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V8-Powered 1968 MGB Brooklands Renaissance

OK, so when is a run of the mill MGB no longer an MGB? When it has been given the full business by Brooklands Car Components of Ontario, Canada. It’s basically an MGB but it has a lot more going on mechanically and physically. It’s always a treat to discover something a bit different and unknown so let’s look more closely at this ’68 Brooklands Renaissance. It is located in Paris, Ontario, Canada, and is available here on eBay for a BIN price of $15,000 (CDN) or about $11,048 (U.S.). There is a “make an offer” option too.

The information on the Brooklands Renaissance is a bit limited. It appears that Brooklands Car Components is no longer functioning and I wasn’t able to get a dig on production numbers but their conversions were performed on both the MG “B” and the “GT” fixed coupe as well. You can make out the basic lines of an MG in this example but the fiberglass nose and tailpieces, along with the rocker panel trim, lights, etc. do a pretty thorough job of disguise.

This Brooklands Renaissance, which has made its way around cyber world as of late, is well executed. It has a bit of the kit car look about it but it does possess a balanced and flowing presentation. The body panels don’t look tacked on or misaligned, they look like they belong. The finish is strong and deep too. Though this car is titled as a ’68 MGB/Brooklands Renaissance model, the seller doesn’t indicate when the conversion was performed. Components like headlights and taillights have been sourced from various different auto models and are not unique to the Brooklands. American Racing wheels nicely finish off the exterior. The seller claims that according to its five-digit odometer, this roadster’s mileage is 39K,  but he does not attest to that as being a genuine count.

This roadster is hardly a skin-deep affair. The front and rear suspension, along with the brakes, have been sourced from a Ford Mustang. The seller doesn’t elaborate but it would seem, based on size, that the suspension/steering components are Mustang II sourced as those are known for finding their way into custom applications. Under the bonnet is where things get really interesting as you will find a 180 HP,  3.5 liter, Rover V8 engine, outfitted with an Offenhauser intake manifold and a Holley carburetor. Backing up the engine is a Rover five-speed manual transmission connected to a Ford 8″ differential.  The seller doesn’t say anything about how this Brooklands Renaissance rolls but one has to imagine that it does it with authority.

The interior I pretty fair though the dashboard/instrument panel looks a bit thrown together. The seating surfaces are trimmed in leather and there is a matching carpet in place, it all pulls together nicely. The seller mentions that the instrument panel gauges all work and a newer AutoMeter tachometer has been installed. Note the steering wheel, it’s a nice Dino leather-wrapped piece but it maintains an “MG” horn button.

This is a neat looking custom and certainly a rarity. It’s really not an MG to the core any longer because the mods are extensive, in both appearance and mechanical. And I’m sure that operationally, it has very little in common with the MGB that it left behind some time ago. My only concern with a custom like this is, what happens when you get a bit more than dinged and have to start replacing unique body components? Could be a bit challenging. It would be interesting to know, have any of you ever owned a custom/kit car and if so, how did it treat you?

Comments

  1. Avatar Nevadahalfrack Member

    IMHO, this is a car that separates the true mechanically-inclined enthusiastic from the “collector” with a need to be noticed for their choice of “unusual” (READ: more money than car knowledge). It’d probably be an absolute blast to drive, it’d cause some serious consternation to those that couldn’t perform their own monthly maintenance or cracked a fender at A Day On The Green showing..

    It’d be a wicked fun car methinks!

    Nice find, Jim. Did YOU ever have something crazy like this?

    Like 2
    • Avatar Jim ODonnell Staff

      Thx Nevada, fair question, no, I never have. I’ve always stayed with either fish or fowl, as so to speak, instead of getting mixed up with something that is a concoction of several different things.

      Like 2
  2. Avatar ace10

    Is that a Geo Metro nose?

    Like 7
  3. Avatar Go Cart Mozart

    If ya want a Miyata, then get a Miyata. Nice job on the motor, but surely someone lost sight of what a MGB should look like. Yuk!

    Like 8
  4. Avatar ras_austin

    Do you have to do an engine pull to change the sparkplugs?

    Like 3
    • Avatar redwagon

      Thats a very good question.

      Like 0
    • Avatar Nevadahalfrack Member

      Might be removable plugs in the inner fender walls a la some ‘69 big block Mustangs..
      Though it’s not distinctive it appears by the photo that the front of the engine bay may have something like that for accessibility here on this too.

      Like 1
  5. Avatar Achman

    As far as something different this fun to drive and will draw attention (especially on startup) for not a lot of money, this fits the bill. Try to buy a v8 swapped Miata for $11k that actually drives.

