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Having owned one for over 20 years I think I need to highlight the the RV8 was a cheap way for Rover to test that the MG badge had not been ruined on the Metro, Marstro and Montego and it then justified the huge investment in the development of the very successful MGF. By the way they leak a bit like all British cars but they are a lot of fun.
Not only do I remember working on this car, but also taking it to the N.E.C. car show. It had a great showing, down in the turntable pit, and my voice went horse talking about it all day.by the end of the second day I'd run out of any information or brochure's. Oh boy would I love to own one now!!
Rubbish. The objective of the RV8 was never to compete with the Mazda MX5, nor to earn a profit from series production. At the time MG had not made a sports car in over a decade, and the mission of the RV8 was to make a splash of publicity, to remind a new generation that MG made sports cars and not just hatchbacks, to pave the way for the MGF. And the benchmark for the MX5 was not the MGB but the Lotus Elan.
I can't agree more with your statement, Ingram, indeed only a marketing move, but it is a nice car to own and to drive, the rear suspension being the only draw back.
Marc, for me the drawback of the RV8 is not the antiquated suspension but its OTT wannabe-a-Bentley-Azure styling and interior. (Did Greenley and Heffernan do both?). I do not like mixing styling eras, and a cheaper car with updated mechanicals under a 60s MGB body would have suited me. But the target market of this publicity exercise would not even have NOTICED such a car! @@marcvansteenberghe3948
The RV8 succeeded in its mission which was to revive the name while the MGF was put together from the corporate part bin by a bunch of enthusiastic engineers. They were made in numbers that were guaranteed to sell and are now appreciated as a restomod classic. And lose the music
Was about to ask if they were ever sold in the US when u said no. A shame I think they would have sold better here. They are truly gorgeous. I'm going to go there, I cannot think of a better looking roadster. Hopefully I'll see one in person one day. One of the cars I listed after and could have afforded when I was a late teen was the mgb gt but I couldn't even find one to buy back then. Ended up with a mach 1 mustang 1971. It was gorgeous as well but it was by far the worst car I ever owned. It almost killed me when the entire rear end FELL OUT of the car and passed me as I spun into a tree. Probably should have kept looking for the Mgb gt!
I worked on hand-making the body panels at a company called Abbey Panels in Bedworth near Coventry. Super looking car super looking car but it was only ever intended to be produced as a small production run.
I can hardly follow the narrator who speaks with a virtually undecipherable accent. However, I can hear enough to understand that he talks bullshit and shows no understanding whatsoever of the people who bought and loved these cars, which were, and still are, a great success.
When I hear them speak no matter the language I click on the CC which kind of fills in the questionable words(not always perfect but close to figure it out)
Unfortunately by the time this car came out MG was no longer importing to the US. I think they would have sold pretty well had they come here. As for the accent on the video, I understood it just fine, just as I can understand most English accents.
Very good. I am selling one in Woodcote green. I am given to understand though, that far from being a failure, the original high price was to actually LIMIT the sales because they wanted to keep a low production number. I read that Rover group weren’t geared up to make many. Not sure if that computes but anyway, it’s a fantastic little car!
Sorry to say, but yes it could not be made in high numbers at that time. Many old boys were recruited just to get the skills back for tooling etc. Rover also made other special cars at Cowley i.e. an 800 coupe, 800 stretch limo.(6) Cherry red pearl mini soft top etc.
I love the car - hated regular MGBs. Did they ever make them with left hand drive? It's attraction is that it looks like a regular MGB and is a "sleeper".
Thank you very much! The MG now is a completely different company than it was in 1960-1970s and (again different) in 1990s. I don't really know about the current quality and capabilities of their cars under Chinese management but it seems that they are feeling rather well on the market. Unfortunately, there are no new MGs now in the US, so I can't see or test-drive any of them.
@@sunbeamowner It would be very interesting to see the electric version with all its torque of an electric motor in combination with a lightweight body. What's your opinion on driving and handling the RV8?
I kept wanting one , and waiting , in the US , but it never appeared here. Another bungled opportunity for it's makers , whatever their name was at the time .
