Read the About page for a bit of background first.
My search for an MGB Roadster began in the summer of 2024. Of course, I got distracted by other cars along the way. Midgets, Sprites, Sunbeams, Spitfires, VWs, even low end Porsches. But I always kept coming back to the venerable old MGB.
Well, what’s not to like about a car that’s so easy to keep on the road? Spare parts are abundant and cheap, plus there are loads of specialists who know how to fix them.
I considered a few MGB GTs too, but this was going to be a summer car. My memories of open top summer motoring were better than my experiences of being stuck under a metal roof with no air conditioning.
Then an advert caught my eye.
This one ticked quite a few boxes. An original 1967 mk1 model, which means it had styling untouched by the meddling hands of what would become British Leyland.
For sale in the same county as me, only a village away from my in-laws.
Hard and soft tops, tonneau, decent bodywork finished in a desirable colour, wire wheels, only two owners from new (same for last 35 years), garaged all it’s life, sensibly priced… seemed too good to be true!
So off I went with my father-in law to view it in a picturesque Bedfordshire village.
Of course, it was far from perfect when I got there. The paint and chrome weren’t too bad, but the battery was dead so it wouldn’t start, the doors wouldn’t shut properly, and the wheels had more than a few rusty patches.
The interior was a little scruffy too, but I didn’t mind that. I like to see an old car with a bit of patina.
The car had belonged to an older man who had died five years previously, so the car hadn’t been used since then. It’s a fairly safe bet that it wasn’t used much towards the end of his life, either.
I was warned some recommissioning would be required. Which is always a euphemism for some money will need spending.
I was in two minds about the whole thing, but still interested enough to see it run, so I so I left it with the late owner’s son to get the starting problem sorted out and the door catches fixed.