The Mighty B! - The Story of the MGB

there are some cars that truly captured the essence of a classical motoring era and among the most prominent is the MGB one of the most popular vintage sports cars in the world behind the beautiful body though the MGB was able to bring the masses a sports car that while somewhat understated in terms of performance was cheap and easy to enjoy a goal that could be reached below such Titans as the Jaguar e-type in the Ferrari 250 it was an aspirational machine that became a staple of the British Motor Industry and even after it was contorted and discontinued the mighty Bee has seen a life after death in the hands of dedicated enthusiasts ensuring that there will be at least one of these humble little cars left on the roads the story of the MGB begins in the late 1950s when the then chief engineer of mg CID ennifer was tasked to replace the companies then flagship model the mga the mga had been launched in 1955 to replace the TF 1500 and was a crisp beautiful machine that outsold on the export market with 95 thousand units shipped abroad while only 5000 869 cars were sold to UK owners problems emerged for the mga though when austin-healey a rival car builder held under the same umbrella group as mg called the Nuffield organization launched the sprite in 1958 the sprite despite its strange looks was an instant hit among British buyers as trends moved towards smaller sports car designs this combined with other competitors such as the Sunbeam Alpine and the triumph tr4 a meant that mga sales were starting to struggle another fault of the mga was its poor ride comfort which was much improved on its rivals who could also match the car for performance therefore as part of the original specification for the replacement mg B the new car would retain all the driver appeal of the mga while also adding a certain degree of comfort and accommodation MGB development began in 1958 under the codename mg X 205 and was the first mg roadster to be fitted with a monocoque strut we're by the chassis and body she'll come down the production line together rather than the previous body-on-frame construction making it very strong as required the car carried over many features from the previous mga including the brakes while the engine the BMC B series power unit of 1954 was enlarged from the previous mga is 1622 CC to 1798 CC in order to compensate for the heavier monocoque construction a byproduct of this was increased torque which added to acceleration against the mga to solve the matter of comfort mg trialed various methods of rear suspension mainly comprising of course spring arrangements but none were deemed suitable for a car thus in desperation the design team brought over the traditional arrangement of a live rear axle sprung and located by simple leaf springs this somewhat agricultural solution was deemed to offer the best overall compromise between cost and effectiveness and the springing rates were much softer than the mga s in order to achieve the comfort and stability the engineers were chasing the front suspension and rack and pinion steering were also carried over from the mga with the whole assembly being mounted on a detachable crossmember other creature comforts added to the MGB were wind-up windows as standard and a comfortable driver's compartment that offered generous amounts of legroom with their work done the MGB made its debut at the 1962 London Motor Show - which had opened to critical acclaim reviewers noted that the car's superb styling and performance were a worthy successor to the mga and it was in this that mg placed as much emphasis as possible on its looks to try and get the car sold in the United States performance for the original mg B was modest for the era with a naught to 60 time of 11 seconds and a top speed of 100 miles an hour to compare the triumph tr4 had a naught to 60 time of 16 seconds and a top speed of 100 miles an hour while the austin-healey 3000 had a naught to 60 time of 11 seconds and a top speed of 115 miles an hour at the same time the cars 23 miles per gallon fuel efficiency was comparable to the 3020 3.5 mpg and the triumphs 22.5 mpg aside from production in England the MGB was also assembled in Australia at the Enfield press steel factory in Sydney with complete knockdown kits being shipped there for easy construction eventually production moved to the BMC zetlen plant in 1968 and MGBs would be built in australia until 1972 when the government issued a requirement that to enjoy favourable tariff treatment locally produced cars should feature 85% local content of which the MGB only sported a 45 percent local content in total 9,000 Australian mg bees were built all of which were roadsters following its launch the first few years of the MGB saw little modifications but was subject to a continuous development plan by mg in order to ensure it remained relevant as the automotive world changed around it in 1965 the mg B engine received a five bearing crank bottom end that had been introduced for the a do one seven land crab saloon cars which improved the driving experience but at the expense of marginally slowing its acceleration in late 1965 it became apparent that despite the MGB being popular and successful customers desired the provision of a hardtop coupe a model in order to complement the pre-existing drop-top roadster prior to this MGB