The MG B was killed in the US mainly by government regulations, as were many others. The body of the B was designed by the Italian company Bertone. The suspension was to old a design. The MG B GT was killed by the Datsun 240Z in the US. The Miata was a modern version of the MG Midget with no real competition at the old price point. But it is still rather cramped interior for adults.
I had a 1965 B convertible (because the GT were rarer). It did me as it had a good RAG. Went downhill skiing with it, meaning driving UP to the top of mountain roads to ski hills(which it did OK when you had SNOW TIRES ON IT. I did not have ski rack so top was opened and skiis were put in on passenger side and closed the top again. It is a minor issue. It is a 2 person car, put a blue bottle muffler on it and radio was useless to hear it. But car sounded good. Standard shift and left hand steering. Cars out of England would have right hand steering...for their roads. Yeah, it lost out to the Datsun 240Z in terms of reliability...sure the Datsun line did eventually burn oil and they finally got out of the sports car market after the 300Z as car demands were changing, so they say. By that time MG was no more. SAD. Didn't want Corvette cuz of the price so bought Barracuda muscle car(it was that era) Never did see a MGB V8 in my parts. Jaguar was around(but only dentists could afford them)
@@bunzeebear2973 Yeh, I had a Fiat 124 Spider. I could carry a canoe with it by putting the top down and resting the canoe on the windshield and the room bar I installed. As long as you were going faster than 35 mph the rain would not get in the car. (It had drains in the floor just incase) I can't remember if it was the MG V8 or the twin cam that had issues with porous castings. It could leak oil through the block, or heads.
Spot on ! Can't compare it with the Miata. The Miata was a featureless thing that costed peanuts. The Datsun 240 was a killer. I still like better the MG RV8, but if with the same money one could buy a Porsche...
MG and its cars were always conscious of the mighty Sunbeam Tiger and AC Cobra They had nothing to compete. Even when the RV8 came out it still wasnt as sophisticated as the 60's Tiger .
1)The reason was British Heritage went at it like a non-production line build......Strictly hand built....2) They made no attempt to build a LHD model for the North American + continent ........But Britain does that quite regularly, especially with the MG.......No V8, No RV8, No F & TF, No L50, No Abington (Frontline).....I'm beginning to think they don't like us...... ...
That explains where the "B" went. I had 1965, 4 banger for a couple of years. I remember there was a 66 and that is about it. (Triumph died about the same time.)
There never was a factory production MGB V8 roadster, but plenty of people did the conversion themselves. I liked the RV8, but it was very expensive, front suspension and brakes were much better on the RV8, but as you say they kept the leaf springs and rigid rear axle, complete with whine.
Yes there was, my mate owned one from new, MGB GT V8. he kept it until he died and then his son had it. The pure factory ones were built by Costello, until the factory realised what they are missing and refused to supply engines to them and instead made their own version with a watered down version.
I have always preferred Jaguars - you get a lot more for your money. Secondly, I can’t think of any car made or designed in the U.S.A that I would of even dream of purchasing. I did buy a couple of second hand U.S.behemoths in the 1970s when you could buy one for ridiculously low prices owing to the fuel crisis - they were quite hilarious!
A rather stupid title. From someone whose English and general comprehension of the British car industry - and cars in general - leave considerable room for improvement.
I don't know how you can say that selling 2000 cars in 3 years would be considered a success. There is a reason why it sold for only 3 years, and he stated the reason for that in the video - it cost way too much and offered less than comparable, less expensive cars, so hardly any were sold.
@@StarHorseLover200 They don't make cars just because they are cool. The purpose of selling cars, particularly for a company like MG, whose financial status was tenuous, is to sell a lot of cars in order to make money. If they didn't sell enough cars, they lost money. They spent millions of pounds on design, engineering, tooling and manufacturing in order to sell 2000 of these cars in 3 years. That is a failure, no matter how good the car was.
