KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE

This year is the 60th anniversary of Britain’s favourite sports car, the MGB. The model’s longevity is a tribute to its no-nonsense design and robust mechanicals, but also the fact that British Motor Heritage (BMH) has been actively supporting it since 1975 by providing replacement body panels and shells built to the original specification on the very same tools that brought the cars into being all those years ago.

As we go to print, no fewer than 30 complete new bodyshells – 16 GTs and 14 roadsters – are in build at the BMH factory in Witney, Oxon. This is the biggest single production run for four years, and underlines enthusiasts’ ongoing determination to enjoy their MGs for many years to come. It brings the company’s total number of MGB roadster and GT replacement shells created to date to 2244, added to which are thousands of individual replacement panels that have also contributed to keeping these much-loved classics on the road, not to mention a further 2009 complete bodies constructed for the 1990s RV8 programme.

The related figures are impressive, for of the 512,243 MGBs that MG created between 1962 and 1980 it is estimated that over 38,000 remain on these shores alone. Said BMH’s Managing Director Graham Payne: 'We are very proud of the contribution we continue to make towards keeping the MGB flame alive, and treat our role most seriously. This not only means keeping abreast of the neverending demand for existing parts, but introducing new ones, resurrecting old ones, and constantly investing in the maintenance and refurbishment of the historic tooling that allows us to be the only manufacture in the world able to make parts to the exact specification of the originals.'

Further details of all British Motor Heritage products and the Approved Specialists through which they can be purchased are available at