Last Monday evening, our 1967 MG Midget BaT auction ended, and we now know how the market values a documented 29,545 original mile car. I’ve been thinking a lot about original mileage claims for classic cars as a result, (which is really the great asset of this particular car). It shows 29,545 miles and this is one of the first times in my career I actually believe it. (You can see the listing by clicking here.)
And here’s a video I made this week about the original features:
For our business, I have purchased more than 500 Bugeye Sprites and a significant percentage of sellers have said their car has the original miles. And I mostly ignore those claims in cynical disbelief. We have fixed hundreds of broken odometers and speedometers on Bugeyes (and many other classic British cars). We’ve also had countless cable issues or transmission gear issues that have stopped the speedo cables from spinning.
In general, we don’t claim that any of the vintage cars we sell have original mileage, except in the case of this Midget! In the process of preparing for this auction, I was going through the records and found the original owners Passport to Service with his handwritten notes. When I noticed that his last notation was in 1979 with 28,824 miles, (just 700 or so miles off of the current reading). I realized there was no way the car had to have traveled 100,000 miles since that day–there are too many data points to convince me there’s no way this car traveled that far. The tires were one clue… the original tires arrived on the car when we first saw it two years ago… they’ve since been replaced, but there was no way these original bias ply tires had gone 130K.
There are many other parts of this car that are oddly too nice for a 1967 car. For example the seats look look new and they show almost no wear. But you can tell they are old (58 years!) The door hinges have no slop… we’ve never seen a car with hinges this tight unless they are new. But these are not new… they are just well preserved. And if you look at the top, tonneau and boot cover, after 130k miles in the sun, they tend to shrink and get beat up… we’ve seen so many tops and tonneaus that are weathered and these vinyl components on the car instead look quite fresh, even though they’re more than 55 years old.
Appraisal is a very difficult part of this hobby, particularly to assert that mileage is original. Rarely, do you get enough evidence to make a solid claim. This Midget, however, changed me. After thumbing my nose at so many mileage claims, I won’t forget this car. Next time someone makes a claim of originality, it will be different, because now that I have had this experience, I better understand why it’s really exciting to have a true original mileage car.
People love survivors. They love barn finds. But when you get them home, man, do they cost big bucks. This one, in fact, cost about $24K to make roadworthy. Without a refresh, you just have a cool car that’s more of a sculpture.
And so with great fascination, I wait to see how the market will value this unique object… original in every way except for the $24,000 of new parts that we attached to the host. Drive it anywhere, look original and enjoy better than new reliability. In my book that’s a pretty cool package! Let’s see how the auction goes-watch with me and let’s learn together!
