505 going to Germany

[505]

Hello all V8 owners. Ex-pat Brit living in Germany. Answers to the name "Ed". Pretty much always been a Rover man at heart. I had a P4 95 which I bought from a scrapyard for 70 quid 25 years ago whilst in college and also a P6B. Had 100 cars since then (incl. an SD1 Vitesse) and currently have a Ford F150 5.4 liter pickup in front of the door and a Jaguar XJR V8 on permentant loan from my brother. I build hotrods and parts for hotrods, mainly '32s, so I have my own workshop. See www.edsrodshop.de

Last week while browsing ebay, I found 505 for sale, a blue MG SE Tourer which many of you probably saw. It only had a day to run and remembering my brother had expressed interest in them a few years ago, I mentioned it to him and he bid on it - the only bidder as it turned out. However my brother lives in Manhatten, New York and upon further investigation found out that importing it to America and getting it registered wouldn't cost $10,000 as most cars do but many times that due to the fact that none were ever imported and that the manufacturer is no longer available to provide data. (The world speed record car wasn't registered for street use I guess).

Anyway to cut a long story short he gave it to me - so here I am, quite excited but totally unexpectedly the new owner of 505. Actually I need another V8 like I need a hole in the head! 3 on the drive now. I'm on the look out for a pair of LHD Xenon MK2 lights of course. I'm not really sure what to do with 505. I'll drive it for a while of couse, probably put it on a summer only registration plate to save on running costs. The rest of the time it'll go into storage. Wouldn't want to use it in the winter anyway due to the salt on the roads.

My brother is flying over from New York next weekend to collect 505 from Southampton and drive it down to Baveria to our place. Most of the motorways round here a fairly empty and unlimited so it is possible to go V-max every day round here if you feel brave (and rich) enough.

Anyway, I'm interested to see whether it has more power than the XJR. Well it doesn't actually, 260 against the XJRs 370HP but that doesn't mean anything. The MG is a manual and maybe a little bit lighter.

So that's the funny story of how 505 ends up in Germany.

[greeners]

Welcome along.....there was one imported into the states,and is still there....ir was registred as a Mustang Station Wagon......

[2V8s]

I thought you meant a Peugeot 505 at first! (we had a c-plate estate in the family years ago).

I think you'll find the XJR is certainly quicker! but your ZT v8 will have a certain charm.

Enjoy, and welcome

[Merl]

Welcome

His loss is certainly your gain
The XKR is certainly a nice car and a little bit quicker but the 260 I find is one of those cars with oodles of character especially in europe people didn't know what to make of it when we have been over there with ours. Still think if I was to ever replace mine it would be with an XKR convertible but can never bare to replace mine especially now it has been supercharged.

The nice thing about the xenons is there is a small plastic lever in side each unit that you flick to convert them to LHD, you move one side up and the other side down if I remember correctly... it is in the hand book.

If it has the sat nav built in you can also change the LCD speed readout to kmh by changing the satnav to show kmh, makes driving so much easier! only thing with the LCD speedo is you have to switch it on each time as it is the message computer in between speedo and rev counter.

A bunch of us are over for a meet with the MGF Register in Germany in September and then carrying on for a tour round europe which you are more than welcome to join you will be able to read more about it once you have the car and return the questionaire to Tim.

Little more info about the event in Germany can be found here: http://www.mgfim11.com/MGFIM11/Opener.html

Hope all goes well and keep us updated!

Ohh nice collection of cars there and trucks there and when I was in america my ex's father used to do the hotrods and other classics and I find them fascinating.

[colintf]

Hi Ed and welcome. Congratulations on #505.

You can always have it superchrged to add another 140 bhp or so

Great looking rods there, I love em!

Whereabouts in Germany are you? Klaus is in Bremen with a V8.

Get along to MGFIM if you can (Merl has already posted a link above).

If not and you are close to Gut Moorbeck maybe we can have abother mini meet there when we are enroute to Sweden again next August (like we did last year when a couple of us met up with Klaus (260) and Herbie (MGF) both from Bremen.

Enjoy 505

[ColinE]

Welcome along,

If you want to go the whole hog you could convert the instrument panel to KMH

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MG-ZT-260-V8-B...item2eb0c92995

Complete the questionnaire Tim sent you on registering and you'll get access to the whole site including the club shop

[Klaus]

Hi Ed, welcome along and your #505!
Mine is #315 and I´m situated just at the other end of germany in Bremen. If you are passing here to the north, give me a PM. Have fun!

[Tim]

Welcome along Ed. If your brother has anymore thoughts of buying cars, can you ask him to get me the new V8 XFR please.

Don't forget the questionnaire

[John Newey]

Hey Ed-enjoy! You can just do so much with a MG ZT 260SE. From cosmetics to tuning and it's hard to find any other car that can give so many smiles per mile!!

[wraith01mg]

Welcome to bedlam. This is a top crowd. Loads of help and not a few nutters here.