MGBs continue to show up in self-service wrecking yards, with another rubber-bumper Malaise Era example today. In my junkyard expeditions prior to today, I’ve photographed this ’67, this ’71, this ’75, this ’77, this ’77, this ’79, and this ’79 with a Toyota 20R swap, and now we’ve got today’s Denver ’79.
This car appears to have an old Volvo key, attached to a 20-year-old Colorado State Patrol keychain, in the ignition. Knowing British Leyland quality as I do, it’s likely that any key (or key-like object) will work the ignition on a late-70s MGB, or perhaps Volvo key blanks are similar to BL blanks of this era.
The BMC B engine went into a jillion types of vehicles during its 1950s-1980s production run, from the Massey-Harris Combine Harvester to the Nash Metropolitan to the Leyland Sherpa. Neither powerful nor smooth, but fairly sturdy.
This car appears to have been under restoration at some point, but that was a long time ago.
The problem with convertible projects like this is that their interiors get trashed quickly during outdoor storage, especially in harsh climates like Colorado’s.
It’s not rusty, but the black-bumper MGBs are insufficiently prized to be worth restoring when they get this battered.
It seems a shame to scrap a rust free car if it really was .
I see it had been up dated to dual S.U. carbys , this helps the lack of power thing in later MGB’s , also , the cam is retarded 3° to reduce emissions , a very simple to fix thing indeed .
I don’t suppose you know how to check if it’s over drive equipped ? .
Another one bites the dust =8-( .
-Nate
Truly a shame.
Wouldn’t it be backdated to dual carburetors? These things finished their run with single carbs. Also, how can you tell what intake this car used? I don’t see any induction or exhaust components.
*edit: I see the air cleaner housings on the windshield now. I was looking for a manifold or carbs.
Whoa! Leyland beauty.. by 79 the MGB was long-in-the-tooth. And the cat was well out the bag on Leyland quality.
Best iteration was the small Buick V8.
There are kits available to transplant the Chevrolet 2.8L V6 which give reliability, torque, and power with upsetting or overwhelming the chassis.
This is a typical outfit:
http://www.classicconversionseng.com/index.htm
A Buick V6 in a TR-7 was also common, but harder to find these days.
And that is the advantage of the rubber bumper cars: the Buick 215 – 340 was a bolt-in, as the MGC was the same body shell. Land Rover engines are practically free these days. If you want to kill a couple of days, check out http://www.britishv8.com to see what you can do with an american lump in a british roadster. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
A rubber bumpered MGB in a junkyard? Good place for it. I have a very limited amount of seat time in one of these, I’d take a similar vintage Fiat 124 Spyder instead. I suppose the MGB was a reasonably nice drive, if somewhat dated, back in the middle 60’s. By the late 70’s it was really obsolete and slow, even by the diminished standards of the time.
One of these came into the shop I was working in back in the early 80’s, the owner said it had been running roughly and was down on power. Once we got it apart, we found that one of the connecting rods had bent about 30 degrees, but the engine was still chuffing along on three cylinders
Today, there are kits to replace the rubber bumbers with chrome and lower the suspension. A little engine work and you have a nice classic sport cars. Yes some pedestrian V6 family car will beat you to the next stop light. But you won’t care.
0-60 times for a late MGB are in the mid teens, and can be beaten (badly) by any four cylinder economy car, or for that matter, by a Mitsubishi Mirage.
Men at the end of the Boomer generation were drawn to these things in impressive numbers. Finding an old MG under a tarp in the back yard was easy to find in every subdivision in the US. They almost never get restored. It’s at a time when they have a choice, buy a Harley or get a convertible. The Harley buyers get a couple seasons out of their bikes before selling them, the MG owners keep them forever and never drive them.
Then the owners have medical issues or pass away and the family is left to deal with the remains of the car, and that’s what you likely see here. There’s no chance a living owner would let the car go to the yard with all the spares in it.
One of my neighbors had one of these sitting in his driveway for a few years, entropy having its way with it, until the city made him move it. Turns out it was somewhat driveable, but was ratty enough to where he didn’t want to actually drive it.
People who are doing their first resurrection of an old car tend to vastly understate the amount of work it will take.
They also vastly underestimate how much money it will take, too.
Best thing I ever did was to buy my Little British Sportscar as the almost done project of someone else. Just needed the interior finished. Paid all kinds of money for it, relatively speaking, but I have gotten 20 years of pleasure out of it with relatively few hassles. Worth every penny. Though it IS having an issue at the moment, which Sajeev will be posting this week.
There are very, very few cars that you can restore more cheaply than buying one already restored. And that is with valuing your time at $0/hr.
It’s also why I get a huge chuckle out of those who complain when something like a really pristine time-warp Volvo 240 (or whatever) is offered up for $10K or some such. You can’t make an average one nice for the price, so you might as well buy a nice one if that is what you want.
“Men at the end of the Boomer generation were drawn to these things in impressive numbers.”
Do you mean at the leading edge of Boomers, as in earliest born?
