1993 MG RV8

One of the many repatriated RV8s, this car was first registered in Japan in February 1994, presumably from the first batch of cars which left the UK for Japan the month before.

Its build date therefore is likely to have been some months earlier; the VIN sequence number is only 147 on from the first production RV8 which came out of Cowley in March 1993.

The car covered just over 100,000km in Japan before being shipped back to the UK in mid-2009 where it was registered in the UK to WRC Car Sales of Bradford, presumably the importing dealer, who had it MOT’d. A little later that year the speedo/odometer was swapped to one reading in mph/miles so you could guess the true mileage of the car to be circa. 84,000.

The current owner bought the car in 2009/10 from a dealer in Norfolk who had acquired it from WRC and he is therefore the first private UK owner. He previously had a Triumph Stag and was looking for something a bit more modern and sportier. He’s used it regularly, pretty much every day in the summer both as a town car and for longer runs into the country.

He still loves the car and on the drive to drop it off with us wondered why he is selling it. But his nearest and dearest would like a car where she doesn’t have to sit so low to the ground. He now has a deposit down on a Maserati Spyder… are you going to tell her or should we?!

Oxford Blue was the second most popular colour for the RV8, although only 258 cars (13%) were specified in this paint (behind Woodcote Green at 64%). The paint and bodywork on this RV8 is reasonably strong and still looks pretty good from a few yards away.

Closer to, you can see that there are a few chips and scratches across the nose, a cracked front offside headlamp surround, and bumper scuffs on both rear corners - the rear near side also cracking slightly. The front number plate too is starting to delaminate and there are tiny oxidisation bubbles forming at the base of the windscreen surround.

The fabric hood appears in reasonably good order although the material has become detached from the frame in one or two places, but this doesn’t affect its operation as it folds flat nicely. The rear plastic window seems fine and doesn’t look cloudy or cracked. The tonneau is intact and matches the interior of the car when covering the folded hood.

The car has its original 15-inch alloy wheels which all look in good condition and are fitted with Nexen tyres all round dating from 2009.

Buyers of new RV8s didn’t get a great deal of choice on interior spec as they all came with the same Stone Beige leather trim, but it does look good and goes well with just about any exterior colour.

The seats are looking a bit creased and worn, especially on the driver’s side, and could do with an appropriate cleaning and nourishing treatment to rejuvenate the hide. Some of the leather trim elsewhere would also benefit from attention although nothing appears to be ripped or damaged.

The full-width dash panel and door tops sport a walnut burr veneer, which shows in good condition with no obvious cracking. The centre console is fitted with a more modern Pioneer CD/Radio which has Aux/MP3 capability and also has a Parrot bluetooth hands-free phone kit connected. The passenger door speaker grille is cracked in a few places but still functional.

The stereo and all other electrical equipment is working as far as we’ve been able to test. That said, you don’t get electrically operated mirrors, windows or hood in this car - this is a classic motoring throwback after all. The air conditioning unit fitted for the Japanese market has been removed to give more space in the passenger footwell. After all, if it’s warm enough in the UK for aircon, you’d have the roof down.

The vendor reports that the fuel gauge float must be faulty because even when the tank is brimmed, the needle only points at 3/4 full.

The engine bay isn’t the tidiest or cleanest that we’ve seen but there is a certain honesty to cars which haven’t had the engines and ancillaries detailed for sale. Everything looks present and intact though and, to reduce cabin footwell temperatures, the exhaust has been heat-wrapped all the way from the manifolds down to the catalytic converters underneath.

The undersides of the car look undamaged and solid with a coating of underseal on all underbody surfaces. There is a light bloom of surface rust across many of the structures and components underneath but nothing that has attracted the eagle-eye of an MOT tester. We can see a heat shield by one of the cats with a bolt missing which is also cracked and has a small rust hole but nothing else untoward.

The boot carpets and linings are all intact and the space is home to a full size spare wheel fitted with an unused Nexen tyre. There is also a scissor jack, wheel brace and an MG-branded tool roll with 7 spanners.

We are looking after this MG during the sale and we always welcome and encourage a personal inspection. Use the ‘Contact Seller’ option to arrange a visit to our new HQ in Oxfordshire. If you’d rather not travel at the moment, we can fix up a video call to discuss the car real-time and focus on whatever you would like to see in more detail.

This MG RV8 has a current MOT certificate valid until July 2021; passing with no advisories. The online history, since its first UK MOT in 2009, records six failures since but none for anything structural or more significant than split gaiters or an ineffective handbrake.

Between May and December 2009 it would appear that the speedo/odometer was changed to mph/miles and zeroed.

The car comes with the original service booklet and other inspection paperwork from Japan which indicates maintenance and mileages (kilometerages?) as follows:

H19 2007 - 90,684km

H15 2003 - 42,776km

H13 2001 - 18,816km

H11 1999 - 14,440km

H9 1997 - 10,368km

H8 1996 - 4,948km

H7 1995 - 37,710km

H6 1994 - 29,750km

Please note: If you’re looking through the photos of the Japanese service history and don’t read Kanji, bear in mind that dates are given in the traditional Japanese calendar format which enumerates the year (given at the beginning of the date) by the era of each Emperor. For example 1994, when the car was first supplied to Japan, is H6 (Heisei era) which is the sixth year of Emperor Akihito’s reign.

Given the service history above and that the UK MOT paperwork indicated rolling over the 100,000km to 4,611km in 2009 just before the speedometer was converted to miles, as well as the car now showing 19,500 miles - the true mileage of this car would be somewhere in the region of 84,000 miles, which still isn’t bad for a 26 year old car.

The current owner has looked after the car for the last 10 years, getting parts replaced and works done as necessary by local independents or specialists. He has also used Evans Waterless Coolant to successfully cure an overheating issue. Whilst the temperature gauge can still creep up in slow traffic, it now doesn’t climb beyond half-way on long runs.

The history file contains paper copies of all MOTs and invoices for parts and work done since 2010 which are summarised below:

Jun 2020 - new starter motor

May 2019 - hood front clips, steering rack gaiters, tracking

Jul 2018 - brake pads

Jun 2016 - service, exhaust, wheel bearings, rear diff, service and MOT

Nov 2014 - ECU, recon starter motor

Jun 2014 - service, handbrake, steering rack

Nov 2011 - front suspension, rocker cover gaskets, heater

Sep 2011 - service

Apr 2011 - brake wheel cylinder, heat-wrap, a/c removal

May 2010 - electrics, thermostat, pedals

This car starts, runs and drives well on short and long runs. In fact it had a 200-mile trip in October and was also driven out to our Oxfordshire HQ from London by the owner.

There are two ways to look at an MG RV8; it’s either a modern car with period touches - or a period design with modern refinements. Either way, it offers an attractive mix of old and new and, according to our data, asking prices have held fairly steady over the past few years.

We think this handsome and powerful classic throwback will fetch between £13,000 and £18,000 and will give its new owner a taste of classic roadster ownership with perhaps a touch more reliability.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.