1973 MG B GT

Christened Pudsey due to its interesting registration number, this charming little MGB GT is only being offered for sale due to a loss of storage space. Purchased three-and-a-half-years ago, the vendor has spent more than £4,000 on it since as he intended to keep it forever…

So, as you might expect, he took his time and chose his car carefully eventually buying ought from another classic car collector, whose wife had mainly used the MGB at car events. He has continued to use it in the same way, using it for local MG Owners’ Club events and local classic car shows where it “turns many a head as we motored through various villages on our way to a destination pub with other MGs from the MGOC of all different types!”

Now being reluctantly offered for sale as he has nowhere to keep it, his loss could be your gain as this fully fettled MGB GT is being offered on a No Reserve basis, so it’ll sell from the very first bid, no matter how derisory the sum might be.

Beautifully presented with a glossy, even shine to the paintwork and good panel shut lines along with ripple-free flanks, the owner has invested a lot of time and money in getting his MGB into the condition you see today.

Not that it was bad when he bought it, it’s just that the owner is something of a perfectionist and tells us that the MGB had a number of small stonechips, along with a small amount of rust round a headlight and the front wing ‘T’-section, when he first bought the car.

While you and I might have been tempted to leave it for a while, he entrusted the car to JCW Car Body Repairs, who stripped the front end down and painstakingly repaired it to their usual high standard. The work included having new ‘T’-sections fitted between the wing and the scuttle before Pudsey’s whole front end was then professionally and carefully resprayed in colour-matched red paint.

A new six-piece chrome side trim set was added to further update the look of the car, and the result is a very, very smart MGB GT indeed, even when viewed up close.

The paintwork, panels and chromework are all very good and we shouldn’t imagine that the new owner will have anything to do for a long time bar sorting out a small patch of rust that has started to develop on the driver’s side where the rear wheelarch meets the sill. It doesn’t show on the photos and can barely be felt with your fingertips but he’s an honest chap and wants to be scrupulously fair in his description of the car.

Also, being a perfectionist, he suggests that the new owner might want to fit a new or re-chromed rear bumper to the car. Not that the existing one is bad, it’s just that the rest of the chromework is so good that it highlights its slightly patinated condition.

The Webasto sliding fabric sunroof is in a very good condition, opening and closing easily and still sealing tightly. It’s also a great compromise for those owners who like the security and weather-resistance of a coupe, alongside the open air fun of a convertible.

The steel wheels are straight and true but might need some paint in the near future. Still, that would be an easy and cheap job, and the tyres that are fitted to the car, a mixture of Fulda and Goodyear, all have good tread so should be good for a while yet.

As we have already mentioned, the previous owner had spent a fair bit of money on the car before selling it to the vendor. This work including refurbishing the seats with new seat covers and the installation of a new three-spoke sports steering wheel. This freshened up the interior wonderfully and encouraged the vendor to add red seatbelts to the mix, which we think finish the MGB off nicely.

On a more practical note, the heater has been refurbished with a new motor, rubbers and cables. A new Moss dashboard has been fitted too, along with some exchange gauges. Sensibly, the owner took the opportunity to have the wiring updated at the same time.

The result is a classic MGB interior but one that has enough vibrant touches to bring it nicely up-to-date. The seats look especially good and are virtually as firm and supportive as the day they left the factory.

The carpets are very good too, as are the door cards even if the latter is showing some scuffing underneath the driver’s side window winder handle. All-in-all, it’s a very pleasant place to be and a good example of the breed.

Almost too honest for his own good, the owner lists the following jobs as things on his To Do List that he never got round to sorting out.

Firstly, the headlining on the Webasto sunroof needs to be cleaned and repaired or replaced. He also says that the front headlining just in front of driver’s position need to be re-fixed.

He also suggests that the carpet in the rear boot space will need to be replaced too. Given the plethora of MGB specialists out there this would be a very easy and relatively cheap job, and one that will give almost instantaneous results.

