DC Car Care

Other Cars of Special Interest

1974 MGB

This particular example of the British car making art, was a particular joy to own. I purchased it in complete but somewhat sad shape.

First the engine got an overhaul, then the ugly huge rubber bumper tips on the early 74 model "B" got replaced by the much more elegant rubber tipped chrome units from an earlier model. Some steel repair panels, a little paint and new decals and the car was a beauty!
I also installed new carpet, repaired the seats a bit and put on a new top. Next I repainted nine (9) rostar type wheels as shown here. They all got sandblasted, masked and painted silver and black so I had a spare, highway tires and a set with Yokohama A008 race tires for autocross.

The first engine I did met with a piston melt-down on a long trip a couple of years later, so with the help of one of the most knowledgeable British car mechanics in the nation, Bill Dierker of Peoria, I put in an earlier 3-main bearing engine with higher compression and hotter cam. This engine got fully balanced and blueprinted. and was a joy to drive. About this time I got an offer to sell the car that I could not refuse and it was delivered to another person with the paint still new enough on the motor to smell every time it was driven.

With this little "B" I won the regional D/SP SCCA autocross championship three years in a row and the top award was winning the National American MGB Association competition (Gymkanna) in Abingdon Illinois one year. I also traveled to Pro-Solo competitions in Indiana and Florida.
It's not on the car in this photograph (taken at the street solo events that used to be held in Springfield Illinois around the Capital area), but quite often I mounted a video camera wrapped in foam rubber to the luggage rack. That footage showing the steering wheel, shift knob and view through the windshield is a real treasure now that the car is gone.

The new owner of this car took it immediately on a long highway trip against my advice (the motor having just a hundred miles on it) and he got in a road race in the mountains. The next time I saw the car was back at Bill's place in Peoria with the head off. That beautiful balanced engine had NO fourth piston, a melted stump in #3 hole, a hole in #2 and damage to #1. #4 rod had gone through the block. It was enough to make a grown man cry, at least I didn't have to pay for the repair. You don't keep an MGB at full throttle for miles on end, the cooling to the back cylinders just isn't good enough.

The car is running again and still owned by the man I sold it too.

Donald C. Mallinson