MG B ‘Sebring’ Evocation 1980

Description:

Description from The Vendor:

This car was built as a homage to the Racing Sebrings that ran in the Sebring 24-hour race in the late 1960s. There were two cars, Romeo (RM0699F) and Mabel (MBL546E). This car is a homage to Romeo. One of my favourite race cars of all time.

Built around a 1980 car the wide grp arches were grafted onto the original steel wings. This retains much more of the body structure of the mgb monocoque and thus is much more favourable than entire grp panels. There is also a fibreglass Sebring `MGC’ bonnet with both front and rear Sebring valences fitted. The rear inner arches extended to meet the wide flares.

Other external features include Sebring headlight cowls, Lucas P100 headlights, a high-level Monza style alloy fuel filler, leather bonnet strap, a side exit exhaust, twin front and single rear fog lights and period race decals and roundalls, and an MGC style grille.

The car sits on wider knock-on wire wheels with centre spinners. They are fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport tyres all around.

Internally it has matching black sports seats with Sparco racing harnesses, a rear roll cage, a Moto­lita sports steering wheel and alloy door handles. The interior carpets are black with MG over mats. The driver’s seat is on runners to make getting in and out easy.

Under the bonnet is a 1800cc engine running on twin Sits with a three-branch race manifold exiting through the side exhaust. The exhaust note is simply superb. The SU’s respond well and the trumpets really set them off!

The majority of hoses have been replaced with stainless steel braided items.

The cooling system has been upgraded with a kenlowe style fan.

The engine number would suggest the engine is a gold seal replacement, so a stronger unit than the standard engine.

The gearbox is a four-speed manual with overdrive on the third and fourth gears.

Although Sebrings had more notoriety in the MGC variant in the first year competing at Sebring, they in fact ran 1800cc engines. Only in the following years did they upgrade to an MGC unit to beat Porsches latest offering.

Being based on a later car it benefits from servo-assisted brakes, front and rear anti-roll bars etc. All later style badges etc have been removed and it has been lowered with shorter front springs and rear blocks to make it look more period correct and sit better on the road.

There is a large lever arch history file with the car. This includes E1000’s worth of bills, mots and tax discs back to the early ’80s. There are also photographs showing a late ’90s restoration which looked quite extensive. Included in the works were new inner and outer sills, castle rails, and floor sections (usual mgb areas)

Underneath there is evidence of welding as mentioned above. But it is all solid and to a good standard. In my ownership, it has recently been treated to a fresh coat of black stone guard underneath.

It starts on the key, and revs very freely. The clutch is light and the brakes are sharp. Nestled into the bucket seat with the harness on, it’s easy to imagine being Paddy Hopkirk back in the day!

Finally, it is registered as a historic vehicle and it is, therefore, tax and MOT-exempt.

Ideal for sprints and hill climbs, or simply as a nice car for sunny B-road drives and going to the pub!