A VOICE OF EXPERIENCE

My name is Walter Draisey and I am writing to you from Melbourne in Australia. I am the proud owner of a beautiful red 1967 MGB Mk1 Roadster, Australian-assembled and fitted with overdrive. I purchased this car locally in the suburb of Werribee where I live. That was in January 1976. Just for the record, I am now in my mid-seventies – I was 28 at the time I bought the MGB.

I love your magazine and read every issue. I have a Readly subscription so that the latest edition arrives on my iPad the day it is published in the UK. Before I refer to the MGB GT project, I would like to tell you how much I enjoy reading the articles written by Iain Ayre. He is witty and humorous, superbly cynical and makes me laugh. Iain’s motoring knowledge is obviously extensive, and nearly always his opinions are spot on. Right now I am looking at a hard copy of issue 285 from September 2019 and Iain’s comment on electric cars in ZERO EMISSIONS – HA! What a great piece of work, good on you Iain.

Now let’s get back to your MGB GT and the problem with the cold starting. It is caused by the fact that you only have one underpowered 12 volt battery trying to do the work of two heavy duty 6 volt batteries fitted in the two compartments behind the seats. The cars were designed this way by the factory and that’s the way they should stay. The single battery option is a false economy. My mate Doug, who is a former President of the MG Car Club Victoria, has a 1972 MGB GT with one little 12 volt squeezed into one of the battery boxes. He often has a flat battery and difficulty starting when cold. My car has always used two batteries, and you do not have to replace them as a pair if one of them goes down. Recently I replaced one battery which was eight years old. The other one (which is as good as gold) is three years old.

Also, mention was made in part 1 about the engine running rough when cold. This is normal – they did that when they were new. You need full choke to start them, and when the temperature gauge starts to move up a bit, you start to push it in. Fiddling with the tune of the twin SUs will not fix it. When I was 19 years old I took delivery of a brand new 1966 model in winter and I soon found that you needed full choke to start on a cold morning.

I hope that my comments are of some help. Wally Draisey

Thank you very much for taking the time to write in Wally, and I am so glad you like the magazine.

46 years with the same MGB – that is fantastic, and clearly you bought exactly the right car for yourself back in 1976. You must have some great stories from your time together; if you ever felt like jotting them down, then I'd love to see them. I'm sure other readers would too – Ed