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Bargain or Basket Case?: 1967 MGB

1967-mgb-driver

MGBs are easy to work on and their rack and pinion steering and slick gearbox make them fun to drive. So, when Robert J emailed us a link to this overdrive equipped 1967 MGB, we knew we had to feature it. It’s not perfect, but with a $2,850 asking price you can’t be too picky. Find it here on craigslist out of Mountain View, California. Thanks for the tip Robert!

1967-mgb-interior

Pre ’68 MGBs are our favorites because of that handsome flat metal dash. Although improvements were made to subsequent years, they started to lose some of the charm of these earlier cars. This particular example has already had a lot of work done to it by the owner, but it still needs some love. The seller mentions that there is some rust forming in the rockers and that the engine burns oil. It’s not a survivor, but as a drivable project, it could be a good buy. What do you think? Bargain or basket case?

Comments

  1. Avatar Brian

    As long as they don’t have rubber bumpers, I’m a fan! My only problem with the roadsters, and the Miatas also, is that my 6’1 250 lb frame just won’t fit very well in one. I still enjoy seeing them and with a little more leg and headroom, I love to have one! I understand the GTs are alittle better fixed in these areas, not sure. As it is, I guess I’d be better off with a Sunbeam Alpine?

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  2. Avatar George Curl

    Brian
    I think you would fit in a MK1. I’m 6’3″ and 220. I race a MK1 and drive a MKII on a regular basis. The early cars have a more narrow transmission tunnel and more leg room for us big guys. Price on this one is low. I’d want to see it in person before buying. But for an early driver it’s a steal

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    • Avatar Brian

      Maybe so, I haven’t been in one since I was a kid, and it was a rubber bumper model on a used car lot. I dunno George, that door opening looks mighty small with the top up! I was really thinking more along the lines of a ’71 (year I came off the assembly line) GT. The door openings look bigger and I understand the headroom is higher also. I know..I know.. ’71 was in the midst of BL, but I kinda like the grill.

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      • Avatar GearHead Engineer

        Why would the top be up? :-)

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  3. Avatar Dolphin Member

    The downside:
    – needs a small amount of rust addressed, then paint
    – rebuild only half done, needs boring + rings, maybe more
    – 18-wheelers

    The upside:
    – OD transmission
    – the terrific dash & banjo steering wheel
    – new & used parts easy to find
    – inexpensive to run
    – cheap way into a vintage convertible
    – it’ll never be worth less than it’s worth now

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  4. Avatar jim s

    if the owner would include all the parts that they changed out on this car that would be nice. the list of new or upgraded is long. love the steel wheel/hubcap look. adding the overdrive sure helps. i wonder why the owner did not do a full rebuilt on the motor? the panel fit tells me it needs a PI to see just how bad the rust is as these are unitbody. there are miatas in this price range so which way do to go!!

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  5. Avatar GearHead Engineer

    Nice little car. Brian, these actually have a lot of legroom. You’d be surprised.

    This one looks complete, and I prefer the plain steel wheels to the wires and later Rostyle wheels. My ’67 has the plain steel ones so I’m a bit biased. My concern on this one is the “rust forming in the rockers.”. One thing I learned many years ago – there is no such thing as a little rust on an MGB. If rust is visible, there’s a lot of it inside the sills. You’ll be drilling spot welds and replacing all sorts of metal. The good news is that all the parts are readily available. But it’s not a small project.

    Still looks like a lot of fun for the money.

    – John

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  6. Avatar Robert Park

    With overdrive? That’s half the value right there. Transforms the B. Concerns are a few pinholes in the rockers usually means more lurking. Buy it and drive it! My current is GT that I installed an overdrive in. Owned now for 20 years and still puts a smile on my face. Best sports car fun for relatively cheap.

