Registry: 1973 MG MGB MkII

I purchased this car in January 1990. The car was from Texas and Oklahoma. I was able to trace ownership back to 1978 when it drove to the top of Pikes Peak with Dan Bell as the driver and owner. The car was originally Teal Blue and I have returned it to that color and restored the mechanicals. The car had no rust as it lived in the pan handle area of Texas, but plenty of red Texas dirt everywhere. The date of manufacture was 13-14 December 1972. It was dispached on 27 December to St. Louis, MO ...
where it arrived sometine in the following spring of 1973.

It was in the lot for a long time. It did not sell until the fall or 1974. I do not know the original owner but I did trace ownership back to 1978 when Dan Bell of Gymon, Texas purchased the car. He took it to the top of Pikes Peak in 1979 and I have a picture of it with he and his wife on their return. It was sold a few times and was in an auction in Texas in 1989. I have the auction notice with a picture of the car then. At that time it had a stripe on the side with MGB on it as was put on by dealers in the early 1970s.

When I purchased the car it was refrigerator white but I loved the blue color that would come through when it chipped. I stripped the paint and brought it back to the original color of Teal Blue. I took it to a few car shows and put 2000 miles on it and then had it shipped to Korea where I moved with my wife in 2003. Here I had time to do the interior and sort the car out. I purchased a rebuilt engine on eBay and had it shipped to Korea. I had while in the states found an overdrive transmission so in may of 2009 I worked with Korean mechanics and put in the rebuilt early 1974 engine and the transmission that I had replaced all the seals.

I plan to drive the car and someday may donate it to the car museum near Seoul Korea. The most important thing for me is that I traced the history back to near its first owner. I also received the original radio from Dan Bell and it had on the back the date of installation and the MG regional distibuter listed as the company purchasing the radio. That gave me the approximate date of September 11 1974 when the car was purchased.