Saturday, August 24, 2024

1968 MG MGC GT


Here's something you don't see every day: An MGC GT.

The MGC was introduced in 1967 as a more potent version of the common MGB, substituting an inline six in place of the B's little 1.8L four. You can see the bulge in the hood needed to clear the radiator, which was located further forward due to the longer motor, and the little bump that gives clearance for the dual SU carbs.


The 2.9L BMC C-series six cylinder made 145bhp in production tune, which was a fifty horsepower boost over the four. In exchange for half again the horsepower, though, the car became extremely nose-heavy. Even though the powerplant was a redesigned, lightened version of BMC's existing straight six, it still weighed two hundred pounds more than the four cylinder engine in the MGB (itself not very svelte, being a 350+ pound cast iron lump) and almost all those pounds were out there over the front axle.

The resulting car, in hardtop GT coupe form, weighed in at something right around 2600 pounds before the driver clambered in, and while it was a capable tourer, it had lost all the tossability that made people love the B.

The MGC was roasted in the British motoring press and only lasted a couple years in production.


Interestingly, the later MGB GT V8, which used the 3.5L Rover V8, did not suffer from these problems. In fact, the aluminum...well, "aluminium" now, I guess...V8, originally designed by Buick, was actually about forty pounds lighter than the cast iron B-series inline four.


The top photo, of the car motoring down College Avenue, was taken with a Nikon D2X and 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-D zoom lens in September of 2021. The photos of the car parked in the Fresh Market parking lot were snapped with an Olympus E-600 and Zuiko Digital 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 II zoom lens in March of 2022.

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