The perfect MGB GT V8

"this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata" (fantastic-mr-foxbody)
02/24/2015 at 17:06 • Filed to: want

This is just done so right . The flares, the color, the wheels, the black grill, the bumper delete, the rally lights .

The unfortunate part is there's not a lot of pr0n of it. I can only find a few low res pictures. It's taken me a solid 2 hours of googlating to assemble all this, and a lot of what I found was buried in ancient threads on french forums for reasons I don't fully (read: don't at all) understand. Seriously, I had to resize these to get them to the 640px width minimum.

I did find a write up from the May 2008 issue of British V8 magazine, reproduced in full below:

Owner: Darren Jones

City: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK

Model: 1979 MGB-GT

Engine: Rover 3.5L V8

Conversion by: Darren Jones and Robin Brown

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Mmmmmm, XP. Pretty clean install actually, and way ahead of it's time for 2005. Plus, look at the rest of the interior...

One hundred billion internet points to whoever can find a build thread. I doubt it exists, apparently the car was completed by '05, but a guy can dream.

Someday I will have you, my sweet British Leyland prince.

DISCUSSION (9)

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata
02/24/2015 at 17:25

Like all of it... but for a road car in traffic and in parking lots... I would probably stick with a minimalist but present bumper... there was a rare split-rear-bumper for one model year, that could look good. A race car that either doesn't get bumped, or crashes BIG anyway, lack of bumper is fine, and looks slick.

I would probably also go with a simple, possibly even retro-styled tuner and bluetooth stereo head unit, and a non-built-in tablet computer, rather than a built-in car computer that doesn't fit the dash and console very well.

Aside from those to minor things, it is a great MGB-GT V8.

swaptastic > this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata
02/24/2015 at 17:33

That is a very nice car. Thanks for posting.

magman007 > this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata
02/24/2015 at 17:50

Question... Does an LS1 fit? because you can buy an incredibly clean example here for like 5k. talk about something turning heads at cars and coffee!

this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata > magman007
02/24/2015 at 17:59

Looks like the answer is yes. Not surprised, LS's are notoriously small V8's because of the pushrod valve train, etc.

Kinja'd!!!

Build thread

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata
02/25/2015 at 02:39

I absolutely love these, and I really want to make one of my own one day. Probably a 3.9l injected V8 with at least 220bhp and Jag IRS.

I firmly believe that if MG had released the B GT V8 in '69 instead of developing the MGC (and given it the full-fat 146bhp RV8 from the P6 instead of the 135bhp one the actual production car got) MG would still be around today.

If MG released a Z-rivalling V8 mini British muscle car early enough to get sales in for a few years before the oil crisis hit, I think they could have built a hell of a reputation in the States, and instigated a real rivalry between them and Datsun.

It's such a shame that didn't happen. British sports cars died out because they went pretty much undeveloped from the early 70s till their demise in the 80s. Given even a little bit of development, I think they would have still been relevant come the rise of hot hatches in the late 70s/early 80s and the automotive world would be the richer for it.

this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
02/25/2015 at 02:56

Couldn't agree more. I mean they do kinda exist, but they're pretty much just running a factory in Longbridge that puts MG badges on Chinese hatchbacks...

Still, one can hope. They've started racing again, and are doing pretty well. Maybe ten years from now we'll be watching Top Gear pit the NE Miata against the Mark IV Midget!

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata
02/25/2015 at 06:20

Yeah I've been waiting for them to do something that actually gets them some attention. A new B or Midget sports car would certainly do that. A BTCC assault only gets you so far (although you're right, they are doing rather well at that).

I doubt they'd be able to create a truly MX-5 rivallying car, but just by making it they'd get the sort of publicity that means people would actually know that they exist...

magman007 > this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata
02/25/2015 at 14:45

Hell Yes!

now to convince the wife to let me sell the m3 i just acquired, buy a notoriously unreliable British GT, destroy usability of said unreliable British automobile for a year, and spend entirely too much money shoving a bad ass heart into it.

Honestly, if there was any form of performance aftermarket for them, I'd find a way to do it, im just not a fabricator unfortunately.

autopia > this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata
02/11/2019 at 08:49

Hi Matt, thanks for your kind comments, I’m the guy who owned and built this MGB, I unexpectedly came across your page whilst trying to find something else about my car.

If you can respond with an email address, I’ll happily furnish you with some more hi-res pics and some more detail about how I built it ?

best regards

Darren