It has always amazed me just how well built little MGBs can be! A local
British car breaker gets bashed up accident damaged MGBs from time to time and
the passenger compartment is always saved. The front of one car was so
smashed down it was almost flat... but the passenger footwell held thier
shape. The front of these cars, whether by design or happy coincidence are
excellent impact abosorbers. That is why Leyland was able to import MGBs into
1980 but had to discontinue the XK-E by 1974. XK-Es fold up like oragami
swans. They always passed the MGB-into-cement-wall test, if not the 5-mph-
impact-and-no-damage test that required the rubber bumpers. If you look at
1973 and later cars, there are actually side-impact door beams and anti-burst
locks!
What isn't safe are MGBs that have had new sills installed in an un-
professional matter (looks for chicken shit welding job on bottom of door
posts, or a bad angle to the sills) or have alot of rust. These cars just
aren't safe.
The problem with the Pinto, as I remember it, there was a bolt somewhere
that basically punctured the tank in a collision. It was needed for something
and Ford couldn't be bothered to alter the design because of the expense. The
MGB, in standard form, doesn't have any bolts that would puncture the gas tank
in a collision, but look out for DPO seat belt or stereo modifications!
On the other hand, if you take a look at Unsafe At Any Speed, the order for
worst cars by Ralph Nader was VW Bus, MG (no one model specified), then
Corvair from what I remember. But you must take into account the driver of a
fast and nimble English car in 1965... Was it the driver or the car?
I ALMOST got ran over by a gas tankeronce in my MGB. It was at the gas
station and the gas tanker was taking a turn, didn't see me, and the hood of
my car was UNDER the middle of the gas tanker when I finally got him to stop
moving. If he had kept going my MGB would be flat as would most likely that
side of Bedford.
John
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