My wife Pattye bought the MGB new in 1974 in Washington D.C. where we later met. We moved to Newport Beach, California in 1977 for three years and then to England for two years. The MGB went with us. It was one of the few MGBs in London with the steering wheel on the left side. While we were in London we traveled to Wales, Northern England, and across the Channel to Paris, France in the MGB. There is nothing like driving your MGB down a small country road in Wales and getting stuck behind a flock of sheep to make you feel like you have traveled back in time. On the other hand driving down the Champs-Élysées in Paris in the MGB provides a feeling of grandeur hard to equal anywhere else.

The main issue with driving a left hand car where they drive on the left hand side of the road is in passing lorries (trucks) on the motorway. To solve the problem I mounted a suction cup mirror on the inside of the right side wing window that provided a view from that side of the car so you could see forward as you edged out to pass.

In 1982 we moved to Valley Forge and into the Great Valley House. By 1983 my wife needed something more appropriate for driving with an infant and car pooling to school. The MGB was stored in the shed. I wanted to sell it but she was attached to her MGB. 

About 16 years later in the summer of 1999 it was decided that this would be our daughter's car, she was then 15. I began the first restoration project which inculded much mechanical work, body work and a paint job. It was ready in time for my daughter to learn how to drive in the MGB in the summer of 2000. She drove it daily during her senior year in high school (2000-2001). After that she drove it when she was home from college. She has now graduated from college and Medical School, has moved away and is now a Doctor with her own family.

Since 2001 the MGB has mostly rested in the shed out back. I take it out for exercise a few times a year in the summer but in the summer of 2012 the brakes felt too soft to be safe so I did not drive it on the roads. It also developed a water leak somewhere by the radiator just when I was storing it permanently for the winter. In May 2013 I had all the brake parts, all the radiator/heater hoses, water pump and the wiper motor replaced. Our daughter was home that summer and took it out a couple of times giving her husband a demonstration of how she learned to drive.

In 2016 the MGB started running rough so I identified an experienced MGB mechanic in Flourtown, PA. named Dick Moritz. He rebuilt the carburetors and the car then was running OK. In 2017 the same mechanic did a alot of front end work including; steering rack & king pins, motor & gear box mounts, etc. I now feel the car is mechanically 100%.

In 2018 it was suffering some rust in the quarter panels and suffered a number of small dings since it was last painted in 2000 so I made a deal with a body shop in exchange for a low quote for the body work and paint job, he could work on the MGB as time allowed from his higher paying insurance work. We gave him the car in May and we got it back in November, it took awhie but he did a good job.

That's the latest in this 45 year long story.

MGB 2019 Front

MGB 2019 Rear

Vintage TV Commercial for the MGB

The Great Valley House

My Porsche Boxster Page

 

Updated May 2019