1964 MGB Roadster

Built between 4.11.64 and 6.11.64, this early pull-handle beauty left the Abingdon factory in the same very rare shade of Iris Blue it wears today.

The vendor has owned the car since 1989. As an Abingdon resident, he was able to tap into the huge hinterland of unique expertise and experience that had inevitably built up in MG’s home town.

He entrusted the car’s restoration to marque specialists Abingdon Car Restorations, who commenced upon a full body restoration.

In the meantime, the vendor spent time expertly fettling the car’s mechanicals and restoring, refurbishing or replacing anything that required restoration, refurbishment or replacement, as appropriate and necessary, mostly using parts from Moss.

The engine was rebuilt and balanced in 1991 and optimally put back together by legendary MG engine whisperer Geoff Allen, a man who had spent 30 years working on them at the Abingdon factory. 

When the vendor commissioned another full body restoration in 2010/11 (again with Abingdon Car Restorations), he decided to do little more to the engine than tune it up. 

“When Geoff did an engine”, he said, “you knew it was done for life." 

The car has an Oselli-modified gas-flowed unleaded head, Aldon electronic ignition, and a full stainless-steel Maniflow exhaust system with a four-branch ceramic-coated manifold by Zircotec. 

It also has one key feature that it didn’t have when it left the factory – an overdrive gearbox. 

The vendor located a three-synchro overdrive gearbox to the specification used by MG’s Competition Department, and incorporated a Brown and Gammons period gear knob with a cylindrical brushed-steel body incorporating an overdrive flick-switch on the side. 

Another non-standard, but in-period, feature of the car is the smaller diameter Moto-Lita steering wheel.

The car had the doors replaced a decade ago.

Items fitted more recently include a sturdier anti-roll bar, Lucas hazard lights, new engine mounts (2023), a high-torque starter motor, new rear springs (2018), new Bosch battery (2018), new prop-shaft and clutch with roller- and thrust-bearings (2023), and new 165/80R14 Falken tyres (2018).

The original specification disc steel wheels are fitted with hubcaps.

So, you may well be asking, what does all this add up to in terms of the driving experience.

Put simply, this is one of the very best MGBs we’ve ever driven.

It starts on the button, hunkers down, grips the road with commendable tenacity, and sets off with more alacrity and aplomb than you have any right to expect of a 60-year-old car.

It is nothing short of a revelation and the memory of driving it will stay in our collective memory for quite some time.

In 2013 the Royal Mail used this very car - EBW 45B - for a commemorative stamp celebrating the British car industry.

It’s not hard to see why.

The condition of the bodywork is exemplary, as you might expect.

There are no dinks, dents, creases, ripples or folds to the metal anywhere that we can see.

The shut-lines and panel gaps are consistent with the tolerances achievable in 1964; that’s to say that while the doors shut properly, they’re not as precisely flush with the bodywork as you’d find on a something built yesterday by a robot in Zuffenhausen.

The chrome work is free of any foxing, pitting or tarnishing, and the wheels are in very fine fettle.

So, too, are the matching Falken tyres, which appear to have plenty of life left in them.

The car’s lights, lenses, badging and other exterior fixtures and fittings are as impressive as the rest of it.

The ‘Iris Blue’ paintwork is pretty much beyond reproach wherever you look and has retained plenty of vibrancy, shine and lustre. 

The black fabric pack-away hood is free of any nicks or tears and is in first-class order, as is the tonneau cover.

Because it’s our duty to report any faults, we’ve looked hard to find anything of note to write about. 

That’s proved quite a challenge, and you should consider the following points to be firmly in the category of ‘nit-picking’.

There are a couple of small chips to the windscreen glass and one or two very small scuffs just above the MG badge on the leading edge of the bonnet.

We also noticed a couple of stone chips and a few tiny, pin-head indentations to the paint on the bodywork just forward of the windscreen. 

There is a residual mark left where the edge of the hood sits just ahead of the boot lid. We’re confident that this would capitulate with unseemly haste if threatened with a damp cloth and some soapy water.

Basically, it’s all very good indeed.

The inside is every bit as well-preserved and expertly curated as its exterior counterpart.

The black upholstery with its pale blue piping is in fine fettle and is as yet untroubled by anything more than a light crease here and there.

The black door cards are free of any nicks or marks, as are the black carpets and MG-branded rubber mats. 

The roof lining is very good, as are the rubber seals and trim.

The dashboard is devoid of any cracks or fading and all instruments and dials are in excellent, working order – as far as we can tell.

We didn’t press every button, flip every toggle or tweak every knob, but those we did press, flip and tweak did as they were instructed without misbehaving. 

There is a little creasing to the vinyl at each end of the padded dashboard edge.

The steering wheel feels just right in the hands, certainly more so than the one with which it would have left the factory, and the chunky gear lever has all the satisfying weight and tactility to make the most of the notably fast, slick, notchy gear change. 

The glove compartment cover boasts a metal plaque bearing the car’s number – 4484 – on the MGB Register.

The boot, which contains a spare wheel, is immaculate.

Wholly unsurprisingly, the engine bay and engine are in unimpeachably clean, dry and shiny condition. 

Delightfully, the original dealership metal plaque (Harold Webb Motors of Romford, Essex), is still present and correct (and, of course, shiny).

The undersides of the car appear to be entirely solid, sound and possessed of oodles of structural robustness. 

Neither time nor use has had any detrimental effect on this car’s integrity, as far as we can tell.

This car comes with so much paperwork we could only get it upstairs at our HQ using a block and tackle. 

Mercy.

This car has been photographed more than Marilyn Monroe. 

It has had more words written about it, in multiple languages, than you’d find in the complete and unabridged works of Charles Dickens, Stephen King and Barbara Cartland combined. 

And it is undoubtedly better-known to MGB afficionados than any other MGB out there.

Should you decide, having successfully bid for the car, that you’d like to settle down and read everything in these files, you’d be well advised to clear your diary for at least a couple of months.

Every nut, bolt and washer is accounted for; all work carried out during restorations, refurbishments and routine maintenance is documented and recorded; every breath taken by its carburettors has been measured, photographed, journaled and indexed.

There are countless magazine articles, letters, features, newspaper cuttings, MoT certificates, bills, receipts and invoices.

There are more stamps bearing its image than you’d find in the archive vaults at Stanley Gibbons.

It has a Heritage Certificate (in triplicate), of course. It also has proof of its ownership history traced back to the day it left the factory. 

In short, it has more history than the Ashmolean Museum.

It also has an MoT certificate that’s valid until 26th August 2024. 

It is not unknown for MGB enthusiasts and the myriad fans of this car to fall to their knees, clutch their chests and become quite dizzy when they learn that the vendor is selling it.

After being revived by smelling salts and given a restorative brandy, they invariably ask “Why?”, often wiping away a tear with a trembling hand.

Well, the reason is all too familiar and prosaic.

As is often the case with classic cars and their owners, eventually the passage of time and the stiffening of joints catch up with the driver rather quicker than the car, and the former finds himself having to reluctantly part company with the latter.

The vendor wants this unique vehicle to pass to an owner who shares his passion, knowledge and duty of care.

Whoever the next owner is, he or she should consider themselves the extraordinarily lucky and privileged curators of something really very special indeed.

We’re confident to offer this fine car for auction with an estimate of £18,000 - £23,000. 

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at the Bonhams|Cars Online HQ. Viewings are strictly by appointment. To make a booking, please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, and read our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.