW.

Question? Are the prices still good enough that if I get it at $5,000.00 with shipping that I’ve still got room to play? I just don’t want to be in for more than I can stand. I have the Fiber Fab up for sale but it was a rescue that cost me more to get it running than I’ll ever retrieve.

Thanks for your input.

storyboy

Peter Bonner

[edward ericson]

$5k sounds a little high to me for a car that needs work. But that’s me. $5k is always gonna sound very high to me until I want to sell my car, at which time it will suddenly seem an insultingly low figure, not meriting a counter-offer.

Carpet: $100 from Lowes or Despot for enough marine low-pile black to do four or five TDs. Padding is up to you.

New top: if you aren’t a commercial sail maker, think $600 at least for the top and side curtains. I’d deduct that from the price up front.

Dual port 1600? Good. How many miles? Has it been maintained by someone who knows how to adjust the valves? Is there an oil filter on it or just the stock screen? Can you do a compression test? If it’s a recent rebuild and done well the engine might be worth a $1000 premium over what you’d otherwise expect to pay.

Autostick: Some people like them. I don’t think changing over is all that much more than just getting them out and putting the correct pedal cluster in. Anyone know? Either way: a new Rancho stocker is like $600, sans core. That’s not nothing.

Final note: Don’t buy a TD replica to flip it. It won’t work, profit-wise. Speedsters, yeah. If you can get one of those for $4,000, $5,000, there might be some money in it. Our cars, no. Well…maybe a good runner for $1,000 or $1,500 might yield a small profit on resale.

[Larry Murphy]

 First let me say that everything I’m  saying  is ”Just My Opinion and strickly a mattter of personal taste.” I do much prefer the BCW to most of the others and understand your desire to make the change. However ,at  $5000,you are getting close to having too much invested up front with it still needing a top ,curtains and carpet. If the rest of the car is OK,you would not be way out of line.

 The auto stick is a big concern to me. while not impossible to change to a four speed,it is not the most simple thing to do either. Again ,personally, I could never be happy with one.

 

 This may be going to the extreme,but if the two cars are based on the same year ,or close to the same year VWs,you may able to take what you want from the Fiber Fab car and replace it with what you don’t want from the BCW and then sell the car.

 Another big factor is how much of this you can do yourself or want to do to end up with the car you desire. It’s  a lot of work or a lot of fun depending on how you look at it.

[KentT]

The Autopsticks do not have a clutch cable tube inside the tunnel.  I converted an autostick Karmann Ghia many years ago by adding a piece of tubing inside the tunnel… the pedals will bolt on, but it’s the clutch cable that complicates things.

Early FF TDr on 69 VW pan
Slowly coming back from the ashes...

[storyboy]

Hey Guys,

 Thanks alot. I remember talking to someone with a BCW that was prisitne for $5,000. so thats what had me wondering. This car is in Long Island, New York and I’m in Atlanta, Georgia so I can either work thru photos and have it shipped or fly up and look it over which is a lot of cash just for the trip.

  I may pass and get my Fiber fab sold and decide whats next. I bought the Fiber Fab from a barn after it had been traded for a pulpwood engine. I had to have a lot of work done to it and now it just needs more cosmetic…but as my son said, no matter what the Fiber Fab won’t have the heavier fiberglass, the closeness to an original MGTD or the dual port engine.

  Lot to think about but I really appreciate your knowledge. It was a great help.

  Thanks again.

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