Greetings from Alabama

Hello, all-

I am the proud owner of a 1996 MGF since August of 2022. I bought the car from the gentleman who imported it to the states from the UK. Its last UK registration was P559 VFU and it currently shows 67,000 miles on the clock. According to some of the information I've been able to uncover, the car's first reg was D50 DAB and it was sold when new in Lincolnshire.  
It came with a boot full of spares, including two sets of brake rotors, two set of pads, new floor mats and new suspension pump. During my ownership, I've replaced the clutch slave cylinder. installed a low coolant alarm and a high mount stop lamp. 
I'm trying to diagnose a hot running issue and one of the topics on this forum has given me a check list to follow. Thanks in advance for your help advice, of which I will surely need a lot! 

Hello there RMcD - welcome to the forum.  Whatever your problem it is likely someone on here has had it before.   Study the How To list - its quite a read.

Vince 

Welcome RMcD. Is the hot running issue very recent or has it been a problem since you bought the car ?
There is a lot of information here about diagnosis of cooling system faults and people here who can advise

Thank you. It’s a recent development and I hope to diagnose the cause with the help of the owners here.

RMcD, Welcome to the Forum, as all others have said, you will find a lot of useful information in the How To Guides.

As Regards you comment "the car's first reg was D50 DAB"  That looks like a Personalised registration plate (probably some owner with the initials D.A.B.) transferred to the car.  The other reg starting with  a P looks FAR more likely to be the original.

You also mention a "Hot running issue"  > Be aware that the temperature gauges are notoriously inaccurate, and get worse with age.  If the gauge has always moved to the same place, and stays stable at what looks "too high", it MAY just be a poorly calibrated gauge and/or sender.  There are TWO senders, one for the ECU, the other for the gauge.
 

A low coolant sensor is a VERY worthwhile addition to the car.  That will give a far earlier warning of a potential overheating problem than the temp.gauge.

If you DO have overheating, the first thing to check is to bleed ALL 3 bleed points.  See the How tos

Good Luck & Enjoy your MG!

Edit:  I have searched on google and can confirm that your Reg starting with the letter P was almost certainly the original registration.  The P reg is correct for August 1996 - July 1997.  When the owner who put the D50 DAB reg on your car sold the car, he will have paid DVLC to "Retain" that personal reg. and was almost certainly re-assigned the original reg for your car.  I have personal experience of that system:

My much later TF now has it's original reg starting BN52, which indicates late 2002 - early 2003.  This was the original reg. when it was first registered (by Rover) in November 2002. It was then sold to a guy who put a personalised reg. M6 LKF on the car.  Before he sold it, he contacted DVLA and retained that reg.  DVLA re-issued the original BN52 ... reg. and assigned it to what is now my car.  Hope that makes sense.   There is a Youtube video which explains this 

early doors of that video features a P reg MGF! happy coincidence!
 

Thanks for the feedback!  Adrian Clifford ran down some of the production details for me a couple of years ago. His reply was:
"... your car is build sequence number 13783 of 77268,  built 09/18/1996 in HAM British Racing Green with LQP Green Fusion trim. New on 03/01/1997 to Wright's of Lincoln as D50DAB, re-registered N40SHE then 06/13/2022 to P559VFU."
The car came into my possession in August, 2022, and the number plates were a bit scruffy to have been that new. Interestingly, the car's MOT history lists it as P559VFU as far back as I can search.