While most automakers make special note of the final examples of particular models, there aren’t many volume automakers that fuss over production-number milestones. The MG Car Company did things differently, proudly celebrating the 100,000th MGA (hmn.com/100k-mga) with a specially trimmed show car and following that by honoring the 250,000th and 500,000th (hmn.com/500k-mgb) MGBs built. The 250,000th MGB, a U.S.-spec 1971 GT, received star treatment in the Abingdon works, was awarded as the grand prize in a national contest, and then promptly disappeared. Except it hadn’t.
This past February, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an intriguing email with the subject, “Milestone MGB,” friend and supporter, Rodney McDonald. Spanish Fort, Alabama, resident Rodney is active in the South Alabama British Car Club, and with a lifetime of MG interest and a 1976 MGB and 1997 MGF in his current fleet, he’s keenly attuned to MG history and local MG news. He’d attached a grainy black-and-white photo of an MGB/ GT on the production line with a special “250,000th MGB” sign on its roof and “250 000 TH” plate on its front bumper, and written, “I wanted to share with you that I finally found this car after a 22-year search, and it has been in my part of the country the whole time. It is in a shabby state, but has been cared for by a gentleman who bought it from the winner of the contest in which it was given away in 1971.”