Sadly soon all combustion cars and trucks including classics will be banned from public streets in entire EU and Scandinavia :-( In Germany the Green Peoples Party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025 on by reducing all conventional fuel stations to only one state operated central gas station per city or county. Car washs will be forbidden too because they are climate killers, now they want to slow down all the gas station pumps from 20 litre per minute to 2 litre per minute...From 2027 on in the EU certain car spare parts will be banned too....as exhaust systems, turbo chargers and even some engine and gearbox oils...California and New York will do the same from 2027 on.... So no investments should be done in oil burning cars any longer....They even created a new kind of crime here, called emissions and smoke crime.!!! (BABVVEN & TEBBVEN & BEFVO laws)!!!!!!
Unfortunately, this is the way we are going. Not the clever one but it is what it is. We'll probably come to mass electric conversions of classic cars in thew next decade, or there will be some exemption for classic cars.
@@wurstmotors where should I start.? The engine is the ex Buick V8. I have never heard anything bad about that engine. The car really moves out. The original MGB was a solid car but this is what MG should have made decades ago . I know there was the MGB V8 but this is a more modern looking car. You certainly can’t fault its looks. Mechanically it must be trouble free. JLR have always made questionable decisions. Not bringing this to North America was a mistake. Americans will soon be gobbling these up when they can get old enough which may be very soon if not already. As with any MG they are easy to work on and very simple. They weren’t cheap to buy new and are not cheap to buy now.
@@davidwarr8600 I don't see any of this contradicting what I said in the video. The engine was good and BL used it in many cars of the 80s and 90s. The look was good and still is now. But the price was too high for customers of that time. BL invested a lot into this project and they definitely didn't return their money with 2000 units sold. I'd like to see them in the US but the certification process was very difficult at that time (and required many safety things) - it would make the car even more expensive.
@@Killergoat69 indeed GB always been trouble makers and thinking they are special. now going bankrupt, served them right, badluck. build better cars next time....
Very good. I am selling one in Woodcote green. I am given to understand though, that far from being a failure, the original high price was to actually LIMIT the sales because they wanted to keep a low production number. I read that Rover group weren’t geared up to make many. Not sure if that computes but anyway, it’s a fantastic little car!
Yes, the ad hoc production line was in corner at Cowley and hand assembled low volume limited production. The full RV8 story is fascinating as they bought in an MGB to be a basis for the panels, which turned out to be slightly lozenged, at a very late stage. This allowed a full rework with the result being the excellently resolved styling . Back in the day it could have been an act that could fill the gap left by the big Healey
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Thank you!
Great video. I do also own an RV8 in New Zealand for the past 5 plus years.
Fantastic quick and comfortable touring car.
Very happy with mine.
Thank you!
Having owned one for over 20 years I think I need to highlight the the RV8 was a cheap way for Rover to test that the MG badge had not been ruined on the Metro, Marstro and Montego and it then justified the huge investment in the development of the very successful MGF. By the way they leak a bit like all British cars but they are a lot of fun.
Not only do I remember working on this car, but also taking it to the N.E.C. car show.
It had a great showing, down in the turntable pit, and my voice went horse talking about it all day.by the end of the second day I'd run out of any information or brochure's.
Oh boy would I love to own one now!!
Rubbish. The objective of the RV8 was never to compete with the Mazda MX5, nor to earn a profit from series production. At the time MG had not made a sports car in over a decade, and the mission of the RV8 was to make a splash of publicity, to remind a new generation that MG made sports cars and not just hatchbacks, to pave the way for the MGF.
And the benchmark for the MX5 was not the MGB but the Lotus Elan.
I can't agree more with your statement, Ingram, indeed only a marketing move, but it is a nice car to own and to drive, the rear suspension being the only draw back.
Marc, for me the drawback of the RV8 is not the antiquated suspension but its OTT wannabe-a-Bentley-Azure styling and interior. (Did Greenley and Heffernan do both?).
I do not like mixing styling eras, and a cheaper car with updated mechanicals under a 60s MGB body would have suited me. But the target market of this publicity exercise would not even have NOTICED such a car!
@@marcvansteenberghe3948
Absolutely correct, this video is completely wrong. Was only ever meant to be a limited run and wasn’t supposed to rival the MX5 at all.
