Background
The Americans sell a lot of cars. At one point Ford was selling an F150 pickup truck every 19 seconds. Yes, you read that correctly. And of course, the pickup truck is as American as pumpkin pie and cherry cola – just as the MGB is as British as cricket on the village green and a pint of warm ale. So how did the little British sports car become the USA’s favourite in the 1960s?
American petrolheads’ love affair with what they actually refer to as LBCs (Little British Cars) goes way back before the 1962 launch of MG’s latest sports car. Way back, in fact, to the MG TC which was introduced at the end of World War 2 in Europe, in 1945. ‘Export or die’ was the UK government’s slogan and MG took it fully on board, shipping the majority of their Oxfordshire plant’s output across the Atlantic.
The American’s loved it – so much so that it actually started what became known as the ‘sport car craze.’ And thankfully for MG, their octagon badge was now hanging in garages all across the land.
The T Series MGs were finally replaced by the MGB’s predecessor, the MGA, which retained a separate chassis but featured more modern, aerodynamic bodywork and, in its final form, a 1622cc version of parent company BMC’s B-Series OHV engine.
MG was already working on a replacement to the highly successful MGA in the late 1950s and prototype development was completed early in the next decade, leading to the new model’s launch in 1962.
The MGB looks like a more modern version of the MGA and that’s exactly what it is. The handsome looks are built around a monocoque bodyshell, with the MGA’s separate chassis construction binned in favour of this stronger, lighter design.
However, the rest of the car was remarkably similar – after all, it’d sold like hot cakes so why change a winning formular? The BMC B-Series engine had now grown to 1798cc but retained the twin SU carburettors of the earlier car, and now made a healthy 95bhp.
A four-speed manual gearbox with synchromesh on the top three gears was again carried over from the earlier car, as was the option of an overdrive unit operating on third and fourth, and its output fed a live axle supported on cart springs. That non-synchro first gear was replaced by an all-synchro box in 1967 but the original unit left its mark. MG was worried some drivers would struggle to select first, so they made second a very short ratio to allow people to pull away in it – so short you couldn’t hit 60mph in it, a fact that hampered the car’s 0-60mph time.
Front disc brakes were standard from the off and other than luxurious wind-up windows and a crackle black dashboard rather than the MGA’s body coloured part, an MGA owner would feel at home behind the wheel of the new model.
In 1965 MG introduced the Pininfarina styled MGB GT coupé with a jaunty hatchback and, after London based tuner Ken Costello fitted Rover V8s into used MGBs, BL finally launched their own MGB GT V8 in 1973, just in time for the fuel crisis prompted by the Yom Kippur War.
MGB production finally ended in 1980 after more than half a million cars had been made, and for many it represents the British classic sports car better than any other.