The final (minor) issue is the choke cable, which sometimes doesn’t stay fully pulled out. This is a typical fault and could be remedied by either replacing it - or doing what most MGB owners do and simply using a clothes peg to hold it in place. This quirk is, as he so astutely points out, all part of the charm of owning and running a classic MGB.

Most of the work you will read about below was carried out by Colne Classics, an MGB specialist who is recommended by the MG Owners’ Club and has a 5 star rating from the club’s members.

Simon, the chap who owns the garage, has been entrusted with the car for the past two years, and he has gone over the car thoroughly and put right anything that needed doing. The work included a new radiator, silicon coolant hoses, water pump, plus a new thermostat and cover. A new alternator and drive belt have also been fitted, along with a new steering rack.

The front suspension was also stripped down before being rebuilt with new dampers and mounting rubbers, stub axle assemblies, wishbone and droplink arms, and trunnion kits top and bottom.

The gearbox was checked and found to be in good order. Nonetheless, the oil was drained and it was then flushed out before having new gaskets and an O-ring fitted before being refilled with fresh oil. The standard overdrive is fitted to the car and in good working order.

The engine bay is neat and tidy, but not obsessively so. The same can be said of the underneath, which looks solid and workmanlike. You might think we are damning with feint praise but we really aren’t; concours-finished cars often deter casual use for fear of getting them grubby and we would always rather own a well-maintained, lightly used example like this over something that you could eat your dinner off as we like to be able to jump in our cars and drive them long and hard without worrying about the hours and hours of cleaning that lie at the end of the journey…

As you might expect given this work (and expense…) the MGB drives very well indeed and has been converted to run on unleaded fuel. But why not make an appointment to see it and find out for yourself?

The MGB GT doesn’t have a current MOT certificate, and while it is exempt by virtue of its age, we would strongly encourage the new owner to have the car re-MOT’d at the earliest. The cost of an MOT is a small investment when offset against the purchase and upkeep of any classic car, and it gives an independent, third-party assessment of the car’s condition, which not only provides reassurance to the owner (and any subsequent purchasers) but might also be invaluable in the event of a bump when negotiating with the police and any interested insurance companies…

The historical online MOT history shows nothing of any real concern though, and confirms the car’s low mileage. The car comes with a number of expired MOT certificates plus invoices and bills to confirm the recent work that has been done to it.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained in recent years to a high standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please contact the owner to arrange an appointment.

As the owner himself puts it, his MGB GT is “a really fun car to drive, very engaging and an easy classic car to own and maintain. It looks great, drives really well, and sounds lovely!”

We couldn’t put it better ourselves; an MGB really is the perfect starter classic, and is the ideal car in which to commute daily before using it at the weekend for a club or local motorsport event. They’re huge fun to drive, very reliable when properly maintained - and a chimpanzee could keep one on the road armed with nothing more than a multitool and a toffee hammer.

But, you really do need to buy the right MGB if you are to appreciate its charms at a cost-effective level because we see too many being offered that have had nothing more than a quick blow over from an under-the-arches cowboy with an eye on turning a quick profit at your expense.

So, buying one from a car collector who had intended to keep the car forever is the perfect way to do it. Plus, don’t forget that the vendor bought the car from another collector and enthusiast - who had himself spent a lot of money on it – before splashing out even more on fettling it properly.

Only being offered for sale due to a loss of storage space, this lovely old thing is being offered without a reserve, so it’ll sell from the very first bid. We aren’t sure where she will end up, but if you’ve got £5,000 to £7,000 in the kitty then you’ve probably got enough to make her yours.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this car can be seen in Great Holland, Essex; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings of any auction, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles we have for sale. While we use our trade experience to assess every car that comes through our hands (and between us we have bought hundreds of classic cars over the years for our personal use…) we are fallible, and our assessment of a car may contrast with that you might form yourself.

This is why we offer a far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange a professional inspection on their behalf of, each vehicle prior to bidding than any traditional car auction, and we will never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this by coming to see it in person.

That said, we do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or those formed as a result of a long test drive.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.