Beschreibung
In true British sportscar tradition, my 'B' is somewhat different than it was when it left the production line in ‘76... Originally primrose yellow ( horrible ) with rubber bumpers, it is now vermillion red ( fabulous ), with chrome bumpers and spoked alloys, à la Minilites.
It also has a well-fitting, black, fabric hood, a tonneau cover and a removeable roll-bar.
The interior is all black, with red-piping to the seats and headrests.
To match the radical change in appearance, there are equally exciting changes in the mechanical spec...
In 2007, the engine was stripped, bored out to 1950cc, reconditioned, modified and rebuilt by Oselli Engineering, to their Stage2, fast-road specification. The car has never been dyno’d, but performance is reckoned to be about 40% up on standard... so somewhere around 135 to 140 bhp.
There is also an Oselli tubular inlet manifold, a S/ S exhaust manifold and a tuned exhaust system, which provides a really great sound track to any journey. The car has a single 45DCOE Weber carb, Bosch 123 electronic ignition and a sports coil.
The brakes are up-rated and the suspension has adjustable Spax shocks at the back and a V8 anti-roll bar at the front.
The car benefits from overdrive on 3rd and 4th and, being one of the ‘transitional’ cars, has the O/ D switch on the windscreen wiper stalk - the best possible place for easy operation. The car has correct oil-pressure, both on start-up and when warm, is a delight to drive, with vast amounts of torque and very lively
acceleration.
The car has had 5 owners before me and comes with a very full and comprehensive history file.
The body is sound and cosmetically pretty good, though by no means concourse. That said, it has been to several shows and always invites comment wherever it is parked. The under bonnet area is the only real cosmetic let-down, definitely ‘go’ rather than ‘show’... but you’ll need something to tidy during the long
winter evenings!
All in all a good looking, great-to-drive B... I’ll be sorry to part with it, but I have now bought a TD.
