Everyone likes the early chrome bumper MGBs, and this is an exceptionally early one, manufactured in late 1962 with a low four-digit serial number. It’s here on eBay in Auburntown, Tennessee, with not a lot of time left and a $2,400 starting bid that no one’s met.

On first inspection, the car looks extremely good, just very dirty from barn find storage. Even the top looks decent. Closer inspection reveals rust, though the vendor says it’s confined to the floorboards. The rest of the body is “RUST FREE.” That said, it’s a project car and “clearly needs to be stripped.” There goes the dream of driving it off and enjoying it out of the barn.

This is a 1963 MGB. All the early details are here, including a metal dash and pull handles to go with the chrome bumpers. Those bumpers are original to the car, as are the tail light assemblies, trunk (“boot”) lid, doors, and undamaged grille. The early grilles had the vertical bars riveted to the grille surround; it’s not a single-piece stamping. “These parts are extremely rare, valuable, and almost impossible to obtain,” says the vendor. There’s an aluminum hood (“bonnet”).

The gleam in the eye that became the MGB started in 1958 with the MG EX205 prototype, designed to replace the popular MGA. Many mechanical parts (such as the B-Series engine, enlarged from 1.6 to 1.8 liters, and now producing 95 horsepower) were carried over from the A. The car didn’t get a five-bearing motor until 1965, and since this car has one it’s presumably not the original engine. Also incorrect are the seats and fuel tank.

The paint that looks so good on first blush shows major fails in the close-ups. There’s one blurry photo of the interior, and it looks dirty, with some parts missing—carpet, console sides, glovebox lock, radio (though it’s in a separate photo).

What we can see of the seats doesn’t look too bad, but we already know they’re non-original.

The car sits on ancient nylon-belted whitewalls. But it also comes with a ton of spare parts, some of them new in the package. The new stuff includes weatherstripping and rubber parts for the rebuild of the doors. All the parts have been “road-tested,” whatever that means. Also included is a copy of the book Original MGB and MGB GT V8.

What needs doing at the very least is new floors and a reboot of the interior. Original-type seats would be good. The car “ran when parked,” which may have been a while ago. It shouldn’t be too hard to get it running.

There’s a lot that’s not original here, but it’s still a very early MGB with a lot of desirable features. The serial is GHN3L 4217 if that’s helpful. The MG was produced until 1980, at which time it was a rubber-bumpered, bloated mess and a symbol of all that went wrong with the British auto industry. But 1963 was a hopeful period, with exports strong and the cars timely. Looking for a fairly easy winter project? This could be it. Must like working on British cars, and Lucas electrics.