Why an MGF or TF?

I was walking through a car park one day and saw a sports car with its' top down. I had a closer look and was impressed with the lines of the car. The interior caught my eye, and more particularly, the dashboard. It was simple, yet elegant, and the white dials were a pleasant antidote to the standard black dials on every other car at the time. That was what made me fall for the MGF, way back in about 2000. I started to look out for them on the road, and was always pleased to see one on my travels. I grew to love the lines and their road presence.

So, it was the white dials that first sucked me in. What was it for you? :drive:

Went out that evening with not even the slightest intention of buying an F. It was not a car I had ever really given much thought to.

In fact I was at a car auction on a cold, dark, miserable rainy October evening to buy a large diesel estate or a 4x4. Late on in the auction in came the Tahiti Blue F, gleaming under the bright lights. It's curvaceous lines, so elegantly blending old and new, struck a chord within me. The quintessential British two seater, proudly sporting it's MG badge began to beckon me to the bidding hall.

Luckily for me, on that cold, dark autumnal night the thought of a convertible was as far from the minds of the assembled crowd as it had been for me and I was able to bag a bargain. The rest as they say is history.

One piece of styling which has always impressed me is the the distinctive MGF petrol filler cap, which was based on late 1980’s, early 1990’s Yamaha petrol tank caps.



I like this feature so much I have even thought of fitting one to the offside too.

When I first met my wife we were talking about cars and she said she fancied an Alfa Spider (she was living in Holland at the time), as I was already into my BL/Austin/Rover cars I suggested an F, a few months later I got her a Corgi one and eventually 9 years later the one real we have now, a replica of the model.

We bought our first one after buying a Friday afternoon mg zr that was literally st*t!!

We took it back after the 28th time in 3 months into the dealership for warranty repairs and demanded something be done

Their offer was a nice low mileage Mgf in brg with green/black leather as a straight swap.

Loved it at first sight!!

On our third now as we see them as cheap, exciting motoring!!

Love the body shape more than anything.

Well, I hadn't given them a thought at all, whilst looking for something interesting along the lines of an Alfa GTV6 (a proper RWD model not the later FWD rubbish!) and I notice the ad online for my car, I didn't really give it another thought as I went back to scanning the ads.
Quite some time later I noticed the same car advertised again, but at a greatly reduced price, I started thinking "there's a story here" and called the bloke up.
It turned out that the bloke was a Pom MG mechanic who'd moved over here to work for an MG specialist, but had to return home to look after a sick family member.
When he first advertised the car, a time waster had agreed to buy the car, but hadn't followed through with the deal. Time was running out as the seller had sold his house, other cars etc and only had 2 days before he was due to fly out.
I went around to see the car and made a low offer, thinking that I could flip the car at a profit, if it wasn't my sort of car. He accepted my offer, as I was the only one, who had cash in hand.
It had a fresh engine and new clutch but had a few small things still to do before it could be registered. I decided it was a keeper when I first drove it :drive:

As a Control systems Project Engineer at Rover it was my job to program and maintain the PLC's robot s paint machine etc, I was asked to program the plant to accept new or facelifted models on a regular basis, one day at a meeting I was asked to program the paint machine to accept a new secret model, so secret in fact I couldn't see it to program the machine !! which would be mighty difficult, so in a flippant moment I said what about a cardboard cutout ? Everyone in the meeting thought this was genius (except me) but I was was presented with a full size cad drawing stuck to and cut out from a sheet of Ply wood, bolted to a body jig ready for the paint machine, programming done I waited months for the first pre production trial body to hit the paint shop, it was painted BRG without any modification from the original cutout, that was it for me I had to have one, 18 years later I did.

...similar story as Cobber's.

When I noticed the need for a medication for my midlife crisis I started to look for a decent MX-5 or MR2 - but all above my budget.
So extending the search to convertibles in general a TF appeared which was for sale for three months already - liked the look but had no clue about the car and the possible issues.
Made an appalling low offer, the seller refused. But came back the same evening to accept it (he was quite desperate apparently).
So in fact it was a 'best car for the my budget' purchase - I never regret it! :woo2:

She was shiny.



Seriously though, I was sick of competent mile munchers and family 5 door euroboxes.

I wanted something different, and the mid engine, RWD setup appealed to me. I also think the lines and balance of the TF shape is spot on. I always smile when I look back at her.

i'd driven a standard MGF years ago, saw several in for head gaskets over the years, and never intended to buy one.
then a mkII VVC turned up as an economic write off. the owner had had enough, and it had sat for 18months and was a non runner.
i'd just sold my other project car.. so i took the MGF on. :drive:

the striking colour of the trophy blue jpv is what lead me to owning a mg.......... A lover of series landrovers and owning a series 3 at the age of 18 in a similar metallic colour to jpv it was second nature to follow the rover brand.......bought my first mg for £130 being a black mg metro........2nd mg in 2006 a mgzr in trophy blue jpv and the mg I own today is a 2004 mgtf........again found it hard to ignore the colour and looks of the tf :drive:

:woohoo: :woohoo:

:pop:

I must be getting older robin looks like my grandson :clap: wheres the joker