What complete bullshit. No understanding of the people who bought and loved these. The RV8 was a huge success.
The RV8 succeeded in its mission which was to revive the name while the MGF was put together from the corporate part bin by a bunch of enthusiastic engineers. They were made in numbers that were guaranteed to sell and are now appreciated as a restomod classic. And lose the music
Could not even get to the end of the video, very weird.
So sad that it all ended. MG had a certain mystique. An almost Battle of Britain feel to it.
Was about to ask if they were ever sold in the US when u said no. A shame I think they would have sold better here. They are truly gorgeous. I'm going to go there, I cannot think of a better looking roadster. Hopefully I'll see one in person one day. One of the cars I listed after and could have afforded when I was a late teen was the mgb gt but I couldn't even find one to buy back then. Ended up with a mach 1 mustang 1971. It was gorgeous as well but it was by far the worst car I ever owned. It almost killed me when the entire rear end FELL OUT of the car and passed me as I spun into a tree. Probably should have kept looking for the Mgb gt!
I worked on hand-making the body panels at a company called Abbey Panels in Bedworth near Coventry. Super looking car super looking car but it was only ever intended to be produced as a small production run.
Technically, the Miata was inspired by the Lotus Elan and not the MGB.
Good looking car.
Makes me want one now
Owned mine now for 4 years ! ❤ it ! Interesting history for sure ! The v8 is awesome by the way ! Vrooooooooooooooooooom
Damned music is a distraction.
Well done, sir.
I've been fitting some RV8 parts to my MGB and I've found that a lot of the "redesigned" parts are simply converting imperial threads to metric
I can hardly follow the narrator who speaks with a virtually undecipherable accent. However, I can hear enough to understand that he talks bullshit and shows no understanding whatsoever of the people who bought and loved these cars, which were, and still are, a great success.
When I hear them speak no matter the language I click on the CC which kind of fills in the questionable words(not always perfect but close to figure it out)
Unfortunately by the time this car came out MG was no longer importing to the US. I think they would have sold pretty well had they come here. As for the accent on the video, I understood it just fine, just as I can understand most English accents.
That is because the accent is either Russian or Ukrainian. (not British by any stretch)
Very good. I am selling one in Woodcote green. I am given to understand though, that far from being a failure, the original high price was to actually LIMIT the sales because they wanted to keep a low production number. I read that Rover group weren’t geared up to make many. Not sure if that computes but anyway, it’s a fantastic little car!
Sorry to say, but yes it could not be made in high numbers at that time.
Many old boys were recruited just to get the skills back for tooling etc.
Rover also made other special cars at Cowley i.e. an 800 coupe, 800 stretch limo.(6)
Cherry red pearl mini soft top etc.
I love the car - hated regular MGBs. Did they ever make them with left hand drive? It's attraction is that it looks like a regular MGB and is a "sleeper".
Yes they made them with LHD
Yes, they made them with left hand steering for Europe and some of them are on sale now. There are some pics of them in the video.
Shoulda' kept the original grille.and lines.Alright,give me an orignal with modern badass engine.Had '64 midget 3 years,then a'67BGT,from '72-'96
Terrific report...never seen one. I am wondering if the new Chinese MG is considering this?
Thank you very much! The MG now is a completely different company than it was in 1960-1970s and (again different) in 1990s. I don't really know about the current quality and capabilities of their cars under Chinese management but it seems that they are feeling rather well on the market. Unfortunately, there are no new MGs now in the US, so I can't see or test-drive any of them.
Saic motors who produce the current version of the MG will be releasing a fully electric roadster in the near future. I currently own a MGRV8.
@@sunbeamowner It would be very interesting to see the electric version with all its torque of an electric motor in combination with a lightweight body.
What's your opinion on driving and handling the RV8?
hmmm great I like the chinese version, at least they are reliable
@@harryeisermann2784
Says who?
So the car “went wrong” but you’re looking to sell them in the US?
Definitely. This is what makes it even more interesting.
