How BMH has helped Britain’s favourite sports car survive to celebrate its 60th anniversary

As enthusiasts are well aware, 2022 is the 60th anniversary of Britain’s favourite sports car, the MGB. The model’s longevity is a tribute to its no-nonsense design and robust mechanicals, but also the fact that British Motor Heritage (BMH) has been actively supporting it since 1975, by providing replacement body panels and shells built to the original specification on the very same tools that brought the cars into being all those years ago.

This month will see the manufacture of 30 new bodyshells

No less than 30 complete new bodyshells – 16 GTs and 14 roadsters – are currently in build at the BMH factory in Witney, Oxon. This is the biggest single production run for four years and underlines the enthusiasts’ ongoing determination to enjoy their MGs for many years to come.

It brings the company’s total number of MGB roadster and GT replacement shells created to date to 2,244, to which one must add literally thousands of individual replacement panels that have also contributed to keeping these much-loved classics on the road – not to mention a further 2,009 complete bodies constructed for the 1990s RV8 programme.

The related figures are impressive, for of the c.512,243 MGBs that MG created between 1962 and 1980 it is estimated that over 38,000 remain on these shores alone. And, while most are treated with the reverence deserving of a treasured icon, hundreds are retained specifically for competition use, thereby adding new chapters to the MGB’s already illustrious race and rally records – e.g. a grid of no less than 30 will this month contest the Lavant Cup, one of the feature races at the upcoming Goodwood Revival meeting (September 16th-18th).

Said BMH’s Managing Director Graham Payne: “We are very proud of the contribution we continue to make towards keeping the MGB flame alive, and treat our role most seriously. This not only means keeping abreast of the never-ending demand for existing parts, but introducing new ones, resurrecting old ones, and constantly investing in the maintenance and refurbishment of the historic tooling that allows us to be the only manufacture in the world able to make parts to the exact specification of the originals.”

Further details of all British Motor Heritage products and the Approved Specialists through which they can be purchased are available at www.bmh-ltd.com

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