Yep, I didn't want to spend more than a few hundred due to the distinct possibility of the kids losing interest. With the price of this one, at least if that happens I can just thrash it in a rallysprint or two myself for a bit of fun until it dies, then take it to the scrappies and get maybe close to what I paid for it anyway. And if they do stay interested, I can always spend some time and money on it and it should be a fun little thing. The eldest daughter is 15 (L's in 12 months) and the youngest is 11 (CAMS junior licence in 12 months).
I'm lucky that the local car club (MG Car Club) that I've been a member of for years actually owns a parcel of land about 20 minutes north of my place. There's a little tar hillclimb track, plenty of dirt tracks, and big open areas of cleared land that they use as car parks and for dirt motorkhanas. They also run half a dozen "Junior Development Courses", which I reckon is a great idea
http://www.mgcarclub.com.au/Driver_training.htm
Talking to a few mates about it, they suggested that a FWD was a better option anyway as its a fair chance that's what the kids will drive when they do get licences / cars.
And the hubcaps are going, along with any other excess weight (rear seat, whats left of the carpet, the broom handle that holds the rear hatch open
). I should check what stud pattern it is - wonder if some old Datsun 13" jellybeans will fit