MGB Roadster Ruby Anniversary

My initial enthusiasm for the MG car started through a friend of my father who owned a pre-war two-seater MG J2. From then on it was my ambition to be the proud owner of a roadster. My first car was a Minivan and the second car I owned was an MG 1100, which was Sandy Beige in colour. I had acquired it in my late teens and owned it for about two and a half years. My next purchase was a 1965 MGB Roadster which had disc wheels, no overdrive, red leather seats and a red soft top. I felt I was “the bee’s knees” when driving this MGaround. I kept it for just over a year.

I took this car on holiday to Cornwall and on returning home near Taunton an Austin Healey 3000 overtook me. I wasn’t happy with this and tried to keep up with him, an 1800 engine chasing a 3 litre engine, not my cleverest challenge! I blew the engine doing over 100 miles an hour. Fortunately this happened outside a local garage. The owner of the garage looked at my car and said “Friend you have big troubles!” I had to leave the car in the garage on the A38 near Brentknoll for a week while the mechanics fitted a new big-end to the engine.

Ken and MGB outside Forest Farm

Driving through the countryside

On the 1st August 1968 I became the proud owner of NUH 495G – my beloved Red MGB Roadster. I bought it from City Motors which was a BMC dealership in City Road, Cardiff. The cost of the car was £1095 from the showroom which included wire wheels, overdrive and a pack-a-way hood.

At that time my father owned a Mark 1 1958 Jaguar in Cotswold Blue. He used to take it to a local garage for servicing which had a Tecalemit service bay. After servicing my father would ask the owner to spray under the arches and floor pan with old engine oil using a pressure air lance to help keep it rust free (which I don’t think would be allowed today).

I took onboard this idea for rust prevention, but instead of using old engine oil I used 5 litres of underseal during the first week I had the car and coated the wheel arches and floor pan. I then took off the baffle plates under the wheel arches – but not using underseal I had the idea of applying grease with a large bottle brush very liberally behind the D plates at the rear of the front wings. From that day to this they are periodically taken off and are checked for any corrosion. They are as good today as they were 40 years ago.

In September 1972 I offered to take a young lady I had recently met out for a driving lesson in my MGB, her driving test was imminent. On our second date I drove to the Llandow race circuit for the driving lesson. The Llandow Race circuit was situated about three miles outside Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan and had once been an airfield. The driving lesson was going very well. I made up an area surrounded by loose bricks to mark out a reversing zone. Unfortunately during one of the attempts she reversed over the bricks so hard that the rear exhaust was broken off and we had to drive back home to Cardiff with a very loud exhaust note. There almost wasn’t a third date, by the way. But I forgave her and we married two years later although she hasn’t driven the MGB since.

It wasn’t my intention to keep the MGB so long, aiming to change it after 2 or 3 years, but seeing the later Bs I realised that BMC were cutting back in their quality by putting in vinyl seats, Rostyle wheels and changing the chrome grill to a less impressive one. I realised that if I changed my car to a newer model these alterations were not to my liking. If it were my intention to keep the car for many years then I knew I needed to concentrate on rust prevention especially as the car at that time was not garaged.

When inspecting cars which were older than mine it seemed that many were rusting away very quickly. My car wasn’t garaged until it was six years old when I married and owned my own house and garage.

There were certain apertures in the chassis of the car made during manufacture in which I used to insert engine oil (and still do) four times a year for the last 40 years. Jacking the car up at the front, putting in oil through the chassis and inner sills and leaving this to run through for a day. Then jacking up the rear of the car following the same procedure making sure I laid down plenty of newspapers to catch the oil drips. This has lead to much embarrassment at times in the past because several of my friends have sloping drives (apologies to Hugh and Ian for unintentionally oiling their driveways). Nowadays I ensure that all the oil has finished dripping onto the newspaper before I venture out. Every two years I take off the inner door panels to lubricate the window winding mechanism, also checking for any corrosion in the doors, and making sure there is a good coating of grease on the bottom of the door.

A few years after buying the car I decided to try to find some arm rests to fit to the doors of my B. I went to a local scrap yard and salvaged the arm-rests from a very small Fiat car. These were rather large arm-rests for the size of the small Fiat which I then fitted to the doors of my B. Many people at events and shows have enquired as to where I purchased the large arm-rests for the car and I have been able to relate the history of this.

The car wasn’t originally fitted with sun visors. I purchased these 25 years ago from the MG Owner’s Club and fitted them myself. It is essential in my view to have these fitted to the Roadster ensuring safer motoring.

Ken in 1967 sitting on his first MGB Roadster

At Roath Park Lake

In garage pit

Working on suspension in pit

Drilling in his garage workshop

Checking the carburettors

The best production years for the MGB in my opinion were 1967 -1970, with BMC getting it right. The car I bought was definitely not a “Friday afternoon car”.

A few years ago at a show in Knebworth I was speaking to two ex-BMC staff who would have worked on my car during manufacture, one of whom told me that as my dashboard had never been removed he must have been the one who installed it at the factory. He was quite excited to see the car. The other gentleman was an engineer who designed the heating for the MGB. Unfortunately I did not get their names.

