MGB Register Forum

Found today on local social media, an old picture of a white MGB GT parked on the Buckingham high street.
I read the reg plate as TCV25H, TGV25H, TDV25H or even TOV25H, hard to say really.
Note the rear split bumper and left hand drive which could indicate a 1970 US import.
What does anyone thinks?

Definitely a North American spec BGT. UK cars never had the split rear bumper nor the side marker lamps. And that's apart from the fact it is LHD ! It has Rostyle wheels which weren't fitted until late 1969 or early 1970, so I think the car might be one purchased perhaps by a US serviceman who intends to take it home when his tour of duty is done ? Is that a reasonable theory ?

Very well reasoned I would say!

Post the photo on the USA MG Experience forum and see if the car still exists and if the owner is still an MG man..

Ian F

Bumpa wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2025 8:22 pm Definitely a North American spec BGT. UK cars never had the split rear bumper nor the side marker lamps. And that's apart from the fact it is LHD ! It has Rostyle wheels which weren't fitted until late 1969 or early 1970, so I think the car might be one purchased perhaps by a US serviceman who intends to take it home when his tour of duty is done ? Is that a reasonable theory ?

That sounds about right, the picture could be from the 70s if that's the case. The pub gate in it definitely doesn't look like that, it's now a road leading to a carpark.
There use to be such a thing as P.E.D ( Personal Export Delivery) where personnel from stationed in the UK could buy their MG here and pick it up from the factory, then personally export it on their return to the USA thus saving a lot on local taxation. A tax loophole I guess.

Ian F wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2025 8:36 pm Very well reasoned I would say!

Post the photo on the USA MG Experience forum and see if the car still exists and if the owner is still an MG man..

Ian F

It's wonderful what you can find with a few clicks on a search engine these days!
Good idea to post it on the MG experience forum, it might be a long shot but could be interesting to see if I can find out a bout it.

Bumpa wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2025 8:22 pm Definitely a North American spec BGT. UK cars never had the split rear bumper nor the side marker lamps. And that's apart from the fact it is LHD ! It has Rostyle wheels which weren't fitted until late 1969 or early 1970, so I think the car might be one purchased perhaps by a US serviceman who intends to take it home when his tour of duty is done ? Is that a reasonable theory ?

LHD configuration, with rostyle wheels, suggests that it can actually be a North American-Kalpana car. American soldiers often bought cars abroad to withdraw home, especially in the late 60s. Split rear bumper and side markers also fit that principle well!

My 1967 MGB GT was purchased in England by a US Serviceman stationed in Germany. It is a US-spec (LHD/mph-imperial gauges, etc.) though it does have amber rear signal lights (previous '66 & '67 Bs I've had were fitted with only red lenses).

While nearly all of its paperwork/service records have been misplaced__I'm still hopeful they'll be forwarded to me eventually__I DO have a Duetsch "logbook" which shows the car still in Germany until 1985! The DOD* parking sticker on the front bumper is dated 1995, so the car had a long service life (108,000 miles on odometer, but we know how misleading that can be, what with cable/angle-drives failures and all).

During the three (3!) year period it took me to get the proper paperwork and get it legally registered/licensed, I tracked down the previous owner, a Captain in the US Navy. As you can imaging, he was quite excited to learn that I 1) had his former pride & joy, and that 2) my intention to restore it. He even still had a later model MGB Tourer; still an enthusiast in his 80s! It's now been a couple years since I reached out, but his wife said he was in hospice, but would be glad for the update

Make no mistake, the car was in awful rusted condition, but it was 100% complete, and even the overdrive vacuum switch still works! Prior to dismantling the car, I got it running, shifting and stopping, including all the lights, signals & wipers working for the Florida DMV inspection. I didn't want to embark on its restoration until I KNEW I could get it titled IN MY NAME.

I've still got a looong road ahead of me...

As received:



Picture from a couple nights agohttps://www.spcarsplus.com/piwigo/_data/i/uploa ... 675-me.jpg:



Online gallery album for https://www.spcarsplus.com/piwigo/index ... tegory/679

*Department of Defense, aka, a military base in New York (New Jersey, maybe, I can't recall off the top of my head...).

TOV25H exists on the DVLA data base. shows as Yellow (Presumably Primrose Yellow) registered Jan 1970. No MOT history for the car so, as mentioned purchased by a US service man and shipped back to the states. The split bumper were introduced on North american GT cars in Sept 69 and changed back to a one piece bumber in August 70.
Mike Barclay