The MGB was introduced in 1962, and there were some significant changes in 1965, so this late 1967 model has a number of differences from the earliest cars. This was the first unibody construction sports car produced by the MG company, nine years after they first made a unibody sedan (the Z type). A half million MGBs were produced up to 1980, making it one of the largest selling sports cars of all time, and the MGB model designation is synonymous with the company in the minds of many people.

The 1967 MGB is considered by many enthusiasts to be the most desirable version out of all the years the car was produced. This example, a late '67 with reverse lamps, overdrive, factory hard top and wire wheels, also sports most of the most desirable options.

This 1967 model has a BMC B series 1800cc 4 cylinder overhead valve 5 main bearing engine, a 4 speed gearbox with overdrive (no synchromesh on 1st gear), disc brakes in front and drums in the rear, a live rear axle, rack and pinion steering, and independent front suspension riding on substantial A-arms and king pins. The differences between earlier cars and this '67 are mainly noticable to cognoscenti, and consist of the 3 vs. 5 main bearing engine, door handles, which pull outward on the earlier cars but have push buttons on the later car, less padding on the door caps on later cars, door lock differences, and in the case of this '67, which is a late one, reverse lights are also present. There are other small details, such as a mechanically driven tach on the '64 and an electric one on the '67, and minor differences in the engine compartment, instrument panel, etc.

This car is shown above and in other photos below with a factory original hard top. This is a rare item these days, and in fact it took me two tries to get one in good condition. The first top required considerable fiberglass work, and was eventually sold for use on a vintage race car. The main reason it wasn't in the best condition was the pattern on the interior surface, which is extremely difficult to restore to original condition. The second hard top, which was in much better shape, was found as a result of being a newsletter editor for my MG car club, as all the classified ads came to me first. As a matter of fact the car itself was found as a result of the same situation. My interest in the factory hard top extended to producing a mold to make a seal for the side window that was not available. This was an interesting and time consuming project. Recently I have been working on repainting this particular hard top, so I am not able to use it right now.

When not using the hardtop, or in the absence of one, the soft top is fairly simple, and consists of a set of tubular metal "hood sticks" that stow in the boot (trunk) and have to be put together and erected, and then the "hood" (convertible soft top) is snapped over the framework created by these sticks. Although this is inconvenient, the mounting points on the body make for a nice adaptable system, because the same mounts are used to install the hard top and the tonneau bar that supports the rear portion of a tonneau cover that can be installed over the cockpit when neither the soft or hard tops are in place. I tend to mainly use this tonneau cover rather than the other tops. I have recently completed a small project to restore the original straps in the trunk (boot) that are designed to hold the folded soft top, in its stowage bag, in place. These straps were not available as a reproduction part, only as a poor substitute, and on top of that one of mine was missing.

These were a different style than the canvas web straps used for the same purpose on earlier cars, being made of a stretchy rubber material. So first I had to locate some used straps, then find a replacement for the rubber, and reuse the hardware to rebuild them.

I bought this '67 from the original owner who lived in San Francisco. She bought the car when she was working at a BMC dealership in '67, and she described how the car was fitted with the optional chrome wire wheels, which she didn't like, and so had them swapped for the standard painted style wire wheels. Thus was eliminated what is today one of the most desirable options! Actually it's debatable if chrome wires are really such a great option. Painted wire wheels can be easily and inexpensively repainted, whereas once the chrome ones start to rust, there is really not much room for economical repairs. About a year ago I repainted my wheels and they looked great! Then more recently I needed new tires and embarked on a project to completely sandblast and repaint each wheel before installing the new tires. So now they look about as good as they possibly can. I also got new knockoffs which is a nice improvement-- I got ones with an MG logo on them which is not strictly correct but looks nice. Enthusiasts today hate to hear about desirable options that were not bought when the car was new. When the car was new, overdrive (which the '67 does have!) and chrome wire wheels were options that each cost only an extra $100!

This owner also had replaced the steering wheel and gearshift knob with custom ones, I reverted to new original type items which I preferred. Now more recently I have been running a really nice wood steering wheel that I bought on eBay-- from a '67 MGB-GT Special. I consider this to be a premium period accessory. This car is basically rust free and in fine running condition. Some mechanical work was needed to get the car in this condition. I rebuilt the gearbox (transmission) and did a few things to the engine at the same time, such as a minor valve job and general cleanout. The gearbox was expensive to repair, it had some major internal damage. The parts to repair it cost nearly $2000! A very late '67 like this one also normally has a stronger gearbox with some upgraded internal parts. The box installed in this car was probably not the original, as I had to actually modify it to have the later stronger countershaft and bearings. In addition, it now has a special synchro baulkring and gear for second gear, which is supposed to be an upgrade. The gearbox seems to work very nicely these days.

Eventually the car will need some body and paint work to be perfect, but in the short term its appearance is quite tolerable. So far all I have done in terms of body work is to repair a damaged jacking point on one side. I did have to do a certain amount of cleaning, the worst of which resulted from the fact that a dead rat was found on the right side horizontal portion of the bulkhead near the screen washer bottle. This was certainly one of the more disgusting things I've ever found in an old car! The car has had a nice looking but somewhat cheesy paint job that is obvious when you look closely, various areas were poorly taped and paint can be found on rubber and chrome areas where it doesn't belong. There are some minor damaged areas that were painted over without repair, and I may eventually replace the door skins because of this. I have replaced the carpeting in this car, and the interior is fairly nice as a result. The car has a new hood (convertible top) and tonneau cover made of StayFast canvas, a really nice material, in tan.

It has a nice set of leather seats too. These items were originally put together for my '64 MGB but I sold that car and kept the rebuilt items. I recently reupholstered the padded pieces surrounding the cockpit, and cosmetically restored the dashboard and gauges. I also recently rebuilt the front suspension. This was accomplished by using an entire other front end that was already rebuilt with new bushings, new shocks, new kingpins and everything, from another car that I had been rebuilding until I found this better car. I took the unit out of the other car, checked it over, added new brake discs and rebuilt calipers, new stainless braided hoses. The unit also had a rebuilt steering universal joint. One day I swapped out the old one in this '67, installing the rebuilt one using new urethane pads between body and crossmember. The whole car feels much better. Interestingly the new unit has GT springs, as it came from a GT. I don't see much difference, although there may be a difference in spring rate that is subtle. There are of course many other jobs to do. In general this seems to be the nicest MGB I have owned, and it looks like a keeper!