The Fifties charm of MG’s TD sports car is fading, or at least failing to attract the next generation of buyers. Prices have dropped 11% since our last Price Guide Movers On The Slide update, placing typical values for project cars around £6.5k, usable examples at £10.5k, mint condition cars £16k and concours-perfect ones £24k. Those figures are 9% behind where these cars were five years ago, because for a while they were growing in line with the general market for more affordable classics, before going into reverse.
Interestingly, its TA/TB/TC predecessors with their pre-war styling are holding firm, as is the final TF evolution that included the usefully perkier 1466cc version of the old overhead valve straight four engine, so maybe buyers are just becoming pickier about which variant suits their needs. The TD has long been the least favoured of the series.
The first three series are holding the same prices as five years ago: £10.5k, £16k, £25k, £35k, depending on condition, while the TF is fractionally ahead of where it was then, at £8.75k, £13.5k, £23.5k and £34k.
Just two of this month’s fallers were in the sub-£50k category; the TD’s partner in decline being another MG. The R V8 has slipped 5.2% to give a price staircase of £6k, £9.5k, £13.5k and £17.5k. This Nineties rebirth of the MGB, complete with thumping 4-litre Rover V8 power and all the wood and leather you could wish for offers a sweet spot of classic styling blended with all of the upgrades you might make for modern-car ease of use and performance but prices are heading back down to where they were in 2017. That returns them to evergreen bargain status. Just don’t expect future price growth to cover running costs in the way that so many other affordable classics do for their owners.
Price Guide Movers On The Up is part of our regular 16 pages of market and buying coverage in Classic Cars, which also includes smart buying guru Quentin Willson’s Hot Tips, market-watcher Russ Smith’s Chasing Cars, a detailed four-page buying guide and Ads on Testevaluations of four classics for sale.