We spend a lot of time discussing what it was really like owning a car back in the day. How about the ownership experience of an MG1100 for over 100k miles? That’s certain;y a car that has a rather iffy reputation for reliability and longevity.
This account by the owner is objective and detailed. And there were plenty of issues, including a broken connecting rod that damaged one of the cylinders. Doesn’t sound very good, but then engine failures were not really uncommon, including on good old American iron (I’ve heard plenty of examples of that here in the comments over the years). And the difference back then was that repairs were seemingly cheaper, and not just adjusted for inflation (It would be interesting to find out just what typical shop rates were then compared to now).
This makes for interesting reading, and the owner/author suggest that he will be keeping it, possibly for another one hundred thousand miles. I suspect that didn’t actually happen, but we’re all optimists.
Big-Ernie-the-Parts-Man is looking up parts on a computer? In 1968?? I remember the Volvo parts counter guys looking up part numbers on microfiche well into the 80s!
7405 suffered the usual maladies.. Failed front UJ sand fuel pump but escaped the dreaded tin worm that affected others in the home land. . Proof that rust was the prolific killer. A car from the “Don’t buy a car with more than 60 thousand miles ” era which lasted in to the early 80s .I drove a 80 model Spitfire 1500 that was toast at 100 thousand Kms, 65 thousand miles.
Noooooooo, Big Ernie the Parts Man was “conversing with the distributor’s computer”. I don’t think that’s meant to be taken literally, because it’s 1963-’68 and talking with a computer involves punch cards and paper tape. I think it was the author’s flowery way of saying Ernie and his guy at the distributor were like Radar O’Reilly and Sparky.
Interesting read. A wee bit more reliable than I expected it to be.
There seems to be a reasonable amount of evidence that the author was partisan if objective and ethical. He liked his car and was happy with the service it provided, indicating that it lived up to his expectations. He still noted that it had an obsolete, three-main-bearing, long-stroke engine in 1968. The car’s descendants were still using said engine in 2000.
The dollar is worth about a tenth as much as it was when this car was purchased. That being the case, the repairs don’t seem like they were bargain-priced sufficiently enough to offset their frequency.
Interesting how the car ended up as a SoCal freeway flyer—at least rust-out wasn’t the concern it would be in other parts of the U.S. Also (like the UK), no super-cold-weather starts or operation.
All this is in my lifetime, too, and it’s a bit tough to accept inflation being 9x-10x relative to his ownership span (1963-1968). I remember when tires didn’t last terribly long, but it’s tough to think of that fuel pump going bad so often. Still, I tell myself, there’s a lot of wrenching I could do on a 1963 car that I couldn’t do on a 2022 model.
Interesting to read this, and I admire him for sticking with his vehicle and going to all the trouble to keep the records and do an entertaining writeup—thanks for sharing, Paul!
(1963 dealer ad below)
Im impressed it lasted well probably due to getting a decent run at operating temp every day and regular maintenance, points in SU fuel pumps require the same maintenance as the ignition points or you keep buying fuel pumps keep the oil in the carb level up and leave it alone and it will be fine, those cars were shocking for inner CV failures rough roads didnt help and the gearboxes would disintegrate he got lucky it threw a rod and the gearbox bearings got done at the same time.
Good survivor examples of ADO16 exist here and are being pulled from sheds quite regularly, bad ones either rusted away long ago or shit themselves and were scrapped, but that can be said for any brand from any country here, 6 monthly inspections took thousands of cars off the road due to cost of repairs and it still does, nothing is immune.
I have read several references to points on SU fuel pumps and have always wondered just why they HAD points. Can someone explain?
I am not an expert, but my understanding is that fuel pumps mounted on the engine are powered by a pushrod moved up and down by a cam. In the SU pump an electromagnet replaces the pushrod. The points control the power to the electromagnet, shutting it off at the end of each “stroke”. Over time they wear out the same way that ignition points do.
I owned an Austin 1800, which is similar to this car, but one size larger. It had the same electric fuel pump. I don’t think I ever had to replace it, but occasionally I needed to be hit with a fairly heavy wrench to get it going. It was located at the side of the trunk (boot) so it was easy to get at.
One interesting feature was that when it ran dry it made a loud rattling sound that you could hear from the driver’s seat. It was a bit of an warning, but you needed to be in sight of a gas station. It was when I was a student and often short of cash, so it did happen to me a couple of times.
