MG factory Abingdon

In 1976, hardly one year after I bought the 1970 MGB, my interest in the MG marque had already become a passion. I visited the annual MG Car Club weekend at Silverstone that year and was very much impressed. I wrote a letter to the MG factory with a request for a private visit to the factory. To my suprise I got a reply that my request was granted!

So in August 1976 I went to the U.K. again, of course with the MGB. A fortnight holiday was planned that should become the most beautiful holiday I ever had! Not in the least because of the fine weather. Every day the sun was shining so the top could stay down for fourteen days!

The visit to the MG factory was unforgettable. We got a guide who showed us the complete plant in less than an hour. It was very interesting to see the different stages of assembly. At the time, more than 90% of the produced MGB's went to the USA, where the MGB was considerable more popular than the Triumph TR7.

A week before our visit, the production of the MGB GT V8 had ceased and the 1800 Roadster and GT had just been updated for the 1977 model year with new interiors. A striped nylon seat style was introduced for home market cars. Also a complete new dash with Triumph Spitfire style clocks plus a new steering wheel had seen the light. All this came as a big surprise to me, though I didn't like the changes...I was even allowed to take pictures, actually slides, which have now been digitalised and can be seen below.