I kept wanting one , and waiting , in the US , but it never appeared here. Another bungled opportunity for it's makers , whatever their name was at the time .
too bad they didnt continue with this MG RV8. Would be a great little roadster
Little, if any, evidence to back up many of these claims. We’re just listening to one man’s prejudice.
❤ please make them again😢
The MG B was killed in the US mainly by government regulations, as were many others. The body of the B was designed by the Italian company Bertone. The suspension was to old a design. The MG B GT was killed by the Datsun 240Z in the US. The Miata was a modern version of the MG Midget with no real competition at the old price point. But it is still rather cramped interior for adults.
I had a 1965 B convertible (because the GT were rarer). It did me as it had a good RAG. Went downhill skiing with it, meaning driving UP to the top of mountain roads to ski hills(which it did OK when you had SNOW TIRES ON IT. I did not have ski rack so top was opened and skiis were put in on passenger side and closed the top again. It is a minor issue. It is a 2 person car, put a blue bottle muffler on it and radio was useless to hear it. But car sounded good. Standard shift and left hand steering. Cars out of England would have right hand steering...for their roads. Yeah, it lost out to the Datsun 240Z in terms of reliability...sure the Datsun line did eventually burn oil and they finally got out of the sports car market after the 300Z as car demands were changing, so they say. By that time MG was no more. SAD. Didn't want Corvette cuz of the price so bought Barracuda muscle car(it was that era) Never did see a MGB V8 in my parts. Jaguar was around(but only dentists could afford them)
@@bunzeebear2973 Yeh, I had a Fiat 124 Spider. I could carry a canoe with it by putting the top down and resting the canoe on the windshield and the room bar I installed. As long as you were going faster than 35 mph the rain would not get in the car. (It had drains in the floor just incase)
I can't remember if it was the MG V8 or the twin cam that had issues with porous castings. It could leak oil through the block, or heads.
Spot on ! Can't compare it with the Miata. The Miata was a featureless thing that costed peanuts. The Datsun 240 was a killer. I still like better the MG RV8, but if with the same money one could buy a Porsche...
MG and its cars were always conscious of the mighty Sunbeam Tiger and AC Cobra They had nothing to compete. Even when the RV8 came out it still wasnt as sophisticated as the 60's Tiger .
They should have made this car a Triumph TR9.
1)The reason was British Heritage went at it like a non-production line build......Strictly hand built....2) They made no attempt to build a LHD model for the North American + continent ........But Britain does that quite regularly, especially with the MG.......No V8, No RV8, No F & TF, No L50, No Abington (Frontline).....I'm beginning to think they don't like us...... ...
Sorry mate, can’t understand half the words you’re saying. Guess that makes me a racist.. oh well.
Love the rims on that MG by the way.
Sorry mate, I'm doing best I can :)
@@wurstmotors
Don’t worry. I’m not british and can understand every word. 😉
@@kasperkjrsgaard1447 :)
Yeah - you're just wrong. About everything.
That explains where the "B" went. I had 1965, 4 banger for a couple of years. I remember there was a 66 and that is about it. (Triumph died about the same time.)
There never was a factory production MGB V8 roadster, but plenty of people did the conversion themselves. I liked the RV8, but it was very expensive, front suspension and brakes were much better on the RV8, but as you say they kept the leaf springs and rigid rear axle, complete with whine.
Yes there was, my mate owned one from new, MGB GT V8.
he kept it until he died and then his son had it.
The pure factory ones were built by Costello, until the factory realised what they are missing and refused to supply engines to them and instead made their own version with a watered down version.
@@tonymercer265 "There never was a factory production MGB V8 *roadster*"
@@hackdaniels7253 Ok sorry
I have always preferred Jaguars - you get a lot more for your money. Secondly, I can’t think of any car made or designed in the U.S.A that I would of even dream of purchasing. I did buy a couple of second hand U.S.behemoths in the 1970s when you could buy one for ridiculously low prices owing to the fuel crisis - they were quite hilarious!
These cars priced themselves out of the market You could get a Porche TVR or Mazda MX 6 for less
A rather stupid title. From someone whose English and general comprehension of the British car industry - and cars in general - leave considerable room for improvement.
Agree on that !!