roadster could be made available with a removable hardtop but this wasn't a popular alternative to a dedicated coupe a design to help develop a closed coupe a version of the car mg turned to the Italian karate Aria Pininfarina for design assistance with the result being the greenhouse style sloping rear with large window while the closed coupe a version of the mg be designated the MGB GT shared most of its mechanical parts with the Roadster there were some minor alterations this mention received different springs and anti-roll bars and a different windscreen was installed that was designed specifically for ease of replacement and service in terms of performance the added weight of the new roof meant the car had a slightly slow and nought to 60 time than the Roadster but the improved aerodynamics meant it had a 105 mile an hour top speed the MGB GT was an instant hit among critics and buyers and the design similarities of this cars shape to high-end grand tours like the db5 in the e-type meant it was affectionately dubbed the baby Aston Martin aside from mass production mg B's a limited run of specially styled cars were also produced by the Belgian coach builder Shaq corneille which altered the front design fitted a fastback and raised the height of the windscreen the fruits of their labor was the mg Bieber the net a superb looking variant of the mighty B of which 56 were produced customised MGBs were also incredibly popular on the international road competition scene with modified aluminium bodied examples achieving victory in the Grand Touring category for the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally as well as seeing wins at the guard's 1,000 miles race at Brands Hatch in 1965 and the 84 hour marathon delle route at the Nurburgring in 1966 mg bees also won the GT category in the 1966 Targa Florio the 1966 spar 1000 and the 1967 spar 1000 come 1966 it was apparent that the rival austin-healey 3000 which had been in production since 1959 and had become one of Britain's most successful sports cars was in need of replacement but considerations as to developing a new car was slow to materialize originally BMC had proposed a bespoke replacement for the car called the a do 30 or the austin-healey 4000 a low-slung coupe a that seemed to follow many styling cues from the mg B the a do 30 project despite much enthusiasm and with a proposed 360,000 unit per annum production run suffered a slow expensive and protracted demise gieux largely to management bungling and the merger of BMC with Jaguar to form British motor things or bmh having spent in excess of 1 million pounds on the a do 30 project and achieved very little bmh desperately needed a quick replacement for the 3000 and thus turned their sights to their other flagship sports car model the MGB as it happened the designers at mg were working on their own improved variants of the mg B that would be fitted with a 3 liter C Series engine from the Austin 3 litre saloon and was dubbed project a do 52 or the mg C therefore as the mg C project was proceeding much more successfully than the austin-healey 4000 bmh his management chose instead to merge the two schemes into a single model initially the plan was to create both the mg C an equivalent austin-healey model but Donald Healey the founder of the original Donald Healey Motor Company that helped to form the austin-healey joint venture in 1953 was less than enthusiastic of an austin-healey car being a rebadged mg and thus put up stiff opposition while Healy demanded that the 3,000 remain in production neither he or the bmh management could reach a compromise and thus the austin-healey 3000 ended without a successor in 1967 as for the mg C this car was to be fitted with a 2.9 liter straight-6 engine while adopting the crisp styling of both the MGB roadster in the GT the engine producing 145 horsepower presented a nought to 60 time of nine point seven seconds and the car would go on to a top speed of 118 miles an hour while sporting a fuel consumption of 20 miles per gallon problems came however following the launch of the mg C in 1967 when a slew of teething problems and performance issues with the car were quick to make themselves apparent the first issue was caused by the bmh press office when they incorrectly pressured the tires on the launch cars meaning that the heavier weight of the three liter engine exacerbated the cars already significant understeer the heavy steering was noted and condemned by motoring critics which put the car in a bad light from the start second was the rather unsightly bonnet bulge implemented on the mgc in order to accommodate the larger engine a last-minute solution has no other method of enlarging the engine bay was forthcoming finally was the fact it was neither a direct replacement for the austin-healey 3000 nor was it a high-performance version of the MGB the car being marketed as a standalone model that seemed somewhat lost in bee mh's product lineup in total only 8999 m GCS were built by the time production engine in 1969 of which 4,000 457 word GTS and 4,000 542 were roadsters perhaps the only distinguishing legacy of the mg C was the fact that Charles Prince of Wales took delivery of a 1967 mg c GT which he later handed down to his son Prince William in 1997 in 1968 British Motor Holdings merged with the Leyland group to form British Leyland and following