1/43 MGB V8 Roadster "Don Hayter" (Brooklands Green)

1/43 MGB V8 Roadster Car. Made by Corgi as part of their Vanguards series. Features right-hand drive, nice detail. Only 1000 have been made of this "Brooklands Green" edition. Available while stocks last. This vehicle is 92mm long, 38mm wide & 27mm high & comes in a display case. This vehicle also comes with a convertible top.
This item is not suitable for children.

Don Hayter is often described as the father of the MGB and was closely involved with its styling and development after joining the MG design office in February 1956 following a similar role at Aston Martin. He rose to become MG's Chief Engineer, and kept the MGB one step ahead of the ever-changing safety legislation in the seventies, while making a profit for BMC/BL at a time when many other divisions didn't. When MG's Abingdon factory closed in 1980 he sold himself an unused 'development' bodyshell (for £939.55) and 3.5-litre V8 engine, then built himself the only factory-made MGB V8 roadster (factory V8s were all GTs), the last MGB to leave Abingdon. Although the MGB was eighteen years old when MG was unexpectedly closed, Don and his team had been working on an update for the profitable US market using the O-series 2-litre OHC engine (including a very quick O-turbo), larger brakes and other modifications. Twenty or more redundant pilot-build bodyshells were left from this project and it was one of these that Don bought; identifiable because the inner-wing was reshaped for fuel injection. The car also features the first MG-badged rocker covers cast, which had been left unused in the development department.