In the next week or so I'll be posting procedures for FTP access to
a machine on which I've put month-by-month files archiving the
british-cars traffic going all the way back to its inception in the
fall of 1987. Thanks go to mjb for providing all the source tapes for
this. I'll post more once the machine is configured appropiately.
Also, someone may be needed to to maintain the archive in the future
as we'll be needing the space for a project in a couple months.
(Richard Welty, are you out there??)
Lawrence Buja
ccm0b@vm.cc.purdue.edu
Also, I saw this article in an old pile of C&Ds that I inherited
and it seems to provide a nice overview of the MGB/GT V8.
WHITHER THE COURSE OF EMPIRE
(Car and Driver, Oct 1973)
British Leyland has finally gone and done the obvious. After eight
years of production, the MGB/GT has been updated. One of the first
sport wagon hatchbacks, the MGB/GT has been a successful addition to the
British Leyland line, with the major complaints centered around the
noisy 95-hp, long-stroke, 1.8-liter Four that has been in production for
nearly twenty years. Coincidentally, in 1965 British Leyland bought the
rights to the 215 CID aluminum V-8 that General Motors had developed for
use in the compact Buick Special, Pontiac Tempest and Oldsmobile F-85
introduced in 1961 but which was phased out of production at GM after a
span of only three years. It later formed the basis for the Repco
3-liter Formula One engine. An Anglocized version of this engine
appeared in the Rover 3500 and 3.5 sedans, and in the Morgan Plus 8 --
All three of which appeared briefly in this market, but are now sold
only in Europe, having failed to meet U.S. emission requirements. Later
still, British Leyland tried to update the MGB into the MGC -- an
Austin-Healey 3-liter Six stuffed into an MGB that was nearly as hard to
sell as it was to corner.
Enter Ken Costello, a British specialty car builder, who saw the
advantages of slipping in the lightweight aluminum V-8 from the Rover
rather than the heavy old Healey Six -- thus creating the Costello V-8,
a limited number of which were sold in England before British Leyland
realized what a good idea was at hand. And behold, the MGB/GT (nee
Costello V-8). The body of the new model is precisely the same as the
old model -- which is to say, ultra-familiar. The chassis stays the
same as well, although the clutch is larger to take the greater torque,
the rear axle ratio is a higher 3.07 to one instead of 3.91 to one, the
radiator is larger, and the wheels are new 5-inch wide cast allow and
steel rims fitted with 175HP-124 radials. The weight distribution
changes slightly in favor of the front, for although the aluminum V-8 is
lighter than the cast iron Four, the emission controls, etc. are
heavier. The new 12-year-old engine displaces 3528cc, has a low 8.25 to
one compression ratio and produces 137 hp at 5000 rpm. The carburetion
is by the inevidable twin SUs and the transmission is the 4-speed with
Laycock overdrive from the MGB. Performance includes a claimed zero to
60 mph time of 8..25 seconds, with the quarter-mile accomplished in 16.5
Top speed is said to be 120 mph, and fuel comsumption over 25 mpg.
The price will be in the $5000 range. . . in England. Yes, only in
England. British Leyland is hesitant to sell the MGB/GT V-8 in this
market for the time being, although it would probably be the best thing
they could do since Cecil Kimber abandoned Brooklands screens.
------
Three small black and white pictures accompany the article. A
larger one showing a swinging young English couple standing in a large
stone courtyard admiring at what seems to be a normal MGB/GT except
for some distinctive looking alloy rims and a small V-8 badge pasted
just in front of the door. The small interior shot shows, at least to
these untrained eyes, a normal, right hand drive, MGB/GT interior.
The last photo shows the unmistakeable V-8 nestled into a very cosy
engine compartment. It has some nice looking silver (?) on black
MG-badged valve covers (much better than the generic valve covers on
the TR-8) and twin carbs set far back on the manifold, very near the
firewall, fed by two silly looking air boxes shaped much like
old-fashoned bellows.
------
The January '90 Thoroughbred & Classic Cars (A Verrry glossy UK rag)
MG Owners Club Classified section shows nine of these for sale ranging
in price from 6000-11000 pounds, with most at the lower end of the
scale. The five MGC and MGC/GT's listed came in at similar prices.
|