I don't know how you can say that selling 2000 cars in 3 years would be considered a success. There is a reason why it sold for only 3 years, and he stated the reason for that in the video - it cost way too much and offered less than comparable, less expensive cars, so hardly any were sold.
@@gtv6chuck Niche car for a niche market. Saying that it didn’t sell in large numbers is completely missing the point.
@@StarHorseLover200 They don't make cars just because they are cool. The purpose of selling cars, particularly for a company like MG, whose financial status was tenuous, is to sell a lot of cars in order to make money. If they didn't sell enough cars, they lost money. They spent millions of pounds on design, engineering, tooling and manufacturing in order to sell 2000 of these cars in 3 years. That is a failure, no matter how good the car was.
@@gtv6chuck *sigh*
How much are you selling these 2000 cars for?
Sadly soon all combustion cars and trucks including classics will be banned from public streets in entire EU and Scandinavia :-(
In Germany the Green Peoples Party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025
on by reducing all conventional fuel stations to only one state operated central gas station per city or county. Car washs will be forbidden too because they are climate killers, now they want to slow down all the gas station pumps from 20 litre per minute to 2 litre per minute...From 2027 on in the EU certain car spare parts will be banned too....as exhaust systems, turbo chargers and even some engine and gearbox oils...California and New York will do the same from 2027 on.... So no investments should be done in oil burning cars any longer....They even created a new kind of crime here, called emissions and smoke crime.!!! (BABVVEN & TEBBVEN & BEFVO laws)!!!!!!
Unfortunately, this is the way we are going. Not the clever one but it is what it is. We'll probably come to mass electric conversions of classic cars in thew next decade, or there will be some exemption for classic cars.
So how is that going to work?
@@davidwarr8600 Chinese give the orders, governments around the globe follow...
Move to China then. Less oppressive communism.
Well Wurst, that is your opinion. It is an unreasonable opinion.
Why?
@@wurstmotors where should I start.? The engine is the ex Buick V8. I have never heard anything bad about that engine. The car really moves out. The original MGB was a solid car but this is what MG should have made decades ago . I know there was the MGB V8 but this is a more modern looking car. You certainly can’t fault its looks. Mechanically it must be trouble free. JLR have always made questionable decisions. Not bringing this to North America was a mistake. Americans will soon be gobbling these up when they can get old enough which may be very soon if not already. As with any MG they are easy to work on and very simple. They weren’t cheap to buy new and are not cheap to buy now.
@@davidwarr8600 I don't see any of this contradicting what I said in the video. The engine was good and BL used it in many cars of the 80s and 90s. The look was good and still is now. But the price was too high for customers of that time. BL invested a lot into this project and they definitely didn't return their money with 2000 units sold. I'd like to see them in the US but the certification process was very difficult at that time (and required many safety things) - it would make the car even more expensive.
British car industry lost the plot
final curtains, Brexit will do the rest
english live in the past, get Victoria back...hahaha
We lost all our car industry whilst in the EU. We should have left long ago
@@Killergoat69 indeed GB always been trouble makers and thinking they are special. now going bankrupt, served them right, badluck. build better cars next time....
@@harryeisermann2784 Don't bother asking the British to save you from the Nazis next time then.
you better ask The Germans, to bail u out after going Bankrupt, hahahaha Brexit drama, and Ask the Irish not to kill again?
@@Killergoat69 . BS The EU rejuvenated the UK car industry, the EU is why Honda, Toyota and Nissan set up shop in the UK
Very good. I am selling one in Woodcote green. I am given to understand though, that far from being a failure, the original high price was to actually LIMIT the sales because they wanted to keep a low production number. I read that Rover group weren’t geared up to make many. Not sure if that computes but anyway, it’s a fantastic little car!
Yes, the ad hoc production line was in corner at Cowley and hand assembled low volume limited production. The full RV8 story is fascinating as they bought in an MGB to be a basis for the panels, which turned out to be slightly lozenged, at a very late stage. This allowed a full rework with the result being the excellently resolved styling . Back in the day it could have been an act that could fill the gap left by the big Healey