Replacing the front end of a 1963 MGB Roadster

The ultimate restoration challenge of a classic MGB

Most experts will tell you that a 1963 MGB had been crashed and hidden away for 39 years would be way to costly, time consuming and difficult to restore. But in 2000, the team at Sports Car Craftsmen decided it would be worth it. The goal was the perfect restoration; the motivation was the love of the classic British sports car, in particular, the 1963 MGB Roadster.

It took over 15 years to restore this 1963 MGB Roadster to it's original condition — It took over 15 years to restore this 1963 MGB Roadster to it’s original condition

Restoring a classic British sports car takes time

The front end of the early model MGB, especially the headlight cowls and grille, is not an easy fix once it has been damaged. And a crash in 1964 left the front end of our MGB with much to be desired. There was no saving the original front end, and the task to find another original 1963 front end to keep our car authentic began. We knew it was going to cost us, and some would say we should have just gotten our world class constructionist and metal guru to make a new one, we had to look around to see if we couldn’t find the original piece somewhere else. And wouldn’t you know it, our search paid off.

It wasn’t easy finding an original front end for our 1963 MGB Roadster

Finding original parts for the MGB

We’ve helped many MGB and British sports car enthusiast evaluate potential buys. We know what to look for to determine if the parts are truly original and up to our standards. We never cut corners or go for cheap fixes. We don’t do it with our customers’ cars, so why would we do it on our own car. After looking and looking and finding parts that were nowhere near satisfactory or up to our standards, we finally found an original front end on an MGB that was being sold off for its parts! Bolt by bolt, we placed our new front end on our MGB, and spot welded every factory original spot weld. We were one step closer to the perfect restoration.

MG restoration — We took this front end of a parts car and placed in on our MGB bolt by bolt

World class restorations of classic British sports cars

Our MGB may be our own personal pet project, but we’ve restored hundreds of cars for British sports car enthusiasts who want the best for their classic cars. It’s not cheap caring for these cars, but like we said, it’s not about the time or the money, it’s about restoring a piece of history, and the 1963 MGB Roadster is worth every penny and every minute we put in to it. If you are thinking of buying a classic British sports car, or you are looking for parts, service or a restoration, the stop by Sports Car Craftsmen in Aurora, just 25 minutes from Denver, Colorado. You’ll be glad you did. And so will your classic British sports car.