The MGB Roadster was an open-top British sports car that was launched by MG in 1962 and was followed three years later by a 2+2 GT Coupe. It had a very long life span, surviving until 1980.
At the time, the company changed hands from the British Motor Corporation to British Motor Holdings and then to British Leyland Motor Corporation. The decay and eventually, the fall of the British car industry began during that period.
Yet the MGB Roadster was quite modern for its time, having a monocoque chassis instead of the body-on-frame construction used by its archrival, the Triumph TR. An 11,0 seconds time for the 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) sprint from the 1.8-liter four-cylinder was perfectly acceptable, its handling was decent and it managed to shift 523,836 units until it was discontinued.
This happened on October 23, 1980, when the very last MGB Roadster rolled off the production line. Today, 31 years later, this very car, which is the property of the Gaydon Heritage Motor Center, has finally returned to its hometown as an indefinite loan to the 17th century Abingdon County Hall Museum.
Due to the construction of the building, getting the car inside was not an easy task. The MGB was stripped to its bare shell and was uploaded to a specially designed cradle. Then a 30-ton scissor lift slid the cradle through a window and the British Motor Heritage company, which also sponsored the event, assembled the car, returning it to its original state in order to be displayed to the public.
BMH’s managing director John Yea said: “As the only manufacturer of original-quality replacement panels and complete bodyshells for the ubiquitous MGB, we felt we were the appropriate company to help bring this challenging task to fruition.”
“2012 is the 50th anniversary of this perennially popular sports car, and it is very fitting that a representative example will be proudly displayed in the town where over 500,000 were built, a high percentage of which were exported to America,” he added.
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