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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - I need help !
| Hey guys, I need your help. I'm currently going through divorce and its getting ugly. One of the main issues is my 74 MGB V8, she claiming the value to be over $30,000. I can't think of anyone that has purchased a car or sold one within the last two years. Please, no wise cracks, I need your help Thank You Steve Carrick |
| Steve Carrick |
| Hi Steve, I never saw a V8 havin such value on our side of the pound and here V8 are rare. My two cents advice, have an evaluation by a pro. evaluator of the value of your car. As lawyers relies on facts...well almost! Cheers, JGC |
| Jean Guy Catford |
| Steve...as you well know, we ALL have more money invested in our conversions than they would realize at resale....contact me offlist.....rick |
| rick ingram |
| Steve, Put it on Ebay. I'll buy Barney for 10 grand, then sell it back to you. You can take delivery again in Townsend! |
| Carl Floyd |
| Steve.. I can under bid Carl at any time! rick |
| rick ingram |
| Sorry to hear that Steve. At least here in Nebraska, and I suspect in Michigan, the rule for valuing property isn't what you paid or what's invested in it, but the current fair market value. I've seen your car and it's awesome, but we all know you couldn't sell it for $30,000. A risky trick that some lawyers use is saying to her, "If you think it's worth $30,000 then you go ahead and take it and I'll take that value in something else (house, cash, investments, etc.). Risky obviously because she might just take you up on it! P.S. There's a really nice rover v8 on ebay right now with a "buy it now" of $21,000. That's still too much. There's also a guy in Georgia with a 302 powered mgb that he hasn't been able to sell for $7,700, and he's been trying for awhile. It really doesn't compare with yours, but others might not know that. His name is Chuck Weigle and his email is cwweigle@hotmail.com |
| Ryan Reis |
| Steve, Appraisals can go against you - mine was appraised by RM Classis Cars at $33,000 Cdn which is what I have as valuation for insurance purposes. But realistically, I'd never get that kind of money on a sellers market....$15 to $20K is a more realistic figure! |
| Graham Creswick |
| Steve, I looked up some info on the car that the Weigle guy has been trying to sell. Here's some pics: http://photobucket.com/albums/b315/cwweigleathotmail/ and here's one of his ads describing his plight trying to sell: http://www.mgbexperience.com/phorum/read.php?42,262966,267167#msg-267167 Ryan |
| Ryan Reis |
| http://www.livingbeing.com/cars%20for%20sale/1964fordcoversionmgbv8red.htm http://www.wirewheel.com/Cars/Auto_Generated_Pages/919211251.shtml |
| Ryan Reis |
| Steve, call me |
| Bill Guzman |
| Hi Steve, This is a sad turn of events but it happens. Spouses can claim whatever but it all carries no weight relative to an appraisal from an independant appraiser. I would suggest you pay for an appraisal - based on an analysis of sold - not advertised - market equivalent vehicles. There will be very few to base the comparison on but with any luck you may be able to reduce the value to half or less of $30,000. Good luck, Bob. |
| Bob Elwin |
| Thanks guys, but what I'm looking for is someone that has sold a car or purchased a car withing the last two years. I'm not allowed to sell the car, court order, she thinks she has a gold mine, I know its really a money pit :) Steve |
| Steve Carrick |
| I think Ryan hit the nail on the head. This is most likely a strategy to weasel out of paying Steve his share of the equity in the house. I hope you have a very good lawyer, Steve. |
| Carl Floyd |
| Guys, I have a great attorney. Like houses, any apprasial has to be based on recent sales. I have recieved a few e-mails, on my iserv.net site with such information, that is what I need. I don't know of any cars in Michigan that have sold recently. Most people don't want to talk about how much they have paid for their cars, and I will keep it that way. I need this information because I don't need an idiot appraier, that doesn't know these cars, giving me an off-the-wall price because he just appraised "a 1974 exotic and they must be in the same ball park" understand where I'm going on this ? I need hard evidence, just lining my ducks up :) thanks steve |
| Steve Carrick |
| Steve, sorry to hear about the mess with the next X. Seve if I remember right you owned the car befor you were hitched? In Del. it would not be even talked about, for you owed it BEFOR you were married. For what it worth. Lots of luck. Glenn |
| Glenn Towery |
| steve, i sold my v6 car just last november, although not a v8 i am sure it had as many or more other mods than your car has, i would be happy to supply you pictures, a copy of my appraisal, and also the sale price or any other notorized paper you need, you would just owe me a drive in it when i see you next, jim |
| james madson |
| Go with Ryans suggestion, Turn the tables, She probably just wants to hurt you and sees the MG as a means. Go with her lawyers valuation. Play it Brer Rabbit style. Then at the last moment tell her to keep it, Trade that off in other assets. If she caves during negatiations then have a "realistic" set of (under)valuations ready. At that point you will have established that, 1-She doesn't want the car 2-She was only making a claim in the spirit of malice and now looks very bad in the eyes of the Judge. 3-She obviously thinks she will not be able to sell the car for her own (proven false) evaluation. If She holds out-Things look equally rosey. Then you can build a new car with $30000 dollars, which would get you one hell of a good MGB. You could pretty much just go out and buy all the parts new, including the shell. Even bolt in independant rear suspension etc. Or make all the bits and peices on nice new machines. I'd love to do somthing like that, it'd be like all my Christmass's had come at once. I don't know about you, but if I were to build another V8 I could do it for about %50 of what I paid and about one tenth the effort. No try it and see, no mistakes etc I'd know exactly what to buy from where and what to do with it. Or maybe buy it back later (through a third party)for for way less than $30000? I'm sure she would find it hard to sell if it had say,a ridiculusly heavy clutch for example. (I wonder how that could come about?). Unless you are some how emotionally attached to the old car I can't see how you can loose here. Personally I could emotionaly attach myself to $30,000 and the mother of all shopping sprees pretty damn quickly. Good luck with it. |
