are we getting ripped off,rant(its my fist rant)

Moss have started doing parts for Morris Minors,great!

so I had a quick look at prices,bearing in mind the Minnor is just as pop as the MGB,and the wings are of the same complexity ish,I was astonished to find the price diff....

MGB £347

Minor £94

OK one might be a Gen heritage but does it really take another 250 quid to make an MG wing,or are we being ripped off.

Then I checked the price of a rad

MGB £158 and Hi flo £258

Minor £71

Don't get me wrong its fantastic we can get everything for our cars,but whats going on ,and I,m not being Moss specific here they may just add their bit,but somebody is having a giraffe.


ARgggggggg!

its all supply and demand, more demand, less prices, less demand, higher prices. Prices to build my Chevy are cheap, high demand, newer stuff, more money, newer engine parts, higher price, older, lower prices. Same with the MG's since less people build them, the prices for parts will be higher.

Another example, I'm also into ATV's, parts are rediculouly priced sine there is less parts required, one piston 180 bucks, where I can get a set of high quality pistons for 400 bucks, 8 pistons, same bore size. Rocker Arms, for small block chevy from Harland Sharpe, 250 bucks for 16, for an MG 500 bucks. One camshaft for my quad, about 4-5 inches long, two lobes 160-180 bucks, typical solid lift cam for a sbc, 200 bucks, my hydraulic roller for my LS1 motor 340 bucks.

Shop Jaguar or Lamborghini parts if you think MGB parts are expensive. I'd say the B partrs are some of the most economical. As you live in the UK what's your guess to how many more Morris Minors there are compared to MGBs....I'd offer 4 to 5 fold more and Minors tend to be very rare here. FWIW

Ther are more Minors over here but there are also more MG's over there,I don't know the numbers but the minor was more of a scrapped car than the MGB ever was so although production numbers are more for the Minor I think the surviving resto market is pretty even between the 2.

Some things do cost too much, but we have more parts and information available today than we did back when these cars were in production. Bigger issue is quality....

The only time that I feel ripped off when buying parts is when they do not fit, are defective, or last 10 miles before self destructing. I installed a set of rear wheel cylinders last night. The bleeder holes were tapped incorrectly and neither of the bleeders would tighten. Crap like that is totlly uncalled for. I am still smoking mad that I need to waste my time removing these parts and go through the hassle of returning them to the distributor while my car is off the road. These were not the cheap aftermarket variety, but TRW parts. Sorry for the ranting. In any case I have no problem paying high prices for MGB parts just as long the parts are worth the price.

Les. Don't get your knickers in a twist. The Moggie wing you quoted is a repro, compared to the Heritage MGB fender. The Heritage Moggie wing is quite a bit higher.
The MGB wing also requires a lot more welding and grinding than the Moggie, so it's more expensive for Heritage to produce. Looking at the actual cost of the two parts from Heritage in my magic spreadsheet, the mark up is pretty much the same.

Retail price is always going to be driven by market conditions, and there are enough competitive players to ensure that no one is getting ripped off on parts pricing. I only wish. If there were huge profits in this business, it would be a lot easier to make my bloody house payments.

As Rick pointed out. The big concern right now is quality, so you may see much more variance in pricing between what appear to be similar parts. Getting information about value for money to the customer is one of the most important areas that need to be improved. There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes in this area, that should be a big help in the future.

kelvin.

I had an old Porsche for a while... if you want to feel better about buying parts for the MG, go look at Porsche part prices.

"if you want to feel better about buying parts for the MG, go look at Porsche part prices."

Or any modern car today.
Cheers,

I would bet that if you tried to fit the two fenders, one Heritage, one repo, you would more than make up the cost difference in fitting and body shop time to get it to fit properly and look correct. I used heritage fenders - not cheap but not too expesnive either given the size and complexity of the part but they bolted right up, no issues and everything looked good. I had one repo body panel, never used it - even rough fitting without any cutting and grinding showed that it was not going to work...
Our parts seem to be fairly priced and we have choice! Not only is every part available but we can chose between various quality and sources of parts. Shortly after buying my Mark 1 front grill I was chatting to a shop that was restoring a Mercedes 280 convertible. The grill on that baby was $3500!
tc

There are folks here (like me and Roop and a few others) that'll get you parts much cheaper than Moss. I only do engine and hydraulic stuff (no trim or body parts) but a little shopping around can save you money (lots) here in the states. So, Moss and VB charge what they can get. If you guys are smarter and buy from those of us that give you a break, everyone wins :)

Les. Hopefully you took the knickers comment in the manner it was intended.

