halcyon motors

MG B GT 1.8 litre 4 speed manual with overdrive on 3^rd and 4^th gears. Photos below.

Date of registration: 1^st December 1978 (T plate)

MOT: 29^th October 2010

There are so many other sites that sing the praises of the MG B that I will not drivel on for too long about how good it is. If you are looking for one then you probably already know that it was Britain’s best selling sports car ever running from 1962 until late 1980. It was acclaimed as a design classic as soon as it was launched.

It's not hard to see why. It is a superb looking sports car even now and drives well even by modern standards and with rear wheel drive it drives like a “proper” sports car.

This one is in superb original condition although it has obviously had a respray. It has the original Rostyle wheels as originally fitted to these cars with chrome rims. It has a good Kenwood CD stereo fitted – not original equipment – and neither are the speakers – Sony in front and Pioneer in the back! Everything else appears to be original.

What you really want to know is the condition of the car. I am not going to pretend it is in concours condition and the best thing to do is to look at the photos below. It would be easy to take pictures of all the good bits but you want to see the bad bits so they are all here. Overall it is in very solid condition and passed the last MOT requiring a tiny 1” hole in the drivers floor pan to be welded and one headlight adjusted.

The dashboard is all original but the dimmer switch for the dash illumination does not appear to work and neither does the interior map light (switch feels loose). The rear interior light is missing its cover. The Rostyle wheels are in excellent condition and have no scuff marks at all. The chrome surrounds are in excellent condition. The chrome throughout the rest of car is just about perfect – there is a little pitting to the nearside mirror bracket – and that’s all there is to say on the chrome. All the tyres are in excellent condition including the spare on a matching steel wheel. All the panels fit well and all the shut lines are correct. All the window openers work correctly. All the locks work correctly. The steering wheel shows virtually no wear at all. The seat covers are all in good condition but the driver’s one has stretched a little and there are some tiny marks on the passenger seat. All the seat mechanisms work well.

Mechanically the car seems to be superb. The overdrive unit works perfectly in both 3^rd and 4^th gears. Apart from nine past MOTs which all verify the mileage (93,000 miles), there is not much in the way of history for the car. However, there is a bill for £909 (shown below) for a full engine rebuild done by the specialist Classic and Sports Car company who supplied the car in 2000 at a cost of £3,995. The clutch is fine as are lights, wipers, instrumentation, overdrive box etc. all work correctly. The oil pressure stays up even when the engine is hot. The electric cooling fan cuts in when it should and the car does not overheat or smoke.

It looks superb and it is only on close inspection that you realise it is not in absolute ‘concours’ condition but, if you are looking for one that can be brought up to that standard while you still enjoy running around in it then this would be ideal. It drives superbly and, as with all our cars, a full inspection is welcomed.

If you want more pictures of a specific area please ask.

These are ‘proper’ pictures so may take a while to download.