this the newly formed manufacturer began a slew of facelifts and replacements to the models it had inherited the mg B was no exception and in 1969 the car went to cosmetic overhaul with the original chrome grille being replaced by a recessed plastic design that invoked the ire of enthusiasts problems didn't just emerge from within the UK though but also abroad specifically the unprecedented rise of Japanese car builders the most notable competitor to the mg B in 1969 was the Datsun 240z a brand new sports car from the Nissan Company but sought to compete directly with the mg in its most lucrative market the United States the 240z was not only a stylish car but also presented reliability and build quality that far exceeded its European rivals and thus became the fastest selling sports car in US history this was hampered further by the enactment of emissions regulations outlined by the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA through the Clean Air Act of 1963 and the vehicle air pollution and Control Act of 1965 which required the management of unchecked pollution on both domestic and imported cars being sold in the United States in response MGD tuned the b-series engine from its original power output of 95 horsepower to 82 horsepower increasing nought to 60 time to 18 seconds and reducing the top speed to 90 miles an hour behind-the-scenes attempts to replace the eight-year-old MGB were dropped by British Leyland's chairman Donald Stokes who acts to mgz x-23 for project in 1968 the ex2 34 was a development considered as early as 1964 in which the mg B's design was to be revised in order to improve its suspension system but this would be combined with a comprehensive styling overhaul with input provided by Pininfarina the resulting prototype was a beautifully styled low-slung sports car with the drive layout of an Austin and hydro elastic suspension from the Austin 1100 with the ex2 3/4 project progressing nicely the intention was to offer this mg B replacement with a new series of engines including the a and B series power plants with the possibility of the car also providing a replacement for the MG however despite there being several working prototypes for the ex2 34 donald stokes and the British Leyland management made the short-sighted decision to stop development of the new car as mg B and sales were still strong and thus were in no need of replacement as Stokes was a former executive in the triumph company he placed the greater emphasis on the development of triumph models in order to improve their sales and thus oversaw the creation of cars like the triumph stag and the tr7 both of which were designed specifically for the US market but ultimately failed to corner it due to a variety of mechanical and build quality issues all the while mg in austin-healey were left to languish in isolation providing the wider British Leyland firm with a steady income on the export market in order to help pay off the company's mounting debts therefore rather than making a brand new italian-style sports car reminiscent of the Alfa Mayo Spyder and fitted with a variety of engines that allowed mg to rationalize their product range the company was now stuck with near decade old designs that while selling well were queered by an inevitable sense of commercial fatigue thus as British Leyland set to work on developing the ill-fated tr7 the company underwent its first major reorganization as profits began to slip under increasingly strained work of relations in 1971 the company was subdivided into Austin Morris incorporating the tube mass production brands and the specialist car division which took on the high-end Jaguar Rover and triumph behind the veil of reorganization though the splitting of the high-end and low-end marks was a tactical move by the British Leyland management to leave Austin and Morris stagnating out of sight and out of mind while more attention was placed into developing new models for their luxury brands such as the aforementioned tr7 the rover sd1 and the Jaguar XJS the ignorance of the British Leyland management to the Austin and Morris marks which included mg meant that no incentive or funds were allocated to develop a much needed replacement for the mg B thereby forcing mg engineers and designers to consider cheaper ways of maintaining the car's appeal in the marketplace perhaps the most sought after revision to the mg B was to provide the car with greater power but to be designed in a more dignified manner to that of the failed mg C to help them consider this upgraded model mg designers turned to the world of aftermarket modifications and had noticed the significant popularity of converting the original power plant to the superb Rover 3.5 litre v8 the rover v8 derived from the power unit fitted to large American saloons like the buick skylark and the pontiac tempest was among the most famous car engines ever built and after buying the license to produce UK examples Rover placed the engine into a slew of their products including the p5 the p6 and the Range Rover the most notable aftermarket converter for MGBs was independent tuning engineer Ken Costello who was able to fit new engines to these sports cars in proficient quantities while mg's engineers had previously been skeptical of the ability to fit a rover v8 to the MGB costello proved it could be done without serious modification