British sports cars
cars also changed and shaped lives. Like Model As for previous genera- tions, everyone has an MGB story.
were everywhere in the 1960s. Dad had a Triumph TR3 and his colleague had a Big Healey, while my Little League coach had an Iris Blue MGB. A Pale Primrose MGB — often visited by a TR250 the same color — lived around the corner, while the next block was home to my Span- ish tutor’s white B with a factory hard- top. Going to school, I’d pass another white B with fog lamps as well as a Citron Yellow one. And those were just the roadsters; my sixth-grade teacher had an MGB/GT, as did one of Dad’s flying buddies. Later, a neighbor had a Harvest Gold GT. It was inevitable that the B would sting me and lead to a string of roadsters and GTs.
B for Basics With the exception of its unibody construction, the MGB was an evolu- tionary step from the MGA. It sported independent front suspension and leaf springs to locate the live rear axle. The 98-horsepower pushrod four was simple and strong, sending the power aft through a four-speed trans- mission with synchromesh on the top three gears. The most exciting things about the B were the roll-up windows, the optional folding top — as op- posed to the build-it-yourself version that stowed in the trunk — its softer ride and a roomier interior and trunk. Properly maintained, the B was sturdy and reliable. It was also relatively quick, a joy to drive and sounded fantastic. Wildly popular, more than 500,000 Bs were sold over 18 years.
Those
Period advertising did much to
glamorize the MGB (above). Herren Floyd (right) didn’t need to see any advertising to know he wanted his MGB.
half-million cars often changed hands, introducing several mil- lion people to sports cars. Many of those
Sports Car Dream Herren Floyd had wanted a sports car for years. Stationed in Germany, it only made matters worse when “two guys on the base had Austin-Healey 100/4s.” When he came home he took a job at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama and bought a Bugeye Sprite. “I’d drive my used Sprite to work and it had side curtains, a ‘build-it-yourself’ top, and I’d often get caught in the rain. By the time I’d get everything out and up, sometimes the rain was over.” He recalls that “in those days we didn’t have much money and we had to get rid of both cars [the Sprite and a VW Beetle] to get the MGB.” It was the Floyds’ only car, and he and his wife fitted a small padded platform in the back for the couple’s two young children.
Even after adding a second car, the B remained Floyd’s daily driver well into the 1980s, and he also used it for club activities. Although he’s replaced the top and added chrome wire wheels — he couldn’t afford the $100 option in 1963 — the Chelsea Grey MG looks much as it did when he first saw it. In those intervening 49 years, he never considered selling it — for one simple reason: “I liked it so much I could never part with it.”
Teacher’s Treasure
Just a few months out of college, Pat Bjorhovde was teaching elemen- tary school when she traded her MG Midget for a new Grampian Grey 1966 MGB/GT. “I liked my Midget” she explains, “but after two years of dealing with snow and the ragtop, the hardtop GT seemed like a better idea. And the trunk space was huge.” She also admits that she loved the early hatchback, describing the car as “sexy and cool.” The GT fit the lifestyle of a single young woman in the late 1960s, but marriage to a man who preferred American iron meant that her MGB/ GT was just a fond memory by the end of 1969.
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