    Like 5
  6. Avatar bill tebbutt

    I grew up just down the street from “Brooklands” headquarters (Forest Hill intersects Warren Road). We’d see these cars once in a while in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, and growing up I had looked a few over. They look better in person than in pictures, and the company owner’s car (white) was driven for many many years. I think they sold these as kits, and/or performed the conversions, for the better part of 30 years if I had to guess. So, unlike a one-off, there has likely been enough made to iron out the kinks.

    Appearance aside (and I have owned a number of MGs over the decades), these always struck me as pretty well screwed together

    Like 5
  7. Avatar PairsNPaint

    Starting in 1973, the Rover/Buick 215 cu.in. aluminum V-8 engine was available in the MGB GT from the factory. Later, Rover Group began reproducing the MGB roadster shell with updates again using a 3.9 liter version of this engine named the MG RV8, but high cost factored against it commercially.

    Like 2
    • Avatar chrlsful

      that was a TR8, as well (the lill wedge car, a TR7 w/this motor).

      Like 0
  8. Avatar CCFisher

    Looks like it has Geo Metro headlights and Ford Escort taillights. Seems like they could have dipped into a more upscale parts bin for something like this.

    Like 2
  9. Avatar Bultaco

    It kinda looks like an MGB, a Geo Metro, and a TVR got together with some tequila and the rest is a blur.

    Like 3
  10. Avatar jeff

    Is that Rover V8 an old Buick nail head??? kinda loooks like it

    Like 0
    • Avatar Charles Brand

      Sort of.

      It’s the old aluminum block 215 V8 that GM built for the Buick Special & Oldsmobile F-85 back in the early ‘60s; Rover bought the tooling & design and they’re the basis of the V8s in Range Rovers today…👍

      Like 1
      • Avatar KEEB

        The Buick/Rover 215 V8 also evolved in Australia to be the Repco Brabham BT19 grand prix cars motor .Single overhead cams on each bank. Jack Brabham drove these with moderate success.

        KEEB

        Like 1
      • Avatar Dave Mazz

        Mr. Keeb did point out:

        “The Buick/Rover 215 V8 ……evolved…….to be the Repco Brabham BT19 grand prix cars motor .Brabham drove these with moderate success”

        In fact, the Brabham BT19 competed in F1 for two years, 1966 and 1967. The cars won the F1 drivers championship in both years, Jack Brabham in 1966, and Denny Hulme in 1967. Hulme was 4th in 1966 amd Brabham 2nd in 1967. I would say that “modest success” for a car powered by a production, stock-block, engine, is not quite the proper phrase one might use. Others have called the Brabham Repco 1966-67 efforts “brilliant!!”

        Like 0
  11. Avatar Lawrence Smith

    looks like crap,ruined a good car.

    Like 1
  12. Avatar carbuzzard Member

    That Buick/Rover engine was a fun package in the Daimler SP250, but that was one ugly fish. It had the chassis rigidity of lasagne and it was said the doors could pop open when cornering hard in the track. But the engine was fun and makes all the right V-8 noises.

    Think of this as a good way of getting a one of those V-8s in a decent chassis that doesn’t look like something that looks like it belongs in aquarium.

    I think it looks pretty good, better than an MGB, which looks, well, they weren’t thrilling even back in the day. Are the headlights and taillights borrowed from prosaic sources? Big deal. They’re blended in and fit well. What the heck, the Maserati Ghibli used taillights fresh off the Fiat 850.

    Yeah, I’d put this in my garage before an MGB.

    Like 1
    • Avatar SubGothius

      The Daimler SP250 didn’t use the Buick/Rover V8; it had a tiny 2.5L hemi-head V8 of Daimler’s own design.

      Like 0
  13. Avatar Michael Herrema

    Interesting concept with decent execution. But I just can’t handle the Geo Metro headlights and Ford Escort tail lights. You’d think they’d have wanted to source these parts from vehicles with a bit more… pedigree.

    Like 3
  14. Avatar TimM

    This car shows build skills!! It looks clean and I bet it’s a hand full on a windy road!!

    Like 0
  15. Avatar FastEddie/OldEddie: pick one

    IRRC, the Daimler SP250, also known as the Dart, I think, had a Daimler engine, supposedly a Hemi. The GM BO(P?) 215 was used by Bruce McLaren in his Zerex Special, in the early 60s, to clean house, but was not the engine used in the SP250. I’m not even sure the the SP250 engine was aluminum. Cannot believe no one in my group of motorhead friends ever heard of this car, but pretty nice for the period.

    Like 1
    • Avatar carbuzzard Member

      D’oh. Right you are. I knew that. Must be the heat. Yeah. That’s the ticket.

      Like 0
  16. Avatar healeydays

    It’s gone. Looks like a private deal…

    Like 0
  17. Avatar scott m

    Looking at nothing but the body, I would say “what an interesting car”. Looking at nothing else but the convertible silhouette, I would say- “MGB”.

    Like 0

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