Make: | MG |
Model: | MGB |
Type: | Convertible |
Year: | 1979 |
VIN: | GHN5UL474513G |
Color: | Blaze Orange |
Engine: | 1800 cc |
Cylinders: | 4 |
Fuel: | Gasoline |
Transmission: | Manual |
Interior color: | Black |
Drive side: | Left-hand drive |
Vehicle Title: | Clear |
Item location: | Houston, Texas, United States |
For your consideration is this beautiful blaze orange ’79 MGB with a Sebring body. It is the perfect driver’s car for someone who wants an analog driving experience, regular usability and easy, low cost maintenance. A great car provides the driver lots of feedback, and this car gives it in spades. The engine revs happily, the exhaust crackles and spits when you let off, and the shifting is precise and controlled. Steering is exact – you point, it goes there. It is the same steering that Carroll Shelby sought out for his Cobras and Daytona race cars.
All of the senses are engaged. Where appropriate, components have been preserved rather than replaced, to keep a lovely patina (safety components being the exception).
This is not a museum piece! It is not priced as one either! It is meant to be driven, to give the driver the most pleasure, and to be admired at stop lights and in the garage. It can be enjoyed as is, improved where desired, race-prepped up to spec for vintage racing or whatever way you want to cater the car to your driving demands. MGBs are perfect classic cars for the enthusiast who wants to have cake and eat it too. This car also has the original factory overdrive (rebuilt) and runs at highway speeds without stressing the engine.
Current owner since 2001 (3rd owner since new)
Never raced, never wrecked, never mistreated, never neglected
Serviced last 8 years by former MG Dealership mechanic
Has been driven regularly, serviced regularly, sits in traffic fine, gets fantastic gas mileage
Transmission:
- 5-speed (original factory overdrive)
- Rebuilt 2007
- Shift is precise and controlled
- Handles highway speeds easily
Engine:
- Rebuilt 2007
- Idles at 900 rpm (factory idle speed)
- Never had to go over 3,500 rpm, highway driving is usually 3,000 rpm
- New points added 2016
- Electric fans
- Aftermarket 10-coil oil cooler with SS braided hoses
- Never overheated
- MSD ignition, Flamethrower coil
- Upgraded fuel pump for reliability
- Choke installed, but never required
Interior:
- New interior 2016 (carpets, seats, insulation, door panels, etc.)
- Seats received new foam, new seat rails, new vinyl
- Some original interior components with good patina have been kept
- Radio delete
- Steering wheel sets square – perfect for proper hand positions and for shifting
- Original gauges
- 5-pt safety harness for driver & passenger
- Trunk has new carpeting 2016
- Bullet-style vintage racing mirror
Exterior:
- Sebring body conversion completed 2009
- (Sebring bodies were front/rear valances used by the factory in endurance racing in the 1960s)
- Painted in 2009
- New convertible top 2015
- Roundels/gumballs are stickers, can be removed if desired
- Front Sebring valance is designed to be removed/reinstalled for racing applications
- Factory original larger sway bar (corners better than chrome-bumper MGBs)
Aftermarket wheels are not factory or historically correct, but they are the lightest wheels ever seen for an MG, so un-sprung weight is minimal