‘THE SHELL WAS BEYOND SAVING’

Fuzz Townshend takes us behind the scenes of the restos on the latest series of Car SOS. This week, Tim and Fuzz take a positive view of a very tired MGB GT

Milestones probably create more time-consuming debate, over what is little more than an obsessional numbers game, than they should.

The Car SOS team got caught up in the wrangling when we realised that we would be taking on our 100th restoration (or heavy recommission, as like to call them) at the end of series ten and that we ought to make it something of memorable job.

Imagine our faces when series producer, Woody, let it be known that the car chosen was to be an MGB GT. It’s not that there is anything wrong with a good old Morris Oxford GT, it’s just that, well, you know, in (almost) the words of one Mr Jones of south Wales: ‘They’re not unusual’.

Ask someone to name a classic car and I’m sure that the MGB would be up there, ruling the roost with the Morris Minor… which is exactly why Woody uncharacteristically put his foot down and commanded that now was the time. However, the tired-looking commonor-garden GT we secreted away turned into anything but an ordinary task.

I knew that things were not quite right with car as soon as the garage door was opened. It had been cut in odd places, including numerous areas of the bulkhead and the lower sections of the A posts. Many of the welds showed porosity, a sign that oxygen was present when the MIG welding was being undertaken. This type of weld is weak; imagine the strength of an aerated chocolate bar with that of solid construction.

Further inspection at the workshop revealed that the car was so badly compromised that the shell was beyond saving within the time constraints of the show. We had acquired a spares car for brightwork and other trim and so a tough decision was made to set the car we had picked up aside and restore the donor instead.

Tim had earlier surprised me with the news that the family nominators had hoped that we would swap out the smoky old B-series engine for electric propulsion. Naturally Tim was all for it and so would I have we had the luxury of time.

The folks at Zero-ev came to the fore with a prototype installation for its first

MGB conversion. They measured the car up and went away saying that all that was needed from us was the near-completed car minus engine, gearbox, petrol tank, radiator, etc.

Numerous electrical control and replacement components were installed in readiness for the motor, reduction gearbox, shortened propshaft and batteries to be fitted. Amazingly the main components took little more than a day to install.

I have to say that the conversion turned my head. I like the idea of modern or classic electric cars. They’re different, yes, but they’re not the enemy and if a conversion means that we get to see another classic being used again regularly then that’s great news.

So how did the finished car drive? Well, you can find out for yourself when you tune in to tomorrow night’s episode.

Fuzz and Tim have worked hard to keep the ‘B’s cosmetics as close as possible to how it looked when it left Abingdon – but it’s a very different animal beneath the bonnet.

One of the toughest jobs was rescuing the MG’S tired shell; the team opted to use a donor car to help keep the restoration on track in the end.

Fuzz had to shorten the MG’S propshaft in readiness for its new electric powerplant.

The B-series has been replaced by this electric set-up, with Car SOS turning to Zero-ev for help in making the new propulsion system fit.