My name is Gordon and I've recently become the latest custodian of a Flame Red 1997 VVC. Meg, as she had been christened, was delivered in Melbourne in 1998 and has covered just over 85000km since then. I've wanted an MGF ever since going along to the Brisbane motor show in 1997 to see the just released 'New MG'. I was a student then and the chance of ever owing one seemed very remote. Over the years I've watched the prices falling on the second hand market till at last they were within reach.
I bought her about 2 months ago now through EBay after a fairly long and fruitless search through the Carsales website. Apparently the previous owner got her as a drunken EBay purchase one night from someone up in Cairns in far north Queensland. She had been laid up for about the last 2 years and was in need of some TLC. At some point the seats and door card inserts have been replaced with red leather (a nice upgrade) and she has a fairly complete service history going back to the original owner.
Once I got her home on the back of a flat bed I set about cleaning her up and sorting out a few items like a new battery and some non working tail lights. As she was unregistered the next thing to do was get her mechanically checked over and RWC done. I had her transported to Greg Tunstall Mechanical, a trusted local specialist for a full service including cambelts and water pump change. Apart from needing a stone chip fixed in the windscreen, a new rear window and four ball joints she sailed through roadworthy and got her new rego plates. The brakes are still a little spongy and this has been diagnosed as a faulty ABS pump so I have a working second hand unit ready to be plumbed in soon. I've also had the rear displacers regassed and I've started the search for new tyres. This last item seems to be a bit more difficult than I thought but it looks like I should be able to get a set of Falken ZE912 that will do the job.
Since registration I've been taking her out for Sunday drives and working on a few more small fixes. Quite a few of the plastic clips for things like the screen washer hoses and the bonnet stay have needed replacing. I've also added a bit of bling including an alloy gear knob and brushed alloy gauge rings. The biggest missing piece of the interior is the top of the instrument binnacle. Not only was the one in Meg cracked, it was in about 20 pieces having been dropped at some point I would imagine. I've managed to find a good one with no cracks which is currently in bound from Portugal. I'll attach that with Silastic rather than screw it down to avoid it cracking (fingers crossed).
Anyway I'll finish off with a photo of Meg in the bright Queensland sun. Thanks for reading!
Nice looking F, congratulations. 