I was born in ’54 and MGBs were already pretty quaint when I was in high school. Plus, 240Zs were known to all.
1854?
Well, now that you ask, I’m not sure.
Lemme find my license for the DOB…
I guess it probably runs the gamut. I tend to think of them around my dad’s age (grew up in the early ’50s) but it probably covers all of them.
Fortunately my dad got it out of his system in the ’70s. He had an MG and a Spitfire from what I’m told. Both were projects and led him to realize he wasn’t a project kinda guy.
I was the last of 6 and my dad was well past caring about cars when I was just beginning to so an older brother filled that role with his Triumphs.
There *was* magic in those old Brit roadsters but it was pretty tired and co-opted by the ’70s.
At some point the price of used Miatas made the thought of restoring a “classic” like this a bit of a joke.
I’d gladly take a good running 1st gen MR2 needing extensive rust repair instead.
This comment, I agrees with it.
Non-exotic old roadsters just aren’t good enough to drive to make up for the pain of owning them.
I’d say this applies to most old thing in the automotive world.
+1. Unless you have a strong sense of nostalgia, most of these cars aren’t worth bothering with. There are some that I would consider great classics that are worth having, but most of us can’t afford them.
If I had the time and money for a play car, I’d get a Subaru BRZ and set it up as a track day car. If I were lusting after a classic, I’d want a Porsche 911 Carrera RS, but there’s no way I could afford it, and even if I could, I know a late model Cayman would drive much better.
That’s why old land yachts are great, they’re super cheap and so simple that any idiot can keep them running.
Speaking of old things, a few quickly shot Legend pictures (nothing was done between delivery and these pictures except for a quick wash and a once-over of the leather with saddle soap):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/albums/72157661695033351
185,000 miles. The condition vs. mileage equation of this car is just ridiculous. Only problem I can find anywhere on it is a leaky water pump.
Would you consider a Lotus Elan to be exotic or non-exotic? Other than in 0-60 times, it can keep up with plenty of modern machinery.
Yup. I keep trying to convince my baby-boomer dad to buy a Datsun Fairlady, Sunbeam or Fiat (but not an MG), but the existence of 25 years of Miata pretty much ends the conversation about 45 seconds in.
I’m glad to have checked if this had already been said as it was my intent to say it. Theres just no value when Miata is an option.
These could be driven on the sidewalks of small Ohio towns! Well, not legally, but all four wheels were on concrete.
Top speed is officially listed as 99 mph. Mine would do exactly that even with a Weber carb and, wait for it, headers. Why’d I do it? Rusted exhaust and a desire to have the car start at temps below 40!
I’m positive that an MG would fit on the sidewalks of Ottawa, OH – right down Main Street. Just watch out for the parking meters.
I’m surprised no one has pulled the head yet – an uncracked head is a real find. I know this all too well – I cracked the head on 77 MGB when I developed a radiator leak.
” Both were projects and led him to realize he wasn’t a project kinda guy.”
And therin lies the rub :
Pretty much any and all older British cars were ‘ projects ‘ from day one .
By both design and the worthless lazy assed unions who rather struck than actually take _any_ time to properly manufacture or assemble the damn things when new .
Nevertheless , they’re a hoot to drive , only folks who’ve never driven a well sorted one say anything different .
I love my elderly BMC Sports Coupe , warts , rust , three main bearing engine and all .
-Nate
They were a blast, and could carry enough speed through a turn that the power was enough to best some pony cars and cruisers. Still, nothing a Miata won’t do better, cheaper, and more reliably.
I understand what everyone is saying about the Miata, but at the end of the day you are still driving a Miata. It is not always about performance.
Austin Healey and a 1967 Datsun 2000 are two cars that come to mind that while a Miata will run circles around them stock, are just pure sex on wheels.
When the MGB debuted in 1962 it was more-or-less competitive with the Porsche 356.
And everything else in it’s class at the time, at it was quite reasonably priced. Problem was, they were still making them 18 years later, just not as well!
I do love MGBs though. And you can fix most of what ails the late ones for a lot less than what an early one costs.
I know the rubber bumper era MG’s get plenty of hate and are called cow-catchers but I always thought the design was fairly clean. They did not seem tacked on but were contoured to the front fenders and rear quarters unlike the battering rams that Detroit added to their post-73 cars.
BMC got 18 years of these and failing to upgrade them with fuel injection and multi-valves as well as improved quality led to their demise.
I remember some SCCA production class racers back in the day with this front bumper painted body color and matched nicely to the hood and fenders.
Amazing how much better it looked vs. the factory setup. Downright aerodynamic. Of course they were lowered on wide tires so that helped too.
The wire basket wheels on this car probably Keystone or American Racing are way out of place on this. Back when they were popular you would always see them with missing baskets.
Attention Americans – that YouTube clip of the striking British Leyland workers is almost 40 years old. Please do not think that is representative of Britain today!
Not to worry. That’s easily discerned from the atrocious video quality and we know nobody sports sideburns like that anymore.
Well, unless they’re extras in an Inspector Gently episode.