MGB: MGB GT Special Edition

I was talking to a gentleman tonite with a fully restored 1967 MGB GT Special Edition. He says that there was only about 1000 of the special editions produced. I have never heard of a special edition but with my limited experience on the MGB's, thats not saying much. Are these a different car or just an add-on trim package? I won't be able to buy the car as it is a ground up full restoration (read many $$$$$$) and thats not within my budget at this time. Just curious as to what the S E was. Thanks.......

I'm going to try to not be too harsh here, and I'll probably fail miserably....
The 67 was a dealer package. MG had ads touting it, sent out a bunch of kits, and dealers could add it as they saw fit. Much of the Special Edition stuff never was fitted (like the fender-mount rear-view mirror) because the cars already had mirrors and the dealer would've had to fill holes and such.
Anyway, dealers took what they felt like out of the box, slapped it on, and sent it out the door.
Does this mean SEs aren't spiffy? No, they are, just as any B with cool period options is.
But anyone who says that X number of SEs were made is just wrong in the head. Because of how they were put together, there's no way of knowing how many were made. I do think, though, there's been some effort to track how many are still around.
Would I like to have an SE? Sure. But I love GTs, anyway. Would I pay a premium for one? No. Not more than a couple hundred bucks, maybe, and only then if it had options I really cared about (like overdrive).

As I understand it, the '67 SE was for the first anniversary of the sale of MGB GTs in the US. I don't have much more info about them than that, although I agree with Baxter that it's probably not a "premium" price-getter.

Kevin
80 MGB

Nope, GTs were offered beginning in 65. I think sales were a little slow and they wanted to jump start 'em a bit.

The gentleman that you talked to is correct about only 1000 '67 BGT Special Editions being made. These cars are different from the dealer packages available in '67 in that they actually have plaques on the front fenders and one on the dash. But he might also be mistaken on his car being a true Special Edition because the dealer probably said that the car had that package.

Hey Bax! My car has gold '80 LE stripes on it. I put them on to balance the outside with the interior color and make the car look slightly bottom heavy and lower. I've thought about having some matching "Only Edition" graphics cut to go above the Union Jacks just for grins. You think maybe if I did that it would make my car worth, oh say maybe, $20,000 more? :^)

at least that much John

You know, Chuck. That just might work. You think it's worth screwing up my fine old name for 20 Gs if only a few people were pissed at me bigtime?

Only one would be pissed in the end, and not until someone told him about the Emperor's new underwear. Take the 20!

David, I'm sorry, but the plaque was part of the big box o' stuff the dealers were provided with. Honestly (and I could look it up to document) there's no way of knowing how many were put together.

John, who knows, that just might work. I think it's silly how much LEs go for. Funny thing is, non-LE 80 Bs are considerably rarer. Most had the LE package.

I'm taking a sample of the LE stripe to Auto Trim Design tomorrow. ;^)

He said that this car had the SE plaques on it but it sounds kinda like I thought, it was more of a trim package than anything else. Thanks for the info.....

it might improve your standing in the community John

Well I hope(wish) that they are something special because I picked one up the other day at the Police auction the other day for about $25. I bought for the Engine and A/C unit that was fitted to it. If got all the items that ad list. One mirror on the fender, Wire wheels, Speedo, and wooden steering wheel.

My yard is starting to look like Tony's. 3 in the back, one in garage being cut-up and one in storage waiting for warmer weather.


See ya.

Yeah! Around here, if you can pass a bogus horse or cow onto someone else, you are considered a world class trader, and much deferred to.

and if it don't work, we can always get out the tar and feathers

Haven't seen that before. Usually it works.

Those special badges are probably worht that!

I've seen two '80 LEs in shows that were as phoney as three dollar bills. One of them was so good it even got by the judges, but I had gotten a real good look at it in a service garage about a year before I saw it at that show. I don't understand the mystique with them. They were made LEs just to sell cars faster. There are other year LEs that are so rare you hardly ever see one, but nobody ever mentions them. I guess because they are indeed rare.

A lot of brown MGBs were pinstriped to the hilt, but that made none of them special. I have a plaque on the dashboard of my '62 Studebaker Gran Turisimo Hawk with my name in script that says it was made expressly for me. Sure, the plaque was. I found the form in the glove box after I gbought the car.

What was it P.T. Barnam said about suckers?

Now you're getting the idea.

Well, in the LEs favor, those are some spiffy wheels, a real nice wheel, and the spoiler actually gives RB cars a chin, much improving the looks (especially when lowered). On the other hand, I busted up 3 of those cheap plastic things back in the day. I hear they're fiberglass now.

But you're right John. How bout a '75 "anniversary" B.... now there's a rare bird...

Mine is fiverglass and tougher than a cheap steak. I straddled a traffic cone in a construction area the night I was coming back from the last Memphis show with mine. It truned a tie rod which later caused a tie rod end to get into one of my Minilites on the inside and didn't put a mark on the spoiler. You know how much higher the tie rods are than the bottom of that spoiler. In fact the cone hung up under the car and I had t stop to pull it out. It never hurt at thing untill a couple of drives later when I got a scratch on the inside of the right front wheel from the tie rod end.

My Tundra green 75 B had those gold medallions on it. Was that an anniversary B?

Bryan, I forget all the options that went into the anniversary, but there were special stripes and (I think) wheels. I thought they weren't imported stateside. I could look it up, I suppose.

Placque on each front fender "MGB/GT Special"
16" wodden steering wheel w/matching shift knob
Vibration-free, non-glare racing mirror on driver fender
wire wheels w/whitewall tires

...however, read my 'Rant' under to learn how these cars came about....no VIN's associated...dealers just picked whichever car off their lot that they wanted to make a "MGB/GT Special" & stuck everything on!

Thank you Tony for that confirmation. Now, what was the Anniversary package, and did it ever come to the states?

The '75 Anniversary models did...the Jubilee Edition did not...I had a white '75 Anniversary model & wish I had not sold it...only difference was the nifty embedded emblem on the dash & the rostyles were painted white instead of silver though I don't know if that was original

Does anyone have any information about the aniversary edition. I have a 75 with the gold tags, but no sticker on the dash. A while back I checked and the found a range of VIN numbers that were Aniversary Edition and mine was in the range, but other than the gold tags and the sticker that doesn't exist on my dash I dont know what else made it different from any other Rubber Bumper.

Mark....ALL 1975 CARS WERE 'ANNIVERSARY MODELS'...there were just some little differences in them:

1) the first "1975 Anniversary Model" B roadster with a dash badge was GHN5/UF/380866 (built in June 1975)...every '75 roadster or GT after that had the badge....

2) all 1975 cars from B roadster GHN5/UF/369259 had gold badges (that means all cars built from January 1975 til January 1976 when they went back to silver had gold badges).....

...&, so far as I can find anywhere, that's the only things that were differenct from '1975 Anniversary Cars' & other year cars.........

Thanks Tony,

I couldn't seem to find anything else that made them different. Other than the extra road hugging weight that was added, to compensate for the power removed. :)