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  7. Avatar rancho bella

    I prefer the MGB GT’s but heck, a metal dash with o.d…………..ya boy for that price.
    I don’t care about the pinholes and I’m sure it looks worse inside. That is why they sell grinders and welders. I find it puts you at one with the car after a day of cutting, grinding and welding ;)

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  8. Avatar junkman Member

    These Californians don’t really have any idea about RUST, this doesn’t that bad to me, Too bad I’ve got 3 Sunbeams to do first or I would have another LBC

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  9. Avatar junkman Member

    ” Look” was the word missing

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  10. Avatar Charles

    It looks like a decent fun little car and worth the price.

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  11. Avatar cory

    uh, no. there were no improvements past 67. between leyland cutting every corner and the epa choking them down to 50 hp (vs 97 on the 67) and crash standards that added pillows to the dash and giant bumpers that added weight and raised them up just enough to destroy the handling, 67 was the best year by far. I will say that maybe the top mechanism was improved.

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  12. Avatar DonM

    Looks like a good buy to me. Could be a good starting point if you wanted to build a vintage racer – of course you could buy one already done for much less then it cost you to build, but what’s the fun in that?

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  13. Avatar Jose S. Clara

    As you cannot use it as it is, you”ll spend 25.000 USD (plus) in a proper bottom up rebuild,
    By the end of the day it will be a nice MGB, valued at 18.000 USD….

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  14. Avatar paul

    What else can you buy for the $’s that is this much fun, not much & as for the rust you haven’t seen what an east coast car looks like after as many years/ damn little left.

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  15. Avatar Alan

    My ’69 MGB had a flat metal black crinkle finish painted dash. That was in England, I guess it was different in the US?

    Biggest problem was if you wanted to cruise above 70 mph. Up to that speed, it was fine, but I did some commuting on the M25 (a huge ring road around London) which even in the slow lane was an 80 mph traffic jam. The B was fine, but I needed to top up the oil after every trip.

    Wish I had room and lived closer, would be a lot of nostalgia for me to own it!

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  16. Avatar julian

    As it stands would make £8k at UK auction.

    All parts available from Moss motors

    Chrome bumper models are sought after

    Sills not too difficult to replace.

    I had a Gt in the 70s and its still on the road. just came up for sale on Classic Car.
    Sills were newspaper and fibreglass but were quickly done.

    Now if it had a works hardtop…… Very scarce because Leyland reputedly scrapped hundreds of them when production ceased.

    would grab it and ship it if it were not for my Flaminia project

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  17. Avatar fred

    I recently had a mind blowing MG experience- I work freelance for an online car appraisal service and got a call to go look at an ’80 MGB. Not your run of the mill car – it was represented as 100% original, a time capsule, with about 40,000 miles. After inspecting it I couldn’t find any evidence to contradict this claim- it was near perfect. The clincher is when I looked up the sellers ad to see what the buyer was paying- the dealer’s asking price was 30K! Anyone ever heard of a price like that for an 80?

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    • Avatar paul

      30k yeah after hell burns the rubber bumpers off the car & singes a couple of coils in the springs & then hell freezes over.

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      • Avatar Brian

        It’s too bad the chrome bumper change over kits are pricey, or every MGB would be pontential! Even if it’s perfect, 30G is too much for a rubber. Heck, you could buy a couple of shape Chrome bumper models for that kind of money! A roadster for the sun and a GT for the clouds!

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  18. Avatar geomechs Member

    I had a ’67 and it was in a lot worse shape than this one. I rebuilt the engine and drove it for a year before a guy approached me to sell it. I better than doubled my investment to slightly lower than the price on this one is. And that was back in ’73. Mine had a lot more rust on it than this one but the buyer wanted it pretty bad; he told me that there was no doubt what shape the body was in so that gave him an idea where to start with the rebuild. I wish I knew what happened to it… MGBs are great cars, maybe not as appealing (to me) as a TF but still a lot of fun.

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  19. Avatar DT

    MGB a bargain,ha ha ha ……that all established, this car aint bad,the owner seems honest,and at one point he loved it. Now he wants to dump it. a carbon pad for a throw out bearing,Lucas (prince of darkness)wiring,weird brake fluid,weird sized bolts,just weird

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