| Peter |
| "you would just owe me a drive in it when i see you next" Depends highly recommended! |
| Carl Floyd |
| Steve, I bought a real cherry original '73 V8 from a semi-celebrity owner last year for $17K. Hope this helps. Write me if you need more. Tom |
| Tom Balutis |
Steve, sorry to hear about your situation. I've been there & it's hell for a while, but there IS life on the other side... On the valuation, I haven't bought or sold, but do have a detailed spreadsheet showing all the parts/work & prices -- about 1/2 are actuals I've paid & I have the receipts; the other half are estimates backed by LOTS of research. I'd be happy to share that with you. Also, there's a guy near me in Brookshire TX who runs 5R Restorations. He does V8 conversions -- pretty much BOP215 & Rover equivalents -- for customers. He was also the president of the Houston MGB owners club for several years. He's a great guy & would probably be willing to share some info with you, but I don't know for sure... I can send you his contact info. Email me if either of these would help. Rob |
| rficalora |
| Peter nailed it - the trick is to not want to keep the car that much and call her bluff, at least on one level. I have played the game one level more subtle. Make her think that you REALLY need to keep that car and then give it up very grudgingly - that's the only way to ensure that she'll actually take the damned thing at the inflated value, otherwise when her bluff is called she'll back down. If she thinks she is gouging you by taking it, (depending on the nature of the people, of course) that may just put her over the top and she will take the car at inflated value. It takes a steady nerve and good acting skills, or a lawyer with those attributes, to pull it off. In my case we went even one step further - a few months after the settlement was etched in stone (or rather paper), wife founbd that she couldn't sell the car for anything like the price she'd put on it. When it went up for sale, we arranged for a nominee to purchase it for just under 1/2 what she had valued it at, then transferred it to my client. My guy had been a real tower of silence up to then, but soon after he drove the car when he went to pick up his kid for access. When wifey saw the car she went up like Mt Etna, and when he told her that she had essentially paid him a couple of thousand to take his own car I think the seismic sensors went off 100 miles away. Ha-ha (said in a Nelson sort of way). I no longer practice matrimonial law (life is too short, believe me!)- this was a favour for a car friend, but I thought it worked out pretty well in the end ;-) (The car in that case wasn't an MG, BTW) |
| Bill Spohn |
| Let's hope that she doesn't read this thread. rick |
| rick ingram |
| Hi Steve, Sorry top hear about your situaton, I've been there also, losing two Clan Crusaders (small brit two seaters) when I lived in the UK. Maybe your wife saw this recent eBay sale. http://cgi.ebay.de/MG-B-GT-V8-SEBRING_W0QQitemZ4596811985QQcateg It went for 35k euros, approx $42,000 at today's conversion rate. Regards Tony |
| Tony Bates |
| Steve, the car sold on ebay was a specially built one for a German telvision station, feachering details that made it unique. Four weber carbs, Sebring wings, wide wires, video beamer, strange sound system, bar, rotating license plates as the 007 Aston... My BGT V8 was value taxed for the insurence company and was set at Euros 17.500 for a car in outstanding condition. If I would try to sell it at this price, it would not go, I think. Have a look at the V8 for sale columes on the page of the V8 Register. You will find sold cars there and can compare prices that they picked according to age and specs. Good luck Ralph |
| Ralph |
| Rick, Do you think the soon to be ex-wife might find this site and thread. I know from time to time when I clean up my computer that I occasionally loose cookies, internet site access histories and even links from my favorites folder. Nudge nudge. Wink, wink. |
| Brian Corrigan |
| test |
| Nigel |
| carl, i should have been more clear, thats with me driving. LOL |
| james madson |
| re: Do you think the soon to be ex-wife might find this site and thread. I know from time to time when I clean up my computer that I occasionally loose cookies, internet site access histories and even links from my favorites folder. Nudge nudge. Wink, wink. ********** Brian...that is EXACTLY what I meant! Steve...read between the lines... rick |
| rick ingram |
| Steve, I have written some very important strategy for your situation and will send it to you at the time and address you specify. (Presumably the address below) It cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands as even if you decide against it, it will compromise your position. Unless I hear from you I will not send it. Read, then burn. Jim@BlackwoodLabs.com |
| Jim Blackwood |
| Better yet, call me. (859) 816-2187 Jim |
| Jim Blackwood |
| Hi Steve Heres a V8 that only got to $15.5k and didn't make reserve. Also the buy it now was $21k http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MG-MGB-MGB-V8-roadster-1977_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ31857QQitemZ4608262052QQrdZ1 Regards Tony |
| Tony Bates |
| Steve, here is a great example (for you) to show to the lawyer: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MG-MGB-Superb-MGB-V8-Conversion-Fast-Powerful-3-5L_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ31857QQitemZ4612912537QQrdZ1 |
| Mike Maloney |
This thread was discussed between 02/02/2006 and 17/02/2006
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