VIN Number 000258 Reborn!
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 10:49 pm
Some of you may recall that around 4 months ago, my very early MGF was involved in a 'near death' experience, in that coming home one Friday evening VIN 000258, which I affectionately call 'the l'il Green Frog', was involved in a serious RTC.
The damage sustained was significant and it looked for all the world that it would be written off and a really early car lost.
A number of friends expressed interest in the final outcome, so here is an update to let you know how it worked out.
For those who may not of seen the earlier post, my car was originally registered to the Rover Group on 01/09/95 - well before customer cars started to be delivered and is technically the 8th production car built. It is also one of Rovers 'SAC' registered fleet of cars which I believe were used for promotional and press use in the immediate post launch period.
On 26/09/14 coming home at around 9.30, I had stopped for an oncoming car coming over a single track blind bridge. The oncoming car came over the bridge too fast, lost control and hit the Frog a mighty clout before bouncing off onto a parked car and ending up on its roof. Mercifully no one was seriously injured and the emergency services were called to clear up the mess
(this is how the car that hit me ended up.
At first glance the Frog was obviously badly damaged. All the front panels we damaged, the drivers door wouldn't oped and the front wheels were looking a bit cross eyed. The car was recovered initially by a salvage company, but I got it removed as soon as possible having heard tales of 'write offs' being stripped of good bits by these people. I got the Frog taken to Prestige MG between Sutton and Tamworth and once it was up on the ramp Andy discovered more problems - the front sub frame had been damaged and twisted due to the impact, and the shell behind the drivers headlight was damaged.
At this point some amazing people from the MGF Register came to my aid providing me with documentation to support the cars provenance and value and a claim was made against the third party's insurance. I spoke to the assessor on the phone and he later came out to view the car. Andy did a wonderful job of taking this gentleman through all aspects of the repair and to my amazement a figure was agreed with Andy to enabke the car to be repaired to a high standard.
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So, with the go ahead given, we started hunting the parts and suddenly found there was a real lack of good quality HAM green panels, so reluctantly we started looking for a breaker. Having watched a bodily good, but mechanically poor car fail to sell for several weeks, I eventually and reluctantly acquired it as a donor car. Please don't lynch me guys. Nobody wanted it and the parts from it have saved two cars.
From this point the donor car was dismantled and bit by bit, the Frog was gradually brought back from the 'dead'. Numerous problems were found alond the way which necessitated a lot more work for Prestige MG than was originally allowed for, such as additional body damage that only came to light once the panels were off, but Andy stuck at it and soon the Frog was off to the paint shop to ensure a perfect match with the original panels and repair the paint damage to the windscreen surround where the wing had been pushed back into it.
The result is superb and the car looks just like it did nearly 20 years ago when it came off the line - at least the front does, I'm going to have to do some work on the rear arches now. This is a photo of how it looks now. It's a real credit to all the work Andy has done to bring the Frog 'back from the dead' and I'm extremely grateful that he dis such a thorough job on the Frog. Thanks also to some very special guy's down in Essex without who's support the Frog would have been written off as just another old MGF! Thanks Guy's, hope to see you soon to thank you personally and buy you a very large drink(s), Phil
The damage sustained was significant and it looked for all the world that it would be written off and a really early car lost.
A number of friends expressed interest in the final outcome, so here is an update to let you know how it worked out.
For those who may not of seen the earlier post, my car was originally registered to the Rover Group on 01/09/95 - well before customer cars started to be delivered and is technically the 8th production car built. It is also one of Rovers 'SAC' registered fleet of cars which I believe were used for promotional and press use in the immediate post launch period.
On 26/09/14 coming home at around 9.30, I had stopped for an oncoming car coming over a single track blind bridge. The oncoming car came over the bridge too fast, lost control and hit the Frog a mighty clout before bouncing off onto a parked car and ending up on its roof. Mercifully no one was seriously injured and the emergency services were called to clear up the mess
- Part of the panel damage to the Frog. More problems lay benethe
At first glance the Frog was obviously badly damaged. All the front panels we damaged, the drivers door wouldn't oped and the front wheels were looking a bit cross eyed. The car was recovered initially by a salvage company, but I got it removed as soon as possible having heard tales of 'write offs' being stripped of good bits by these people. I got the Frog taken to Prestige MG between Sutton and Tamworth and once it was up on the ramp Andy discovered more problems - the front sub frame had been damaged and twisted due to the impact, and the shell behind the drivers headlight was damaged.
At this point some amazing people from the MGF Register came to my aid providing me with documentation to support the cars provenance and value and a claim was made against the third party's insurance. I spoke to the assessor on the phone and he later came out to view the car. Andy did a wonderful job of taking this gentleman through all aspects of the repair and to my amazement a figure was agreed with Andy to enabke the car to be repaired to a high standard.
- Part of the panel damage to the Frog. More problems lay benethe
So, with the go ahead given, we started hunting the parts and suddenly found there was a real lack of good quality HAM green panels, so reluctantly we started looking for a breaker. Having watched a bodily good, but mechanically poor car fail to sell for several weeks, I eventually and reluctantly acquired it as a donor car. Please don't lynch me guys. Nobody wanted it and the parts from it have saved two cars.
From this point the donor car was dismantled and bit by bit, the Frog was gradually brought back from the 'dead'. Numerous problems were found alond the way which necessitated a lot more work for Prestige MG than was originally allowed for, such as additional body damage that only came to light once the panels were off, but Andy stuck at it and soon the Frog was off to the paint shop to ensure a perfect match with the original panels and repair the paint damage to the windscreen surround where the wing had been pushed back into it.
The result is superb and the car looks just like it did nearly 20 years ago when it came off the line - at least the front does, I'm going to have to do some work on the rear arches now. This is a photo of how it looks now. It's a real credit to all the work Andy has done to bring the Frog 'back from the dead' and I'm extremely grateful that he dis such a thorough job on the Frog. Thanks also to some very special guy's down in Essex without who's support the Frog would have been written off as just another old MGF! Thanks Guy's, hope to see you soon to thank you personally and buy you a very large drink(s), Phil
), why not join them and the rest of us for MGFIM in May right there? Luckily there are still places available and all of us from the UK and overseas would definitely cherish to have such an early car (#3 actually!) among us. Look here: 
so sorry buddy. For anyone who has experienced the loss of one of these much loved cars it really is a horrible feeling, just glad that no one was hurt.