The donor car was sourced and bought by Frontline Developments sometime around 2015, at which point it passed into the hands of their ridiculously talented skunk-works team to be transformed, as only they can, into something brilliantly engineered, exquisitely crafted, unbelievably capable, wholly uncompromised and utterly unique.
In 1973 an MGB GT with a 1.8 litre engine might have managed 105mph and covered 0-60mph in a tad under 12 seconds, given a following wind.
And that’s if you’d pumped it full of high-octane fuel, poked it in the eye with a sharp stick, and insulted it…..in German.
For context, a Lamborghini Miura P4000 SV of the same era could get to 60mph in 6.7 seconds, as could a Ferrari 308 GTB.
And then along came Frontline Developments and the LE50.
It was described by no less a luminary of the motoring press than Tiff Needell as follows - “It's got all the great characteristics of an old car combined with the best of a new car: it is the best of both worlds.”
The vendor had been brought up on tales of heroic derring-do in MGs. His father, a talented amateur rally driver, had competed in them at truly legendary events such as the Monte Carlo and RAC rallies.
The temptation was too much.
Out came the wallet.
Our vendor was now committed to ownership of an LE50 and began the hugely enjoyable process of sitting down with the Frontline team to come up with a fully bespoke specification for his car.
This car, when it emerged a year or so later from Frontline’s works near Abingdon (the original home of both MG and Austin Healey), came with 214bhp, the ability to embarrass most things on the road, and an £80,000 price tag.
It also had some bespoke features suggested by the vendor’s young family, hence the pink lining concealed under the luggage bay and, in a moment of inspiration borrowed from 007, a red button inside the ash-tray bearing the legend, ‘Do not press’.
Naturally, if you’re anything like us, you’ll feel irresistibly compelled to press it – and when you do, you’ll find that it commands the radio fascia to perform some gymnastics and reveal the Sat-Nav screen. Clever stuff, eh?
Other features include the beautiful New England Saddle upholstery and the diamond-pattern Alcantara headlining, which alone took 40 man-hours to craft and install.
Important nods to comfort and modernity include air-con and a ‘Winter Pack’ comprising heated seats and front and rear screens.
Suffice to say that when our vendor took ownership of the car he really couldn’t have been happier.
Then he got to hear about Frontline’s ‘Abingdon Edition’, which features a bigger engine, upgraded everything and simply staggering performance.
This was around the time that the then presenter of Top Gear, Chris Evans, declared the Abingdon Edition to be “…the best car we drove through the whole of the series.”
As a consequence of Mr Evans’ enthusiastic rhapsodies, worldwide waiting lists for Frontline cars suddenly got a whole lot longer.
So, with this in mind, and seduced by the prospect of a car delivering 285bhp and capable of hitting 60mph in under 4 seconds, the vendor gave Frontline the green light to retrofit the Abingdon Edition upgrade to his LE50 and handed over a further £34,000 when the work was done.
The quality of the components is evident almost wherever you look, and it’s obvious that an eye-watering amount of money has been spent.
We’ve taken it for a spin and can attest to its blistering performance. It feels very well screwed together and the only extraneous rattles, clunks, moans, groans, whistles, sighs, creaks and grunts we heard were coming from the passenger.
The gearbox is precise and notchy. The throttle responsive is very sharp, as is the quick, communicative steering, and the handling and ride are never less than grin-inducing.
And if (should you be lucky enough to drive it) you find yourself thinking that the car somehow feels even better than an ‘ordinary’ Abingdon Edition, you’re right.
The vendor took it (and his wallet) back to Frontline again, had the suspension slightly tweaked and the final drive adjusted to 3.09 – which means that this remarkable road weapon now offers an optimal balance of performance and comfort, and spins at just 2,500 revs at 70mph.
So, even by Frontline’s lofty standards, XXJ 363M is a bit special.
The car has been with Frontline awaiting sale for a few months.
During that time, the vendor has given them free reign to touch-up, polish and fettle anything that needed touching-up, polishing or fettling.
