The sellers of this 1966 MGB named Stella have had her for 20 years but now have decided to pass her on to a new owner. They have listed her for sale here on craigslist in Ocean Park, Washington at a price of only $1,500. 
Stella used to live with her family in Idaho, and we’re told since they moved six years ago, she hasn’t run correctly. I think that’s a “snug top” aftermarket fiberglass hardtop. Stella’s sellers say she has some rust, but they have just purchased a new windshield and glazing rubber and have it ready to install.
The interior isn’t original, but is perfectly passable, especially for a $1,500 sports car! Those are “custom cherrywood” door caps. 512,243 MGBs were produced between 1962 and 1980, and it’s easy to see why — these are pleasant, attractive sports cars that are really distinctive in today’s world, especially the earlier chrome-bumper models.
The MGB starts courtesy of a brand-new battery but doesn’t run well at this point. Thanks to reader Matt H. who alerted us to this inexpensive find!
This is a deal and I predict it will not be available by the time it hits Barnfinds non-member listing.
Somebody’s going to get a great deal!
Re Morgan steering wheel: this wheel isn’t what I had in mind to replace originals in sports cars. Really.
Almost certainly a cracked head, but worth 1500.00
In Elaine Benes voice: STELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!
The best Jerry, the best.
Yep- posting deleted
Exactly what my first car cost… A 1965 MGB.
Although I’m biased as a Triumph sports car enthusiast ! I think this vintage of MGB is a great classic car… much more vintage, cleaner looking than the later models (particularly the hideous post-75 rubber bumper models). They are mechanically simple and easy to keep running, excellent parts supply and club support – a whole lot of top-down classic fun for a modest investment.
This example featured here seems way too cheap to me. I’m not surprised it sold rapidly. It obviously need some TLC but assuming it did not have any catastrophic rust issues you can’t see in the photos, I would think it could have sold for 2 or 3 times that amount? Somebody snapped this up and got a bargain ?
Looks like a truly great buy for next owner…and I speak from having the pleasure of many B’s…a terrific and simple little roadster, and I like the name too.
Michael Stella
Doesn’t currently run well? Guess the car doesn’t like all the rain from the coast. This is a nice candidate to buy then get a wrecked Mazda miata from Copart or IAAI and use the drive train to make a dependable car
A proper running MGB is a blast to drive,why change the drivetrain?Just get it running right & enjoy it.
Our ’66 ran like a train for years, a bunch with us during one of the famous gas crisis and then with my brother through 4 years of college. He was, and isn’t, a great mechanic so it’s a good thing the car was dependable. Out of school he went to work for GM hanging alternator brackets waiting to be drafted. After six months the QC guys found out he was putting the brackets on upside down.
This sounds exactly right for GM.
MGBs are plenty dependable without any help from Mazda. They could be a bit faster, but dependability is not an issue. I’ve owned a lot of MGBs – ‘ quit counting after 42. And a couple of them have hung around my garage for MMM-AAA-NNN-YYY, mmaannyy many years. Like my ’73 B/GT – 35 years here. Daily driver: 1986-1996, and then again from 2004 on to this morning. ‘ Let me down just once – when my Delco Saturn alternator went belly-up. Still drive it every day except in the salt season. Just turned over 251,000 miles as I returned from a 200 mile trip Sunday. ‘ LOVE this car!!
Did somebody say “cracked head”? Not too bad – lots of ‘em are available – including brand new ones – both iron and alloy. Used ones are fine, but make sure they’re magnafluxed BEFORE shipping. Then check with John Twist about chamfering stud holes to avoid another crack.
From what I can see on this car, I can’t think of anything it might need that would detract at all from that bargain-basement price.
Oh crap, it’s sold already. Hardly surprising. Especially attractive year too!
Beautiful GT!!!!
Thanks Eric! Now if I can just get my pull-handle ’65 on the road…
“Let me down just once…” I lied. It was twice, 2nd time when Pertronix died.
Suspiciously cheap, I suspect that the rust issues are more significant than they appear. Ocean Park is on the Long Beach Peninsula, adjacent the famous Bouy 10 fishery. I was there in August, (3 nice coho over 2 days) and it dried out a little the afternoon of our 3rd day in town. Damp mistiness the rest of the time. The PNW doesn’t really kill cars with rust, except on the coast.
I never cease to be amazed at how so many MGB owners never had problems with their cars. It was the first NEW car I ever bought, a ’67 new MGB, British racing green and wire wheels, my dream car. But, I put two sets of valves in the engine before I finally decided to sell it 3 years later. My mechanic said that I obviously bought a lemon. I loved that little car too. On the other hand I have always wanted an MG-TF… maybe I would have had better luck with… oh well… thems the breaks.