Yep, this article is pretty much as I remember it. I suspect the owner was in some technical line of work. His son would be turning 61 this November. It would be interesting to get the son’s memories of the car, if he has any.
Regarding labor costs, in 1971 I got my first car, a ’68 Saab 95 V4, and had it serviced at Splisgardt Automotive, the dealer in St. Louis. The shop had the sign I’ve seen in a fair number of shops:
LABOR:
$12 an hour.
$15 if you watch.
$20 if you help.
I suspect the rates would have been higher in Los Angeles. I’ve also seen signs where the worst case was “if you worked on it first.”
In the ~17 years I’ve gone to my current indie garage in Seattle, their labor rate has gone from $60 to $120.
I got a valve job on my ’53 Chevrolet 235 engine in 1965 in Garland, Tex. and it cost, including two new exhaust valves and a gasket kit, $35. Car had an unknown number of miles on it at that point and lasted in my ownership another 65,000 miles; traded in on a new ’69 VW.
In those days, 100,000 miles was big deal. Engine failures were common this era, even from big iron V-8s. QC was pretty awful in this era and we take it for granted now that a car will go ten years without repairs.
Remember when there was two bay garage on every street corner? It wasn’t because the cars were good!
It would be interesting to see how another import of the era would have done. Even the VW Beetle would have needed a new engine by 100,000 miles.
Even the VW Beetle would have needed a new engine by 100,000 miles.
Not so. I can vouch that my brother’s ’66 1300 and my ’64 1200 both exceeded 100k miles on their original engines and those engines were still in excellent shape when we both sold them somewhere above that number. My brother sold his to a friend, and she was still driving it several years later on that original engine.
100k miles on a factory Beetle engine was a norm, not an exception. Bus engine norm was about 60k miles. Rebuilt engines? Depended totally on who rebuilt it and what parts were used. Longevity? Anywhere from 10 to 60k miles or so.
I agree with Paul. Beetles and other cars with proven engines made it over 100K on original engines. 100K miles was a milestone, but it wasn’t that uncommon. I know it’s anecedotal, but my dad own numerous V8s and sixes from this era and all made it over 100K miles. I still own two of Dads old cars, albeit from the 70s, but both of them made it well past 100K miles with zero engine repairs (beyond maintenance). He did complain was that some of his cars started to burn oil at higher mileage. This was usual when he sold off the cars as he hated oil burners. His high mileage ’55 Chevy 235 six burned as much oil as gas, or at least that’s what he used to joke. In our part of the world, cars would rust out more often before the engine would wear out or fail.
There were certainly lots more engine failures though. Dad still talks about one of his good friends who bought a brand new ’69 Chevelle with a 307 and that engine failed just out of warranty. A former colleague also told me how he never bought another Mopar after his new ’68 Fury’s 383 failed when relatively new. So even the proven V8’s had failures. Even though far less frequent, there are premature engine failures on modern cars. My BIL’s Honda Fit is a good example, which need an engine replacement just north of 100K miles despite proper maintenance.
You are right that 100,000 miles that was a big milestone in those days. A couple of years earlier, a friend of my father’s had a Borgward Isabella that made it to that distance without having the cylinder head ever taken off. He was trading it in, but kept it a bit longer, just to hit the milestone. He had an exceptionally long commute, over 100 km each way, so it was probably mostly highway driving, but still it was quite an accomplishment.
My dad was really impressed, which is why I heard about it several years later. He was an automotive engineer and an experienced mechanic, so he knew what he was talking about.
When I was a kid, my dad junked the rusted ’49 Star Chief, and bought a new 1961 Austin 850 (Mini) for $850.
When he’d leave the Austin for servicing at the “Foreign Cars” place, he’d often get an MG 100 as a loaner.
These always seemed *humongous* compared to the Austin!
My grandfather had a D registration plate (someone can figure out what year that is) MG 1100 in the UK…BRG with a tan interior. In 1968 he drove my Mom and me from Derby to Newcastle. I remember constantly glancing at the ribbon speedometer hoping he would get it over 70 (as my Dad would in our Cortina)…now I appreciate why…68mph is 4500 rpm!
D plate was 1966.
