Car of the Month December

Previously Featured

CAR OF THE MONTH

December 2004

1970 MGB

OWNER: David Whitworth

After purchasing this “driven every day” with little to no rust, I found that I had fallen into the same trap many of us have. The car looked good, started and ran not too bad, so all it was going to need was a little cleaning and a tune up. Well, two years later and a budget that could have paid for the BC Ferries Fast Cats, it was on the road again.
Our MGB is recognizable by having a Split-Rear Bumper. BMC/Leland only used this bumper for one year and then reverted back to a solid chrome one until 1974. So I feel that this car is a little special and recognizable from all the other great MGB’s.

This Spring, My Wife (Karen) and myself packed up the little car with camping gear and set off down to Victoria to meet 7 other members of the Victoria MG club, for a trip down to Button Willow and a Vintage Car race. We started off from Port Angles and headed down the coast on 101, tops down of course. That soon changed, after all we were still in Washington State and we all know what that means. Oregon was not too much different until we neared the California boarder, the sun broke out and we then enjoyed the rest of our trip with the tops down. Approximately 1600 miles later our cars pulled into Button Willow race track to the astonishment of Moss Motors who were sponsoring the event and all the other MG owners. Quite often we heard the comment, “ You surely didn’t drive them down from Canada”. Smiling and said “Why not, they were made to be driven”

Returning home,1900 miles later with a few detours (to visit the wine country) we had
One small hiccup, the engine quit on a down hill portion of one of the country road, coasting to the bottom, giving me lots of time to find a good pull-off spot a friend, in his MGA stood waiting for me. 10 minutes later we found that the “Brown” wire to the ignition had come un-plugged. Quick repair and we were off again .

The car ran beautifully and was thoroughly enjoyable for the whole 3500 miles. The modifications I had done during the restoration was well worth the effort (and cost) they included:
Ported/Polished and gas flowed the head
Matched up the combustion chambers and installed larger inlet valves.
Raised the compression to 9:75/1
Balanced all engine parts
Installed a Five Speed transmission (close ratio)
Mini Lite style of wheels plus Yokohama’s 185x15x60 tires
Rebuilt the suspension using Poly Bushing and increase in front spring rating
Rebuilt the braking system from front to back.

The car gave me great gas mileage approximately 35mi/Gal. Fully loaded with camping gear, suite cases, pots and pans and two large people. It was a blast, all kinds of people stopped and waved as we drove past. For those who would say, I’d never drive that far, I say you are missing a lot of fun and with a little preparation and care these cars were made to be driven after all, these restored cars, are probably better than when they came off the assembly line. Half the fun of any trip is getting there, and with a little Vintage Car it is more so .

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