MGB60 what a simply amazing event! Where do I even begin I am simply overwhelmed by the experience.
Background
MGB60 is jointly organized by the MGB Register of MG Car Club and the MG Owners Club in the United Kingdom. Sunday 25 September 2022 was the day to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the introduction of the MGB. The event is supported by a good number of sponsors who make the event possible. You can view their details here. Please support them as they share our love of the MGB!
Planning to Attend
My attending was planned almost a year ago. 2022 is a transition year for me. Retirement is happening and I wanted to accomplish 3 big MG things. I did attend NAMGAR’s GT47 in Colorado Springs CO in June. After 4 days at home I then traveled to NAMGBR’s MG2022. This was held in Peterborough ON in the later part of June. So about 4,600 miles traveled in the 1977 MGB in June. Great fun! MGB60 was the third “must do” item for 2022. I traveled over from the USA to be there for the event and a lot of other things during a nearly 4 week trip.
Location: British Motor Museum, Gaydon
British Motor Museum, Gaydon is the location for MGB60. If you have not had the opportunity to visit is is something a trip to UK should include. There are many things to see and MG are well represented in the museum. Old Number 1 is there. Also, the EX land speed record cars and the cut in half MGB GT. Just to name a few.
MGB Timeline Cars
One of the features of the event was to have a timeline from 1962 to 1980 with cars selected to show each year of manufacture. Starting off with one car per year until the introduction of the MGB GT. With the start of the GT’s in 1965 there are 2 cars per year in the display.
Special Display Cars
This was another section of the show featuring various cars that would be of interest. These covered cars that had been at the Earls Court Motor Show back in the day. Also unique cars like the Jean Denton rally MGB. There were Ken Costello V8 cars and cars with racing heritage. Specially the categories are:
- Early cars and specials
- Prototypes and derivatives
- Race and rally
- Berlinettes
With the programme for the MGB60 event there are details of all these cars. The reason for the special designation is identified using the number (license) plate of the car. Please refer to this is you are looking for additional details.
MGB Berlinettes by Jacques Coune
These cars seem worthy of a section. I had known little to nothing about these cars until learning they would be attending MGB60.
Jacques Coune (1924-2012) was a Belgian coach builder who designed and built a variety of specials via his company Carrosserie Jacques Coune, and was a co-founder of the Ecurie Nationale Belge F1 team. In 1964, Coune’s most famous work is on display at the Belgium Motor Show. The MG MGB Berlinetta using as a base the BMC roadster, and was on display before MG’s own GT. Coune meet with Sir Alec Issigonis to even discuss the car before BMC developed the MGB GT with Pininfarina. A total of 56 cars were made. During 1965, Coune unveiled 2 new models. An MG MGB hardtop based on the standard roadster with the front of the Coune MGB Berlinetta sold a total of 120 cars.
I was able to get several pictures of this example without people standing next to it.
General Attendees /Priority Parking
There was priority parking available for purchase to about 400 cars. I didn’t even make it away from the main parking area to see all the hundreds of other MGBs that attended. It was a simply awe inspiring collection of MGBs. Rather than take individual pictures. Here you will see 3 rows of cars by video to allow more cars to be seen and to give a sense of the scale of the event.
Here’s a another picture to try and convey the shear scale of this event, MGB60.
