My other car is...

A Fiesta Ecoboost Mk8 which is simply brilliant. Sure footed, quiet, frugal and very well equipped but it isn't a sports car and I have a growing desire for an MGF which is why I am here...

When you make your purchase, concentrate on body body body, mechanicals can be replaced cutting out rot and welding in panels is a lot harder.
Good luck.

Yes body body body, SteveFMk1 is completely right.

Rust is the killer on them, far more than the head gasket failure.

MGTF and MGF values have been low for years but that is starting to change. Low mileage models in good nick are really starting to go up in value dramatically. At the moment you can still get some bargains but you have to look harder than 3-4 years ago.

Take a mat + torch and get on the floor. Look around the wheel arches and sills for rust and on the subframe mounts (front a rear).

Thank you. Cancer of the coachwork is pretty well the key thing when buying any old car and I have seen some real horrors over the years. I have a car in mind that is little but regularly used by somebody who knows the MGF quite well. My mission profile is to use it at least monthly and put a couple of thousand miles a year on it for about two years before retiring abroad. I'm extremely well versed in diagnostics and mechanical repairs (I once won a bet that I could change an A- series head gasket in an hour and managed it in 48 minutes which isn't bad when you are blindfolded.) Electronics are my trade and several years of restoring Citroens to their hydropneumatic heavenliness mean that I'm not frightened of both complexity nor the need to be an ambidexterous double jointed trained snake to get access from time to time but anything more than touching up paint and I'm underskilled. Bodywork is very expensive to have done so rest assured I will be buying the best shell I can lay my hands on for the budget (which is far from large.) An early VVC would be my weapon of choice. Madam has always wanted a soft top but I shall want it to be a little more than a twilighter's posing pouch.

Now an MG! Bagged one after a bit of research. Property of Ian Bosworth, Head of R&D on the MGF project, a BRG VVC with 69,000 miles with hardtop and a car cover. New radiator and brakes all round, one dent that will need a ding man to sort it and properly set up, according to the owner. Need to fit a cam belt due to age rather than mileage then I plan to give it a good long run to get its bones warmed through again. About 500 miles should do it so watch this space.