Last MGB post I was asking about hard tops for these. Here ya go, this is either a factory top or close looking aftermarket one. The top alone is worth at least half the asking price, if not more. Amazing that a deal can still be had in the classic car world. And if it was always in the PNW, it probably has minimal to no rust.
Hi Frank,
Well the amazing number of MGB owners to whom you refer are the guys who really haven’t had any trouble with them. I had a new Morris Minor in 1959 – ‘ went through eight valve jobs in about 65,000 miles – starting at 15,000 miles. It was a combination of two problems, an immature 19 year-old kid who beat the living crap out of the poor little car; always driving it full throttle on the highways, and then some American mechanics who didn’t know how to grind valves on these cars. No inserts in those days; the valves were ground way too deep and that was the problem. At 65,000, I got a new head and that ended the siege.
Regarding “lemons”, my dad had a brand new 1939 Dodge he always claimed was a lemon. I don’t believe in lemons; if something keeps breaking there’s a reason for it. Sometimes it takes some digging to find the solutions, but they are there. Of course one doesn’t evaluate a vintage car by the same standards as a new car. We expect the new ones to work properly, “right out of the box” and get pretty frustrated when they don’t. With vintage cars, we expect them to have problems, and we praise the heck out of them when they don’t.
And, the older they get, the better they get. It’s evolution: the bad ones have either been scrapped or properly repaired along the way. The result: a steady gradual improvement in the breed. A car like mine that has already put in a quarter-million miles over 48 years is much more likely to have the kinks worked out of it than did three-year-old 1973 models in 1976. Engines have been rebuilt by guys serving the hobby who really know what they are doing, and know their hobbyist customers demand the best and will blame them if there are any problems.
I’ve always preferred old cars to new, and this is just one of the many reasons why. Buy a car like this for $1500 – that leaves you about $18,500 to bring it up to the average cost of a decent reliable late-model used car in today’s market. By the time you’ve “invested” that much in it, you may prefer to limit your use of it, but that doesn’t mean you have to. You can keep it, USE it, fix whatever needs fixing, and get superb pleasure from driving it for as long as you like for far less than the cost of a modern used car.
Often, as I’m driving my B/GT, I think: “Isn’t this fantastic? There is nothing; absolutely nothing, that can go wrong with this car that’s not worth fixing”. So much for all the usual arguments you hear about “throwing good money after bad” in an old car. So I get all the great economics as well as all the fun. Folks who see and marvel at my car on supermarket parking lots are not concours judges. They don’t see the many faults that keep me out of competition. But they’re just as much fun to talk to and reminisce with.
In the meantime: I don’t have air bags, I don’t have electronic engine management, I don’t have aftermarket extended warranties, I don’t have a back-up camera, I don’t have power seats, keyless entry, power windows, Onstar communications for emergencies, 100,000-mile spark-plugs, or a host of other “essentials” expected of most used cars. If you need this stuff, then my 48 year-old car is not for you. But what were you driving in 1973? Did you like it? If so, why not get another one. What’s the fuss all about?
FWIW,
Allen
Gee Allen, I loved my MGB as I said I bought it new in 1967, and loved driving it. I did not treat it poorly even though I was a very young guy at that time. But I did drive it. It just kept getting problems with the valves… you would have thought that I was racing it or something. I hated to get rid of it… but I was tired of repairing it. Maybe I should have opted for a new engine.
I have had other cars that ran for a long time… daily drivers… ie, 22 years or more for two of them. Did not want to get rid of them either, but the wife decided she did not want to go anyplace away from home in such an old car (as our only car). So I now have a Hybrid Honda Accord as a daily driver.
Hey Frank, that’s cool! I mentioned my Morris Minor only because I had valve problems too, and although I admit my own complicity in those problems, the mechanics I used (and perhaps many others) didn’t know what they were doing. I blame the first shop for cutting them too deep, and subsequent shops for not recognizing they were cut too deep. With the head replaced, I went a good 20,000 more miles before I sold it.
Glad you enjoyed your B despite some problems I suspect you shouldn’t have experienced.
Cheers,
Alllen
That Blue one you posted is/was a real great looking car Allen. I often thought that I would have liked to have one like that.
One thing that I do wish that my MGB had was a back window that unzipped… like so many other sports cars did… I remember wishing that thing unzipped all the time in the summer. Noon day sun was too hot for the top down but those small windows were just not big enough for a lot of air circulation.
Your green one looks so familiar …. (I wonder why… ha ha).
Frank
Beautiful