New member looking to purchase MGB GT

[Birronce]

Hi all

A long time lover of the MGB GT here and hopefully an owner soon. This may be an odd request but I was hoping to find a local MGB owner that would be open to taking me out in their car, just so I can see what a great GT feels like!

I’m based between Stratford Upon Avon and Banbury, if you are local and would be open to showing off your car to a newbie it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

John

[Bourne]

Welcome to the Forum!

I’m afraid I’m not from your neck of the woods, and drive the soft top variant of the MGB to boot. But my suggestion is you make contact with your local MG Car Club Centre and arrange to join one of the regular “natters” that are held. MGB’s are pretty ubiquitous so you should find at least one GT owner at each event who’d be happy to show off their pride and joy.

Your local Centre is almost certainly South West. It took a bit of digging, but the venues and timings of the evening Natters for that centre can be found following this link. If you aren’t working during the day, that Centre also runs lunchtime natters, the details of which you can find here. Alternatively you might find it works better for you to go to the Oxfordshire Natters run by the Abingdon Works Centre. Details on those Natters can be found following this link.

Apologies if this next bit is teaching you to suck eggs. I think your idea of experiencing an B GT before buying one is sound. Be aware though that there is a lot of variation in the experience depending on the year of the car. Very early GT’s (I presume - I haven’t checked my facts here) will not have all Syncromesh gearboxes which will make driving at slow speeds / in traffic feel different to modern manual cars. Unmodified Rubber Bumper MGB’s have a different suspension height which will affect how the car drives. Whether it’s better or worse is subjective, but it is apparently a different feel. You should try and get experience of both before picking a model.

I’d also see if someone from the natters would be willing to act as a sounding board for your eventual purchase. There are good guides online about what to look for in an MGB and when to walk away. The MG Owners Club has a good YouTube video on the basics. But unless you are familiar with classic cars already and understand what is meant by checking under the sills for deep rust, or confirming the trumpets haven’t corroded, or whether the engine is over running, then these guides are often as clear as mud.

Right that’s my starter for 10. Have great fun when you finally do find the GT for you. MGB’s can still get really snobbish negative comments from petrol heads, but they are popular because they are classic cars that are actually fun to drive. There’s a reason so many have survived and are still road worthy! (I’m actually using mine as my daily driver at the moment).

[Birronce]

Hi David

Really do appreciate the info you have provided here, it’s amazingly helpful to get this kind of advice when you are new to something.

I found the natters info when having a bit of a dig around the site myself and they do look like a great shout to find someone local. Will be getting myself over to one in the New Year. I’ve got a bit of basic knowledge which is more than likely a bad thing, so will be good to get some face to face advice from the community.

So that’s my plan for 2026. Or alternatively I will ignore all this advice as I am too impatient and end up buying one of the ones I’m watching on eBay at the moment. Either way it will be an experience

[Bourne]

Impulse buying is understandable. But I would urge anyone to avoid eBay or any other purchase where you haven’t seen and driven the car first.

At the end of the day, you need your MGB to have a sound body shell and a viable engine Neither.of those things can be assessed by photograph and repairs to either of those components quickly become uneconomical. To make things worse, MGB’s rust from the inside out so you won’t see it in a photo. To be sure of the engine, you need to smell the exhaust and watch the colour of any exhaust smoke.

If you are new to classic car ownership, I would advise you bite on the bullet and pay a little more to buy from a specialist dealer. The car will be MOT’d and will have a limited warranty… which is an indication of a minimum quality standard. For example Beech Hill Garage in Berkshire will issue a warranty when the car they are selling is known to them (as in they have repaired and maintained it in the past) and they can vouch it doesn’t have any ticking time bombs. When they don’t know the car, they sell it without a warranty. I’ve never bought from Beech Hill but they are well known as a reputable MG dealership.

If you are itching to go down the private sale option, I’d propose sticking to the MG Car Club or MG Owners Club classifieds. Someone whose bought and thrashed a car over a summer aren’t likely to go to the efforts of using such an old school classifieds system. They will use eBay or Autotrader instead. The club classifieds are still a risk, but the sellers are more likely to be members of one or other of the MG clubs and therefore part of a culture that emphasises tinkering and maintenance of these cars.

The other option is to go to the natters and sit and wait. A lot of gems never get advertised, but sell through word of mouth. I can’t think of a meet I’ve been to where someone hasn’t been looking to pass on a classic car. At one end of the scale you will have people who bought an MGB to learn about classic cars and are now looking to upgrade. At the other end, sadly, someone is giving up driving and their looking to re-home their beloved. There are also people who refurbish MGB’s and then sell them to make room for the next restoration project. The people you meet at the natters will know where these gems are.

But for the love of god resist eBay and Gumtree!!!

[Birronce]

A great help again David and much appreciated. I certainly won’t be rushing into anything and hopefully can find a real gem.

Again thanks for the depth of your advice, it’s great to have access to people like yourself through the forum.

John