to the engine bay or frame and after testing a costello converted example british leyland chose to take the concept for themselves but without providing a single penny of royalties to Costello himself for having come up with the original idea sourcing rover v8 was an easy matter now that both mg and rover were part of the same firm but there were a few management issues that meant the resulting car the MGB GT v8 wasn't as superb as it could have been for a start mg chose to downgrade the power output of the rover v8 from Costello's 180 horsepower to a meager 137 horsepower while a minimum power output of 140 horsepower would have been more suitable the cars performance was improved phenomenally with a nought to 60 time of 7.7 seconds and a top speed of 125 miles an hour this was complemented by the fact that the rover v8 aluminium cylinder block was much lighter than the iron 4 cylinder fitted to the regular mg B which meant that the handling and weight wasn't affected as much as it had been with the mg C the second and more crucial management issue made regarding the MGB GT v8 was the fact that no attempt was made by the company to sell the car in the United States in America the mg B in was still selling in profitable numbers so the inclusion of a range-topping high-performance model would have filled the product list perfectly instead British Leyland refused to work the MGB GT v8 for the left-hand drive market only producing seven examples as test beds for certification on us roads before eventually selling these cars on the European market the decision not to sell in the United States while never formally established by British Leyland was likely due to the fact that the company was swiftly losing presence on the American market due to an increasingly constrained dealer network the stringent regulations for cars being sold in the US and the influence of the fuel crisis which struck in October 1973 the same year the MGB GT v8 was launched the fuel crisis would have a profound effect on the sale of v8 both in Britain in America as these inefficient machines were quickly superseded by economy models from Japan and Germany that swept up the market the MGB GT v8 was no different and despite presenting a fuel consumption of between 27 and 31 mpg the very concept of buying a v8 in the midst of an economic recession made no sense to prospective customers sadly without being made available on the lucrative US market the car didn't truly find a home in Britain or the non-us export markets and thus began to falter in the face of larger more practical sports cars like the Ford Capri furthermore as British Leyland fell into bankruptcy in 1975 the supply of Rover v8 fell drastically short of demand and thus what units were available were placed into the upcoming Rover sd1 while the MGB GT v8 received leftovers eventually MGB GT v8 production quietly ended in 1976 with only 2,000 591 units sold at the very least the MGB GT v8 did find a home with the Oxfordshire police force who took on several examples for use as patrol cars before replacing them with v6 Ford capris as for the MGB itself British Leyland were determined to ensure that their sales in America remained strong and thus complied wholeheartedly with every u.s. emission and safety regulation enacted however due to the continued indifference of the wider BL management towards the Austin Morris subdivision redesigning the car comprehensively to suit these requirements was done on a very tight budget with the result only serving to ruin both the cars looks and performance from 1974 new crash impact regulations stipulated the inclusion of revised five-mile-an-hour bumpers on production cars and so cash-strapped mg chose to replace the original chrome over eiders with large protruding steel reinforced black rubber bumpers with the front bumper also incorporating the grille that same year impact regulations also required that car headlights be a minimum height off the ground for rearview visibility and since the MGB was a low-slung sports car it failed to pass muster on this requirement again as mg had been left largely to fend for itself financially the design team wasn't able to revise the front end to suitably match the regulations and instead simply raise the suspension by one inch the consequence of both the heavy bumper in the altered suspension meant the car was now horrendously prone to understeer not helped by emissions regulations that demanded a reduction in power output from the four-cylinder engine the problem of poor handling wouldn't be rectified until 1977 when rear anti-roll bars were fitted in order to counteract the effects of the raised ride height by 1977 though it was clear to both customers and critics that the MGB was being kept in production solely because mg had nothing else to sell nor did they have the money to develop a replacement the car was very much a carryover from a bygone age contorted by safety regulations and strangled by emissions laws it's antique design and image wasn't helped by the rise of highly economical hatchbacks in the mid 1970s with the likes of the Renault 5 the Volkswagen Golf the Vauxhall Chevette and the Talbot Sunbeam presenting power performance and practicality that far exceeded what few archaic sports cars remained in production mg bees continued to sell in spite of the hot hatch revolution primarily