Bitsa cars

My MGUAR  ( MG TD  body on a Jaguar engine and suspension car)  is going to leave me a whole bunch of spares.  Not enough for a whole car mind you but quite a bit. 

I tried to interest a few friends in something like that. A car made from various parts. Not all the same. I can find a TD frame easy enough and bolt on my spare body parts.  But I’d have to use like  MGB running gear and suspension. It will all fit etc.  but no one was interested.  

Oh, they might if I  made a complete MGTD and sold it cheap enough or restored it to perfection and sold it cheap enough.  

But a Bitsa? ( bits of this and bits of that)  

Then I looked back at bitsa’s and couldn’t find any examples that sold  or sold for anywhere near their cost let alone something for your efforts. 

Every once in a while you see engine transplants sell but usually not for enough to even cover the cost of the work. 

Why?  Is there a common enough car that can be purchased cheaply and sold?  A small block powered Miata?   Chevy powered Porsche ? 

A Miata powered midget?   A Miata  Miata? 

Build a SlapaBitsa.   Slap bitsa of this and that together, make it safe and sell it   Not a  time consuming job, and deposit $ toward the race car fund.  Plus it makes room for more stuff, and keeps your hands in a "project"

There IS that one Guy. He, She, Hasn't seen your Stuff yet.  

The truth is that most times, the swapped car is not complete or done right. So from a collectors stand point, stock or 100% correct or not worth the time/investment. But if you are building for yourself, and the base car is cheap enough, build what you want.

In the case of my Spitfire project, it is a bitsa, with Triumph Spitfire, GT6, Rover/MGF, Subaru and Miata parts. If I restored the body and painted it like I would want to do, it would not be worth the investment (over 10K) but as it sits now, with a 100% restored mechanicals and a solid restored body but not painted and not replacing the external cosmetics, it will be fun and my investment will be around 7K total. Since I want to autocross and do other motorsport type of activities with the car, this will be money well spent, but not to get it back at resale but as a toy for me to play with that was relatively inexpensive.

In reply to dherr :

That’s probably the most correct thing to say.  Even if done very well there is no “book” value so it’s worth only what someone will pay.  

Frenchyd most of my cars have been bitsa's

The Datsun 1200 I've been racing for the last 27 years is because it's so much cheaper to do things that way. The shell is 1200 but the front suspension and cross member is 280ZX purchase ready to install for $1100 in 1994. The rear axle is Datsun 510 wagon with a Roadster limited slip and 240Z alloy drums. The 1500cc engine and tranny are out of a Datsun 210. The 1500 went Kablamo so I'm installing the 1200 motor we bought from Japan in 1992. The Keihin carbs came off of a D-Sports Racer and set me back $250 with manifold in 2005.  I'll be building up a 1600cc engine that will use Mazda Pistons or possibly a 1700cc motor using a Pulsar crankshaft. After 30 years we've invested $8800 in the car.

My car currently runs in a catch all class because of the Keihin Flat slide carbs and the fact that all of the suspension pieces use rod ends or spherical bearings. I don't care because I really only care about where I finish overall. Most vintage racers are focused on a particular class. My $8800 car is running ahead of cars worth 3 times that, granted a lot of that is down to my driving. My results have got people interested in 1200s so I might actually be able to get back most if not all of the money invested.

As for street cars; sure there are those matching numbers guys but if the car runs. drives well and looks decent people will buy it. I've had more than one person come look at a car with a skeptical eye but ended up buying after driving the car.

On  your MG TD I'd bolt it together make it run and drive properly and look ok. Slightly faded paint is fine and as long as the interior doesn't have any rips that shouldn't be an issue. There are plenty of people who would snatch up the car for 7-10K. The key is not getting hung up on making it perfect. Good enough is the motto for bitsa cars.

In reply to Tom1200 :

I sure hope so, I’ve got a shop full of parts that unless I can find a home for them will most likely be sold for scrap or more likely just get tossed into a dumpster.  

I’ve put the word out to the local MG T series. club  for years with nary a phone call.   It sure can’t be price because a lot of the parts I have are no longer available  or insane prices from people like Moss Motors. 

frenchyd,

What parts do you have?  And is it all TD bits or are there other T parts there too?  Dear old dad has a TF that will hopefully get put back together once I'm finished the Europa. 

Rod

In reply to RoddyMac17 :

 Nope all TD. Or Jaguar. 

Any TD gearboxes?

In reply to RoddyMac17 :

Bitsa.  I gave a buddy my good spare.