Descripción
I bought this beauty toward the end of last summer and had some great drives before the cold weather took hold. This year, we have again enjoyed her immensely but, in discussion with my wife, the time has come to move her on, as a VW Type 2 camper is on our horizon.
Where to start? I took over a year to find this car. I wanted a very specific car, I wanted a GT, I wanted a Webasto and I wanted the cosmetics to be as good as possible. I'm really good at mechanical stuff, but bodywork gives me the fear. I also wanted it to be as bone-stock as possible.
MG's generally are amongst the best supported classics out there. There are many sources of spares and if you want to, you can pretty much build one from scratch using all-new parts. Again, this was a consideration for me, as I like to drive my classics, rather than spend most of my life with them hunting for spares. If something does break, I want to know that it can be replaced quickly, cheaply and easily.
The car, as bought, wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it was close enough. The bodywork is excellent, there is, literally, no rust underneath and the important joints between the rear wings and rear panel, and the front scuttle are good and solid. There is no rust anywhere, and the paintwork is really good.
We were at MG Live at Silverstone recently, and we pulled over in a local town for an ice cream on the way home. As soon as I got out of the car, an elderly gent stopped to talk, telling me that the car was a beauty and asked if I'd had it since new. I then took my sunhat from the boot and a young bloke in his 20's stopped to tell me how nice he thought the car was, in a modern-youth vernacular. Once we had the ice cream in hand, and were sitting in the boot (one of the benefits of a flat boot floor is the ability to use it as a picnic bench, a-la Range Rover, albeit without the leg stretch), a young girl stopped to chat, she had just passed her test and her first car is a red GT. We were there for less than 15 minutes in all, and three different people stopped to compliment us on the car, such is the condition.
Tthe paintwork would benefit from a flat and polish, if you want perfection, but it isn't crying out for it. The chromework around the rear window frames shows signs of age, and there's a small chunk of paint which has been removed from the door shut on the drivers side where I'd imagine a seat belt buckle has been caught at some point. This has been touched in, so there's no rust, but it isn't a perfect match. There are some chips and scratches, but this is a 55 year old car, so that's to be expected.
There are some small oil leaks, but it doesn't lose more than a few drips, so nothing to be concerned. When I bought the car, it was leaking from the rocker cover, a side timing cover, and I think the rear seal, and from the oil cooler line unions. I have replaced the rocker cover gasket (actually, I replaced the rocker cover!), both timing cover gaskets and both oil cooler lines, but the rear main seal hasn't been done yet - it's not a big leak, and I was happy to wait until the engine came out for it's next clutch change, whenever that may be, that's how insignificant the leak is.
As I mentioned, when I bought the car, the overall condition was excellent, and I was happy to pay all the money for it, but there were some mechanical issues and I've addressed all of them.
The cooling system never struck me as too convincing. The original cooling fan had been replaced with a (badly installed) Kenlowe fan. Further investigation revealed that the radiator wasn't all it could have been, so I replaced the radiator, along with all the hoses and clips, re-instated the original fan and thought I'd replace the thermostat too, except it was missing, so I put a new stat in, replaced the water pump and the car holds a rock steady temperature now, and is far more reliable as a result.
The steering was a little vague, so I've replaced the steering rack, the track rod ends and the steering column universal joint. The result is a car which drives "like a well-sorted MGB should" according to a local classic car mechanic and Youtube bloke. The comment was on a test drive after he had sorted the tracking after the steering components had been replaced.
Whilst the car would run fine, it would hunt and tickover was slow to return below 1500 rpm, so the carbs have been serviced, cleaned, balanced and tuned. She now runs like a Swiss watch.
The heater controls were all seized, so a new heater valve and two new cables have been installed, and all of the flaps have been freed off. The heater now works perfectly.
i've replaced the stereo too - the original radio (which you are more than welcome to) would only pick up Radio 4 on Long Wave, which suited the car well, but I wanted a bit of Bat Out of Hell, so I installed a period-correct AM/ FM tape player, and some reasonable speakers too. Meatloaf would approve, I suspect.
The car came on LE alloys, which were wrong, being from a much later car, so these were replaced with a set of good-condition Rostyle's with stainless embellishers. Much better.
Brakes were next. A previous owner had installed a brake servo and rear disc brakes to improve braking. The truth is that the MGB has perfectly good brakes when they're looked after, which is a simple matter of cleaning the brakes properly when the shoes are replaced, and adjusting them as a part of the service. The discs upset the balance and, insanely, didn't have enough power to lock the wheels. A new rear-brake setup was purchased and installed, adjusted and the brakes are so much better - balanced, way more powerful (and will lock all four wheels if required) and with way more feel. The servo remains, as that's a useful addition.
Ooh, the steering wheel - the car came with a wooden rimmed item, a Mota-Lita copy, and I've searched for, and found, the proper wire sprung wheel, but I can swap for the Mota Lita if you'd prefer that..
Then there were lots of little details, like the radio being in the wrong place, the over-riders being from a later car, much of the switch gear being either inoperative (I'm looking at you, map light and windscreen washer pump), and also the flasher was erratic. I've fixed all of these issues and many others.
Overall, the car is in excellent condition. The bumper chrome is perfect, the interior is in amazing condition and everything works as it should.
She drives beautifully, with 60-70mph cruising being relaxing with the overdrive engaged, and bend-swinging on country lanes being massively enjoyable and rewarding. Every drive leaves me with a massive smile on my face. She won't let you down.
So, why am I selling? Simple, my wife has always wanted a Type 2, and the time is right for that, and I don't have the room for two classics, alongside our daily drivers. The car lives in the garage when she's not being driven, under a soft cover, which I could include in the sale.
Onto the logistics- the car is located in Newport Pagnell, J14 on the M1, so pretty much smack bang in the middle of the country. She is tax and MOT exempt. Rough driveable examples are anywhere between £7k and £9k, and immaculate cars are around £25k and upwards. My GT isn't immaculate, but she's a long way from rough, has been well looked after (including a proper service before being garaged for the winter) and is a good, reliable, well cared-for example, so I've priced her accordingly.
Please let me know if there are any questions