due to their cheap price and running costs but they made little profit this was especially pronounced in America where mg would ship a minimum level of units to the USA in order to supply a demand that wasn't there with these cars sitting in stock yards and secured Lots for months before being sent to the showroom the situation in America was so dire that British Leyland made a loss of 900 pounds on every car they sold in the US market the final straw came during the restructuring of British Leyland by the company's new chairman Sir Michael Edwards as part of his sweeping reforms he had noted the fact that mg had apparently lost its identity and that with the previous policy towards supporting the triumphs friend over mg morale at the company's Abington factory near Oxford was very low Edwards therefore could conceive no future for the mg mark as part of his plan and thus decided that the Abington plant would close with all mg production being halted the announcement was ill-timed as mg had celebrated the 50th anniversary of the mark in September 1979 during which the firm highlighted the fact that worker relations when compared to the industrial strife being brought elsewhere in British Leyland was fantastic by comparison mg had always operated in the manner of a family company with the week-long celebrations including the flying in of mg dealers from the company's 150 outlets across the globe as well as a carnival on September 9 through the streets of Abington therefore the announcement on September 10th the Abington Factory was to be closed hit the local area with shock as mg had always operated with smooth industrial relations the fact that their plant was being closed while more militant factories like Cowley and Longbridge were to remain open came across as a brutal and insulting display of ingratitude instead of seeing some kind of investment for their efforts the Abington factory was set to close in June 1980 and the mg mark itself was presented with an uncertain future the end eventually came on October 21st 1981 the last mg be a roadster rolled off the line at Abington bringing a close to a production run of 18 years and 520 3836 cars as well as the company's factory home the last MG which had also endured the decline of the mg mark had drifted silently out of production just under a year earlier on December 7 1979 by the time the Abingdon factory closed mg were losing an approximate 400,000 pounds per week a horrendous contradiction to the fact that it had once been one of British Leyland's most profitable divisions following the end of MGB production british leyland struggled to find a home for the mg brand and eventually settled on placing the mark on a variety of tuned versions of their regular family cars the mg maestro the mg Montego and the mg Metro however the enduring legacy of the mg B meant that there was life after death for this superb timeless machine in October 1979 following the announcement of the Abbington plant closure in the end of MGB production Alan Curtis who held a 42 percent stake in the Aston Martin company entered into discussions with British Leyland as to purchasing both the mg marque and the Abington Factory in order to create a new facelifted model of the mg B the scheme however required 30 million pounds in order to buy the Abington factory from British Leyland and there was much skepticism as to whether these funds could be garnered despite an Aston Martin mg B prototype being produced proving itself to be a somewhat stylish little machine British Leyland suddenly ended the deal when they considered the mg mark too valuable to sell choosing instead to place it on the likes of the Montego maestro and Metro so as to retain the rights to it all attempts by Aston Martin to buy the mg marque subsequently ended when the company nearly went bankrupt in January 1981 despite this the idea of creating a new dedicated mg sports car was still on the cards with the general theme being to create a model based largely on the ever popular mg B a basic but fun roadster in 1983 the company attempted to come back with a new MG based on the underpinnings of the proposed AR 6 range of Austin saloon cars but this never went beyond a few working prototypes in 1985 mg moved drastically to the opposite end of the spectrum with the exe concept a 180 mile an hour supercar that was built to rival the likes of the Porsche 959 but this again never went beyond one prototype following the exe mg returned to the idea of a low slung roadster design with the f16 which included pop-up headlights and chrisp body that was quintessentially 80s the last mg revival concept for the decade was the dr - a roadster designed that experimented with the fitting of a large 3.9 liter Rover v8 engine with the exception of the f16 which would later be evolved into 1995's mg F the and D are two concepts failed to reach production due to a lack of certainty regarding the market for roadsters hot hatchbacks were the order of the day and with the spectacular collapse of traditional sports cars in late 1970s it appeared that investing in roadsters was not commercially viable this mindset was suddenly overturned in 1989 when master launched its incredibly successful mx-5 the master mx-5 was directly inspired by the post-war British Roasters of the 1950s and 60s with cars like the mg B in the Triumph Spitfire being very