The comparison of BMH retail price of 161.49 for the Minor front wing with 347.45 for the MGB front wing is apples and apples and more appropriate than the 95 quid comparison you first pointed out. Thanks for clarifying that.

The Minor fender is a lot less fabrication, so I can see the cost difference. Just as the TR7 wing is priced at 202.18 and the Mini wings at 61.17.

The selling price of any part is going to be based on some pretty complicated calculations based on hours to fabricate, material cost, size of production run, competitive retail pricing and finally market demand.

Market demand I'm sure is going to be different between the MM and MGB, as the desirability and value of the vehicles has something to do with what an owner is willing to spend on repair or restoration parts. There may also be hidden costs that are not obvious, such as investment in tooling repair that needs to be amortized. I know the MGB fender tools were in pretty poor shape when found and there may be ongoing repair work to keep them usable.

At the end of the day, the critical matter is that the manufacturer/supplier makes enough profit on a sale to justify doing it again the next day. If there isn't adequate profit and demand, the tooling is scrapped and we all start driving Toyotas.

kelvin.

..may be 'cheaper', but remember, at the end of the day, you're driving a....Morris freakin' Minor

I restoring a '69 BMW 2002 and a '67 Chevy pickup. The BMW parts are much more than MGB and the Chevy parts are, in general, cheaper. So in all I think they MG parts are pretty reasonable...

Repair panels cost the same though.

Fibreglass and catty (bondo to those across the pond) costs the same for a moggie minor as it does for an MG

Well like everything else are MG parts are surly to rise in cost hopefully not by much! Some of these mail order stores are a big rip off!

For my '72 B I went the cheaper route and bought a front fender that was made in Mexico. Saved a bundle but spent the savings on beer to calm my nerves and had to apologise to several neighbors for all the cussing emanating from my garage. I spent a week pounding and massaging that fender in to a reasonable fit. Paying higher prices for a quality product isn't always an extravagance.

Tim

The MG has an amazing amount of parts available for which I am gratefull. I have other cars I scour swap meets just to find a single part or two. In 1976 they made 500,000 olds cutlases. I have one but needed a few parts. They don't exist! I found a small NOS plastic dash vent at a swap meet and it was $160! The only one known to exist if you will!

When I restored the MG I was quite grateful to have such a wide selection of parts!!

if they were both BL Heritage parts, then there is either "hidden" manufacturing costs as suggested or its what the market will bear. Just like the MB280 grill can be15 times the price of a MGB grill, most of that price is not the construction cost but that a MB restoration is expected to cost more and people are willing to pay more. While we feel that the MGB is low on the totem pole of value and cost, the MM is lower.
tc

Heritage fenders? I have a CB here now that the owner gave up and I'm to finish the "fitting" process. He actually got it lined up pretty good but I need to do some panel beating to get the headlight in. I bought a Heritage LH fender for my car back in 92 and returned it. It was easier to fix the original one that actually fit. They say it's original tooling. Well perhaps after all these years it's wore out too. I always look for good used first.

As others have mentioned and I have before...Quality means more than price. If it's cheap but junk, what good is it?

You wanna see "ripped"?

The guy who helped me take down those big trees a week or so ago had his Komatsu track hoe lunch a water pump while it was here.

Being the caring guy that I am, I offered my labor to replace it in trade for a load of gravel.

I looked all over the 'net for one and ended up having to buy from Komatsu itself.

Can you spell $90 for an upper radiator hose that is nearly identical to every other L shaped LBC upper radiator hose that I have ever seen?

Can't spell $90? Try spelling $350 for a water pump that is also a ringer for nearly every other A series MG engine that I know of.

All tolled, a water pump, two hoses, a by-pass hose, a thermostat and gasket and four clamps cost this poor slob a tad over SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS including the $36 that they charged for shipping the thermostat in from some other place. He bought the stuff direct with his credit card, all I did was to facilitate it getting here. I made nothing on the deal

Piece of cake to fix, but I could have wept for the guy on the parts.

Jack

Almost $4.00 a gallon for leaded fuel....rip off.

Indian summer drive, lid down, with my beautiful wife.... priceless.

Restored a Ferrari 328 last year; staggering the cost of parts. $350 distributor caps, $90 rotors, $100-200 or NLA interior switches, and it goes on and on. Getting back to MGB prices is breath of fresh air.

And other thing about Ferrari parts; many times the same parts we used in other cars (common Bosch injectors, antennas, etc..) and can be found for 1/20th the price the F-car retailer is selling for.