MGB GT V8 – a British Leyland Classic?

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By the time the liberally badged MGB GT V8 arrived in 1973, Britain’s best-selling sports car was already 11 years old.

It was in need of the kind of viagra shot that installing an unfeasibly large engine beneath its pretty bonnet would represent.

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History

Not that this was the first time that the B had received an engine transplant, the bodily near-identical MGC featuring a boulder-heavy straight six borrowed from the Austin-Healey and Austin Westminster saloon. Unfortunately the C was more Westminster than Healey (the Westminster was about as sporting as the cathedral) adding go, weight and a new-found capacity for travelling straight-on when a direction change was required.

Despite the failure of the MGC the same idea was tried again when the recently formed British Leyland, now with the famous ex-Buick all-alloy Rover V8 in its stable, figured that stuffing this engine under the bonnet would be a better idea.
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Weight

Which it was, because the V8 weighed vastly less than the Westminster lump, and was even lighter than the four cylinder B Series engine that MGB’s usually came with, though by the time it was wearing the by-then mandatory smog gear it was marginally heftier.
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Looks

You got a very attractive set of alloy wheels with this car, these about the only visual identifiers of any significance. That was a source of disappointment for many, the V8 costing quite a lot more to look the same, although there was an appealing stealth element to the package, which had already been market-tested by tuner Ken Costello.
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Myth

Although he had the idea of levering the Rover V8 into a B after British Leyland - contrary to popular myth - MG’s need to homologate the car meant that the official factory model appeared a couple of years after Costello had been selling his cars, most of which were based on roadsters rather than the GT.
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Performance

But both were quick, the factory car capable of a 7.7sec strike on 60mph and a 125mph top speed, although you probably need ear-defenders for that velocity given the amount of wind roar a GT generates at less than half the speed.

It was a lot more potent than the standard car, putting out 137bhp rather than 94bhp, and more impressively, a 193lb ft slug of torque. That was more than enough to dislodge rear wheels attached to the body with nothing more than a pair of half-elliptic springs and lever-arm dampers, despite BL’s half-hearted efforts to keep the chassis under control.
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Price

For all that the result was exciting, thrills aural and physical to be had from the challenge of keeping this waffling V8 on the road. And finding one today is less easy than you’d think - although over half a million MGBs were produced, only 2591 were GT V8s.

I managed to find a 1975 model, with 62,000 miles for £18,000, albeit with rubber bumpers. Earlier chromed-bumper examples are more. But the allure of such potent crudity grows by the day in these electronically governed times.
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And finally...

Reasons to want one: V8 yowl in a small, pretty package, and the challenge of keeping it that way.

Why you’ll run a mile: sometimes, bump-induced oversteer gets to be a pain.