BRG and tan sounds neat
Many thanks…I left the UK as an 8 year old so long last track of the letters! A 66 makes perfect sense.
In 1973 I bought [ for 75 quid] a 1964 4door UK version of the MG 110O . It went great, started, stopped and steered perfectly, and it had a really nice interior.
I’d had it a month when a bus sideswiped it and the whole front collapsed as it was mostly filler as were the sills – engine still ran good though !
I sold it for as much as I’d paid for the whole damned thing to a guy who wanted the engine and the seats.
Interesting .
I have many decades of experience on those ‘B’ series three main bearing BMC engines, unless you flogged them they were very good and reliable and long lasting too .
Most needed rings, valve guides and rod bearing shells by 70,000 + miles but then most American drove them pedal to the metal, not a thing they were designed to do .
That he had a small end bushing fail sounds more like an initial quality control issue, good thing he caught it and saved the gearbox .
Beetles from 1954 ~ 1970 were generally good for 150,000 miles on the original engine .
-Nate
The 1100 was an A series (848 to 1275cc) engine; B series was larger (1.6 to 1.8) and also OHV I4
I knew a lot of VW’s back in the day (and one owner who overhauled his engine on the ktichen table.) I don’t think many of them were seeing 150k on the original motors. But for most people in the 60’s, it took a long time to put 150k on a vehicle, except for those with exceptionally long commutes, or perhaps a salesman’s car.
Understood Paul ;
Remember : I’m a VW aircooled owner/Mechanic/lover-feeler, I had plenty of Customers of that noted time period and vehicle who easily made 150,000 miles, they were the few who always did routine oil changes and valve adjustments and kept a sharp eye on the ignition timing .
In 1971 the added the twin intake ports and used two piece valves to $ave $.50 per engine, this came back to bite VWAG in the behind, many had valves break the heads off at – 30,000 miles .
-Nate
I think the ’60s VWs were sensitive to proper driving and maintenance and rewarded (usually) attentive operation. The two-piece valves may have appeared earlier as I have a stemless head that my 69 coughed up at about 60,000+ miles. After that little episode it has been faithful.
100,000 miles with plans to continue on a 1963 MG1100 seems impressive at this distance, even if the use was in warm and dry California and with little short trip work. Not many UK examples would have got to that without corrosion, failure and/or plans for replacement.
A Series engine began as the 803cc Austin A30 power plant, soon replaced Alex Issigonis’ postwar Morris Minor’s rugged sidevalve 8/40, bumping up to 998cc or thereabouts in Morris
1000, then back to nominal 850cc for his Mini Minor, this “MG” 1100s daddy. Rods didn’t so much break as come undone, big-end cap bolts loosening, bearing shells diving into the sump oil, a hideous hammering, then BANG! Morris Minors, pioneers of the monocoque principle in cars, were rather rustproof, thanks to appropriate prepaint dipping. A-series engine, only 2 inlet ports and 3 exhausts, with the clever “cardioid” combustion chamber, after a bit of special tuning (single DCOE Weber, head and port work, cams – the usual) pulled enough power from 850cc to whip the great overhung arses off Detroit’s gas-guzzling behemoths on shorter circuits, even at Bathurst with its long straights. Austin Morris 1100, in whatever phony guise – “MG” “Wolseley” “RILEY” (ffs!) even, I suspect, “Vanden Plas”, was a lovely safe family car, fast enough and cheap to run, if you serviced its CV joints.
I don’t see that deep rebuild of the engine anywhere in the listed ownership cost. That should have been the largest expense, yes?
This account of a humble, cheap car illustrates how much work it took to keep them running, but also how affordable that work was, even accounting for 10X inflation since then.
He specifically said that “the $782.48 total has covered the entire repair bill…including the overhaul after the big crisis” in the text regarding his accounting.
I can’t decide which astonishes me more: full depreciation in about 4-1/2 years, or oil changes not til 10,000 miles with the godawful oils and filters; filthy fuel, and sloppy carburetion of 1963.
The oil angle didn’t jump out at me when the article first ran, but it sure did this time! I change oil and filters every 5000 miles, and that’s with synthetic oil.
I like the author’s writing style. He would have fit right in at CC.
I have a Plymouth flat rate manual from the late 50s. Have to pull that off the shelf to see what the were recommending back then.