The car still has its original engine and has not been converted to unleaded petrol. I always use Castrol Valvemaster Plus additive when filling up with petrol. I have found by putting in Optimax or Ultimate petrol that I get slightly better mileage economy from the car. Owing to regular servicing the following components are still original – engine, gearbox, overdrive, alternator, starter motor, king pins, stub axles, petrol pump, wire wheels, steering rack, rear and front shock absorbers, track rod ends, distributor, carburettors, linkage, car heater motor, inner door trim panels, seat belts and windscreen wiper motor and many more. The car still has its original rubber mats.

Underneath the MGB, engine and gearbox in pristine order

Very sound and clean on the underside

Engine bay showing the use of the radiator blind

About 15 years ago I replaced the exhaust with an MG Owners’ Club Stainless Steel system and I also replaced the petrol, clutch and brake pipes with copper pipes.

At around the same time in preparation for the winter I decided to modify the engine’s water cooling system. A friend of mine, Bev Adams, a man who owned a 1959 Morris Minor had fitted a curtain in front of his radiator which could be moved up and down to regulate the air flow through the radiator depending on how cold the surrounding air was at the time. I thought this was a brilliant idea and I used a blind from an old charabanc which had been used as a screen for privacy between the driver in the cab and the passengers at the back. The mechanism used a chain connected from the dashboard through some copper pipe over the top of the radiator and to the top of the blind. It could then be placed in three positions: fully closed; half open; and fully open.

During the first year I clocked up 12,000 miles driving through Mid Wales and the Brecon Beacons most weekends, which is one my favourite runs and is still exceptionally enjoyable and picturesque for MG motoring today. I have taken the Cardiff MG Owners’ Club to many events in this area to sample the beautiful scenery and to stop for Sunday lunch at some quaint Restaurant Bar.

The car has had two re-sprays, the first being after three years. The car was initially sprayed with cellulose paint but the red pigment faded quickly. The next re-spray was 22 years ago, this time using Tartan Red in two-pack colour.

The car was shown on the MG Owners’ Club stand in Bristol when a professional paint sprayer told me it should have been sprayed in cellulose, but I have proved that two-pack is a more durable colour. I was exhibiting the car at Malvern 12 years ago (not long after new body shells had been introduced) when a friend who owns a 1930’s MG PB overheard several gentlemen talking about my B. “This is a lovely body shell, whoever put this together knew what he was doing” they remarked unwittingly. Obviously they presumed because the car was in such good condition it had been reshelled!

I have been approached by two television companies in the past and the car has been used in the film “Score” starring Sue Johnston and went out on National Television. It also appeared in “Little Town of Bethlehem” which was a local production ‘ made in Cardiff. I enjoyed the technical side of film making – seeing my car go on a low loader pulled by an American V8 Truck with television crew on board – to give the impression that the car was being driven.

Even though I am not a mechanic by profession (I have been a hairdresser since I was 15, no jokes about MGs being hairdresser’s cars please) I have serviced each component regularly which has kept them in good working order, and avoiding component failure. Regular oil changes are important – the car now has 108,000 miles on the clock and has had about 85 oil and filter changes – mainly using Castrol 20/50 GTX. Not bad for a hairdresser’s car.

While taking the MG Owners’ Club of Cardiff to a Track day at Castlecoombe I stopped at the side of the road to have my picture taken with the car just as the milometer had changed to 100,000 miles. Notice the string of MGs behind in the picture with Dave Price holding up a fan belt to signify the zero.

I was lucky enough 16 years ago to have a inspection pit built in my garage which was 15 feet in length, in which I installed 6 bulk head lights and two power points. This has made life a lot easier for servicing the car and other friend’s MGs, not having to use axle stands and trolley jacks.

I have taken the car to the Isle of Skye with the MG Owners’ Club in 1993, five times to Jersey, to Guernsey and to Ireland. My one ambition would be to take the car to the South of France, up through Italy over the Stelvio Mountain Pass and into Cortina.

I own another semi classic car, a 1977 Austin Allegro Vanden Plas which used to belong to my father. I occasionally take it to classic car events, an Allegro amongst a sea of MGs. It’s a shame they didn’t make an MG Allegro – I am sure British Leyland had it in their minds!

In 1979 the MG was still our only car when we were blessed with our daughter Suzanne. I don’t know how we managed for room but we did. The pram base would be on the back seat with the wheels on the boot rack. Later we had a car seat fitted in the centre of the back seat, from which my daughter always had an excellent view between passenger and driver (I don’t this would legal today). We managed like this for three years before buying our first estate car, a Morris Marina.

Cockpit/Milometer changing to 100 000 miles

Ken on way home from Castlecombe when milometer changed

At the wheel of his MGB of forty years

Back axle and gear-box oil need to be changed regularly together with new oil filters on the overdrive. It still has its original Motorola radio, which unfortunately doesn’t give the best reception these days. Twenty five years ago I changed to a 14’’ Moto-Lita steering wheel which was a great improvement from the original large “Ship’s” steering wheel.

Four years ago I replaced the outer leather seats along with new seat foams. One of my next jobs will be to have the dashboard refurbished.

My MGB has with regular TLC served me well for the last 40 years and I hope to have many more happy years motoring behind the wheel of my cherished roadster.

Ken Jenkins Area Secretary of the Cardiff MGOC Photographs by John Hopkin