Walking back from the shops I paused to admire an immaculate orange-red MGB-GT (HPC65K) and as I walked towards it two gents even older than me were ahead with their little dogs, and then the young lad who owned it appeared with his shopping. So the bonnet came up and it was just as clean and sparkly under there, even the float chambers on the carbs were shiny-shiny chrome.
I kept back but overhead the lad say, “I’ve just finished a nut and bolt restoration, everything shot blasted and re-coated…” I missed the rest, but none of the usual oil leaks on the engine for sure, and I could not smell the usual petrol leak from the tank. I looked up the MOT history and it had been regularly used for about 400 miles a year and a few advisories on brakes etc, I guess it was mostly going to shows etc, and then it missed the last MOT in April. I can only speculate the original owner passed on and the lad took it on as a project, and he has done an excellent job. I wish I had my camera with me,
But what really struck me though was how small the car is. I used to drive one occasionally (sister’s car after her Sprite) and Son In Law had a blue one, and it always seemed a nice roomy car. Now accustomed to my NC and the MGB-GT looking so small I doubted my memory and needed to check with the reg it really was an MGB-GT.
Many years ago when married and two little children (out of the 3 we have), I ran a motorbike. Decided it wasn’t suitable so bought a ‘79 T plate MGB GT. Rubber bumper model with the orange/grey/black velour striped seat covers BRG was the colour and very smart it looked too, even had the original 8 track player from UNIPART. Anyway, my thoughts of trundling around the rural roads in it with the kids in the back, were short lived as Mrs B didn’t like it. So, the car sat for almost 12 months in our garage which was a prefab concrete affair, quite damp with condensation. I went to it one day to recommission it and the underside had turned bright orange with surface rust! The interior fabric didn’t fair much better with a nice crop of mould cultivated. I moved on from that to another motorbike This time a GL1200 Aspencade. Very nice machine it was with every conceivable bolt on extra you can imagine not like me at all
I’ve always liked the MGB GT but never owned one. Although a sports car it’s tailgate eventually moved into a design included in modern hatchbacks IMO. My sister and I got a lift home in one from a relative and sat in the rear on the bench seat which we found comfortable but we were both under 10 years old.
However I’m as certain as I can be that I wouldn’t fit on the rear bench seat today .
Another person I know had the V8 version and was told if the starter motor fails it’s an engine out job .
We have owned three MGB GTs including an original V8 version. Don’t recollect them as being particularly small but my current 1971 Triumph GT6 Mk3 really is perfection in miniature. However small the MGB GT and the Triumph GT6 are, they are both able to carry a sensible amount of luggage or shopping compared to my current Mazda Mk4 !
Ah yes ,a trip down memory lane, many years ago myself and two of my cousins ,all a similar age, bought sports cars, I had a Triumph Spitfire, one bought a white MG midget, and one bought a Lotus Elan hard top in Royal Blue with a Black Badge.
The Spitfire and MG ( which by today’s standards is tiny) proved to be quite reliable, but the Lotus was a money pit, it had these round rubber doughnut grommet thingy’s that were part of the drive mechanism as far as I can remember, now these things kept breaking/failing, and had to be replaced fairly regularly, and we used to joke that he was going to the shops for a bag of doughnuts.
Regardless of problems,we all had a lot fun in those cars, and also on the various motorbikes Iv’e had over the years, then kids came and grew up, and now my wife and I are loving every minute of our time in the Mk3, we might be getting on a bit, but when I’m driving around the country lanes , Summer or Winter with the top down on a nice day , I feel like I’m 25 again
I had a B and a GT. We were much smaller in those days. I can remember getting four adults into our BMC Mini. Can’t do that now, not even in a BMW Mini.
Never had a BGT, but was offered one several years ago. Loved the classic lines. I had a test drive and didn’t get on with it, the gear change was awful. I did own a 1275cc Midget in the seventies which was fun. This was replaced by a Spitfire 1500 with o/d which seemed a bit better built than the Midget. Both the MG and the Spitfire were fun but (not unsurprisingly) neither was a match for the mk2 mx-5, which I had until a year ago before getting an ND. One thing in favour of these old cars of course is that they do bring back some great memories…!
I ran MGB’s as every day cars for more than twelve years (and owned a selection of GT’s and then a roadster in that time) They were all reliable, and I only had two breakdowns in all that time - both fuel pump related!!! In the GT there was enough room in the back for loads of shopping, and the roadster boot was also big enough to cart all manner of stuff around!
