Description
Kelham Hall | Newark, Nottinghamshire
Viewing: Tues 16th June from 12pm
Auction: Wed 17th June from 9am
Location: Main Street, Newark, Nottinghamshire NG23 5QX
1977 MG B Roadster
No Reserve
Registration No: RWO 824R
Chassis No: GHN5424476G
MOT: Exempt
Subject to a previous restoration including a bodywork renovation, Ivor
Searle engine, and new interior
Benefitting from a new battery, tyres, and oil cooler in recent times
Just 64, 000 recorded and credible miles
Offered with a history file including previous MOTs and invoices
Introduced in 1962, the MGB Roadster enjoyed an eighteen-year production run. With nicely balanced handling and a good turn of speed, it merited the old MG marketing slogan 'Safety Fast'. Based around a monocoque chassis featuring independent coil-sprung front suspension and a leaf-sprung 'live' rear axle, its 1, 798cc 'B' series four-cylinder engine was allied to four-speed manual transmission. Capable of over 100mph (especially if specified with overdrive), the provision of front disc and rear drum brakes and rack and pinion steering greatly aided control. However, the biggest visual change in the car’s history occurred when steel reinforced rubber bumpers replaced the chrome ones and the ride height was raised by one inch. By the time Roadster production ceased in October, 1980, a total of 399, 070 are said to have been produced.
Still one of the most practical, useable and enjoyable classics there is, this extremely presentable MGB shows just twelve keepers over its half-century life, with two recent long-term keepers between 2001 and 2015, and then from 2015 to 2024. During the 1990s and early 2000s, it underwent some extensive restoration, which saw the interior renewed and an Ivor Searle engine fitted. A photographically documented bodywork restoration was also performed. Pleasingly, the MG is finished its original and delightfully period colour of Sandglow, which has evidently been resprayed at some point, and the present odometer reading of just over 63, 400 could conceivably be the original mileage from new. If the restoration still looks nearly-new, that is because the MG has mainly been garaged since. It is seen minimal use, with the mileage in 2007 standing at 63, 041.
