Back in 1994, I bought my first MGB, an 1800cc Roadster in red. I had that for about a year or so, joining the local Owners Club and rebuilding the car from virtually the shell up with a new engine. It was great to drive and easy to work on, so my overall impressions of MGBs were pretty good.
A couple of years later, in 1996, I got some unexpected funds from being made redundant, so once again, I looked at MGBs. This time, I spotted a rare black ‘Costello’ V8 Roadster for sale in London, and felt that this was too good an opportunity to miss!
Unfortunately, just before I viewed the car, the owner had failed to secure the bonnet properly and it had blown open whilst being driven, cracking against the windscreen. However, the damage appeared to be easily fixable, and as I had already been seduced by the raw power of this ‘beast’, I bought the car anyway…
To cut a long chapter of this story short, during virtually the whole of my year’s ownership of this car, it sat in my garage waiting to get the bonnet fixed. I only used the car on one serious trip, to Duxford ‘War Birds’ Air Display in Cambridgeshire, a round trip of about 250 miles. Predictably, it guzzled petrol and although it completed the trip without incident, the ever-present threat of over-heating or some other imminent catastrophe meant it was not the ‘dream ride’ I had been hoping for. My subsequent acceptance at University as a mature student meant ‘the beast’ now simply had to go…
Sadly, Costellos had yet to be recognised as highly collectable, so I also made a big loss when I sold it. (Recently, I was contacted by the International Costello register, who told me that the car was one of only a few genuine Roadsters ever made! It is now owned by a collector in Germany who is restoring it properly; no doubt it will be worth a fortune one day…!)
Many years later, due to an amazing stroke of luck, my partner Linda and I spent Xmas 2011 alone on a private island in Poole Harbour, acting as ‘security’ whilst the owners’ new multi-million pound house was being built. This is a whole story in itself, but I mention it simply because while we were there, I first got the idea of buying another MGB V8 Roadster. (Of course, the memories of my ‘nightmare year’ with the Costello were always in the back of my mind, but I simply tried to ignore them…)
As we had Internet access on the island, I was able to browse the web and discovered a possible purchase in Sussex, about one hundred miles to the east of Poole. This had the traditional 3500cc Rover engine with carburettors, but unusually, it had an automatic gearbox. As I was a fan of automatics, this initially seemed like a good thing, but the more I reflected on it, the less appealing it became. ‘Classic’ auto boxes were not the slick and efficient items of today, and this one was only likely to make the V8’s poor fuel consumption even worse. Furthermore, the MGB’s main attribute was it’s sporty nature, and perhaps a manual box was essential to really exploit this? Time to move on, I thought…
Once back on the mainland, I continued my search and found a more promising candidate. This was advertised at a dealers (M&M Automotive) near Lymington, only about thirty miles away, so I went to have a look at it. First impressions were good, especially as it was red, the colour I most preferred. In addition, the engine was fuel-injected, so that should be a bit cheaper to run. The only downside appeared to be a slight oil-leak from something underneath the car, but a huge folder of paperwork revealed that the previous owner had spent a fortune on the car, building it up from the shell and replacing or upgrading many parts.
After some haggling with the dealer, I agreed to buy the car, subject to them fixing the oil leak. Unfortunately, they later reneged on this deal, as they apparently ‘didn’t’ (or perhaps ‘couldn’t?) work on their cars. They also promised to deliver the car to me, but this didn’t happen either. Eventually, despite promising to meet up with me, they simply left the car at a local tyre depot and ‘ran away’…or so it seemed. Not a good sign…
Further investigation revealed a catalogue of faults and misrepresentation (such as claiming just two previous owners, not NINE!) by these dealers; serious enough for me to threaten them with legal action from the Trading Standards agencies. This resulted in a partial refund, but it obviously soured my initial impressions of the car, especially with the ‘Costello demon’ on my shoulder constantly reminding of previous disasters….
To be fair, this car seemed to have been well-built by the previous local owner. However, the gearbox selection was appalling, especially from cold, although I discovered online that this was a common fault with this model of box. Thankfully, my local dealer was able to adjust the selector mechanism (and subsequently change to a specialised gear oil) so now it is not too bad – well, after the first few miles anyway. They also fixed the oil leaks from the gearbox and the differential, and the local tuning shop set everything up to perfection, so the car now runs very well – and quite economically, for a V8! (Checking the engine number revealed that it had originally been fitted to a Morgan!)
The paintwork was generally good, if a little tired, so I got a ‘friend of a friend’ to give it a good mopping with professional valeting products. This made a great difference and was worth every penny. I also fitted an appropriate matching pair of lights to the front bumper, together with some subtle ‘Monte Carlo’ decals, reflecting the MGB’s competition heritage.
For the first few years, the car did not go far. I took it to the ‘Classic Cars on the Prom’ shows a few times on Bournemouth Seafront, and to an MG Owners Club Rally at nearby Athelhampton House, where, as ‘something special’, the car was allowed to park on the front lawn!
Shortly after I bought the car, I noticed a hard-top for sale locally on Ebay, so snapped it up for a bargain price, despite only buying the car precisely because it was a soft-top! Later, I had the top sprayed white and it was only a matter of time before I went the ‘whole hog’, adding some racing squares to the doors and some extra decals to the body. Now it was virtually indistinguishable from a car that had recently fetched an amazing £142,000 at auction – albeit with some genuine racing history!
Yes, it was a shame to lose the ‘soft-top’, but everyone agreed that the car looked much better, and it was much more practical, especially with the UK’s unpredictable weather. I was also able to sell the almost new soft-top and folding frame for a good price, finding just a bare hood for only £25! This fitted to the body and windscreen very well, tensioned by just the roll-cage, so it was possible to ‘go topless’ yet still have some back-up, should I be bothered to spend five minutes removing the hard-top.
Due to other commitments, I was not able to use the car much in it’s new livery, but I was able to get some great photos of it in a ‘rally’ setting, thanks to my partner Linda. We were also allowed to park it front of local historic house Creech Grange during a rare ‘Open Day’ there.
Hopefully this year, we will be able to get ‘out and about’ much more, as the car is such a joy to drive; everything that the previous Costello was not! After all, nothing beats the sound of that wonderful V8 engine…!
PS: Massive thanks also go to my friend Tom Cousins for his invaluable help, putting all of these pages online; also thanks to my partner Linda O’Connell for help with some of the photographs.
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