I eventually sold the last one about seventeen years ago to help my funds stretch to buying an old Morgan (1976 Plus 8) which I then used every day for a couple of years - no room at all for anything in that, unless you put it in the passenger foot well?! I have still got the Morgan, and have had a lot of fun with it!
I started running MX5’s as every day cars about fifteen years ago, first with a MK1, and have since had a MK2 and am now on my second MK3. All great cars and I would not be without one - I tried that but missed it so much, I gave in and bought my current MK3 Sport, which I love.
We still have an MG in the family - a 1968 MGC GT - essentially the same size inside as an MGB - and our large German Shepherd dog goes in the back of that!!!
But I am used to small cars - I grew up with Mini’s - we have always had a Mini in the family since I was about eight years old - so most other cars seem big in comparison!
I was never keen on the MGB. I bought a Mk3 Spitfire instead - it turned out to be the most mechanically unreliable car I’ve ever owned. The good thing about the design was that you could lift the bonnet and then sit on the front wheel, with your feet on the ground and lean over the engine to work in the engine bay. Just as well!
There is a design fault on the transmission of these cars, causing UJs to regularly fail. There is only a single Hardy Spicer UJ on the inner end of each driveshaft. There needs to be one at each end, to avoid cyclic acceleration and deceleration once the shaft is other than in a straight line with its associated coupling. Because these cars have swing axle rear suspension, they seldom are in line. I got so used to changing these that I could do it in 45 minutes, even though this involved stripping and rebuilding the rear suspension.
Never owned a BGT but we had 2 MGB soft tops, both 1970’s cars. The first one was traded in for a TR7 and to be honest, the difference between them was night and day, the TR7 was far superior, faster, better handling, quieter, in fact superior in most departments. Having said that, we still bought the 2nd MGB a few years later so it must have had some irrational appeal. I’d have another one now if they weren’t so expensive!
Never actually owned an MGB GT, roadster or Midget but old enough to remember when they were de rigeuer. There was nothing affordable that could do the same job so they were the MX5 of their time. Spent lot of hours welding and working on them, driven them and been a passenger in them many times.
From memory the arrival of the MR2 and then the MX5, vastly superior in every way, killed the MGB dead for all except the keenest enthusiasts.
Back in the day, as the saying goes, I have owned -
MG Midget, Dark Blue, JDE 660E.
This was my daily driver and once took my (then) wife and myself on a 2 week camping trip to the Algarve driving through France, Spain, and Portugal returning via an ‘interesting’ route through the mountains. Attached to the fixed radio aerial was a small Union Flag which attracted much attention and got us a free lunch at a family owned roadside cafe - they couldn’t believe how such a small car could drive all that way !
MGB Roadster, Blaze Orange, ANT 49L
Again a daily driver. comfortable to drive (in those days), using the overdrive it was fairly economical, totally reliable and good fun as I remember it.
My very first car was an MG TA (with a TC engine) which was great - until it went for its 1st MOT
Great memories for me of a classic British Marque now sadly deceased.
The very nearest I’ve got to those early driving years, in terms of fun, is my MX5 which compares more than favourably with the MGB
Yes, it seems some people are surprised that a car designed around 2002 is better than one designed in 1962. This is like putting a Challenger 2 up against a Comet tank, a Spitfire against Tornado jet, M1 Garand v AR-15 etc.
There was a 26 year gap between a 1963 MGB and the 1989 NA MX5. There was a 26 year gap between the 1989 NA and 2015 ND. Which model represents the true step change? I thought driving an early ND at Goodwood was cool, but it didn’t actually feel so different to my 1997 NA. But I know having driven for a while a 1980 MGB it really did feel like step back in time compared to the NA of less than 10 years later.
I have long thought the MGB GT’s styling was hugely underrated . If it had been a limited run Zagato Alfa with those looks, it’d be a catwalk queen at Pebble Beach . But its ubiquity has made us forget what a neatly styled car it was - at least in chrome bumper form . The later ones with raised ride height , hideous seats and clumsy nose job were an affront and illustrated everything that was wrong with BL.
But an early B GT - on those funky perforated steel wheels (or better still. Minilites ) , in grey or blue was a lovely looking thing . And great sounding too, as Bs had a notoriously boisterous exhaust note , quite unmistakable and audible a street away