popular in Japan thus the mx-5 was conceived as a loving tribute with a low slung body akin to M G's and triumphs at the time but with unbeatable Japanese reliability to back it up the arrival of the mx-5 opened the floodgates and started a trend that became a staple of the early 1990s giving rise to numerous competitors in fact similes such as the Honda s2000 and the Lotus Elan M 100 when the mx-5 was released in 1989 mg had committed themselves to the replacement for the f-16 project the pr3 which was gradually evolving the design towards the final MGF however the eventual production model that the pr3 was leading towards wouldn't be made available for at least another four years and thus the company needed to create a new short-term model to answer the demands by customers for a revived mg roadster the result was project adda launched in late 1989 which was based on the highly successful mg b body shells being produced by british motor heritage to supply the restoration market as british motor heritage was owned by british leyland successor rover group this allowed for a ready supply of MGB style body for use with project adder which could be cheaply assembled without distracting design efforts from other Rover group products such as the r16 facelift program for the rover 200 400 and 800 thus project adder was based on a budget of only 5 million pounds and would use as many in-house parts as possible in essence project adder married the british motor heritage MGB bodyshells modified accordingly for the 1990s with the underpinnings and powerplant of the since discontinued dr2 concept to further save on costs the leaf spring rear suspension rear drum brakes boot lid and doors were carried over from the original MGB design and a limited slip differential was also fitted as the 3.9 liter Rover v8 was to be used in the new car the final production name for this machine would be the mg rv8 in terms of performance the mg rv8 had 190 horsepower and could do naught to 60 in 5.9 seconds reaching a top speed of 135 miles an hour while also providing a fuel consumption of 26 miles per gallon production consisted of two parts with the body shell created by British Motor Heritage at the former morris factory in Cowley before being married to the drivetrain and chassis at the former Austin factory in Long Bridge such was the prestige of this model it was essentially hand-built on its own production line away from other Rover Group products with the interior lined with veneer burl elm woodwork and Connolly leather the resulting car made its appearance at the British International Motor Show in October 1992 to which it received somewhat mixed reviews while the car's performance was praised the comfort handling practicality and economy saw less than enthusiastic feedback other bones of contention was the less than stellar braking caused by the rear drum brakes and rear leaf springs while the cars price of 26,000 pounds which put it in the same bracket as the rival TVR griffith meant it was too expensive for the customer base it was hoping to appeal to the TVR Griffith was a far more modern car by comparison with both an improved driving experience and motoring technology while the mg rv8 was simply a carryover from the early 1980s sales in the UK and Europe were also hampered by the influence of the 1992 global economic recession while the car was seen as something of a joke in Britain the RV eights launched at the 1993 Tokyo Motor Show was greeted with widespread acclaim the car was seen as an excellent retelling of the MGB formula and the sales on the export market to Japan was several times greater than those for the domestic market of the 1983 mg rv8 that were eventually produced 1579 of them went to Japan accounting for 79% of the total run although it could be argued that the mg rv8 was a commercial failure the reality was it served its purpose as a stopgap before the MGF was unveiled in 1995 after nearly 10 years of development the MGF caused a significant stir among the motoring press as the first all British car design to be launched by Rover Group since the Montego in 1984 a clear sign of the MGF success was that the BMW management who owned Rover Group refused to sell the car in the USA as they expected the MGF to be such a hit it would steal sales away from their own upcoming z3 roadster regardless the MGF was a simple but superb two-seat roadster that perfectly captured the quirky eccentric charm of post-war British roadsters from the 1950s and 60s with most comparing it favorably to the always popular mg B calling it a car worthy of maintaining the legacy it left behind in 1980 you

Channel: Ruairidh MacVeigh

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Keywords: car, cars, automobile, auto, bus, truck, motor, motor vehicle, saloon, estate, compact, sports, roadster, transport, road, heritage, historic, MG, MGB, MGC, MG RV8, MGB GT, MGB GT V8, Austin-Healey 3000, Triumph TR4A, Austin-Healey Sprite, British Leyland, BMC, British Motor Corporation, Rover Group, Abingdon, Oxford, Sunbeam Alpine, RV8, GT, Grand Tourer, Sports Car, Britain, UK, British, Great Britain, BL, United Kingdom, England, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, MGF, Austin, Morris, Triumph, Morris Garages

Id: SuEPpesw8gk

Length: 35min 46sec (2146 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 20 2020