19 Dec 2022 – Driven To Write

Rover disinterred the MGB in 1992 to produce the RV8. It was something of an anachronism, but did what was expected of it.

The later chapters in the history of MG sports cars are well known to followers of DTW and do not make for happy reading. Starved of the resources needed to develop proper successors, MG was forced to limp along with only minimal modifications to both the Midget and MGB throughout the 1970s, the most notable being the rubber bumpers and raised ride height⁽¹⁾ introduced in 1974 that ruined both the appearance and handling⁽²⁾ of the cars.

Both models struggled on in much diminished form until production finally ended in late 1980 with the closure of the MG Abingdon factory. Perversely, it was the commercial failure of the Triumph TR7 sports car that was cited as one reason the MGB had to go, because it was accused of cannibalising sales of the TR7⁽³⁾. In any event, MG was reduced to Continue reading “No Rest for the Deceased”