Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Modern Classic Cars Frontline Abingdon Edition

Not really, it is basically ready to go to the trimmers. Based on what I have been told two months at the trim shop, one month to finish the car off afterwards including putting some km's on it checking everything is fine, then it needs the engineer to inspect and drive the car to sign it off. Once signed off it needs to be inspected at the local government inspection station including them looking at the engineers paperwork. So say 4 months, but that is optimistic because the car before mine you can see in some photos went to the trimmers November last year and the owner only got the car last week, so nearly 8 months. It was almost ready in April but had delays because firstly an oil hose kinked and leaked so they had to wait a few months for a replacement from the UK and secondly the rain and floods, they only wanted to drive it on nice days because they didn't want to get it all dirty underneath but we had non-stop rain for weeks, plus the engineer was delayed due to the weather as well.

The body shop does great work and so does the trimmer but neither are owned by the MGB workshop so he has no control over their work. For example when I went to see my car in the panel shop they were working on a mates race car he had bingled on the weekend to get it ready for a race the next weekend. The Trimmer is the authorised repairer for the McLaren/Ferrari dealer and the week before the car before mine was due to go some idiot mechanic adjusting the heating/air-conditioning slipped and put a screw driver though the top of the dash on a McLaren, to reskin the dash in leather took weeks of work as the whole dash had to be removed. So while the car before was ready to be trimmed in July it didn't get started until November.

I have been told the trimmer workshop is rather crowded and once my car goes there he will work pretty constantly to get it done and out of the way, fingers crossed it goes there soon.

I think Frontline in the UK does their own body work and trimming so have more control of the work. Where the shop here can't change priorities of the body or trim shops.

So in summary I feel between 4 and 6 months. I really hope so as I have booked in for a trip with 8 other MG owners along the Great Ocean Road in February, 2,500km all up over 10 days on some great roads that I have not been on. It would be great to do the trip in the car but I feel the car will not be ready if it gets any more delays.

Chris, your answer sounds very plausible and understandable. I think with such a beautiful "almost finished" status of the MGB, the anticipation will not be lost on you. I wish you the very best and also that there are no major unforeseen delays.

My car is now at the trimmers workshop. He has covered the whole interior and boot with Dynamat and is currently making wooden trim bits to mount inside the boot etc. before starting to cover with carpet or leather.


The Amp from my old car was a bit scratched up so it has been repainted to match the car and the damaged brand plate replaced with a custom one with my surname. It will look nice sitting in the boot.


The leather that will be used for the seats, door trims etc.



Boot covered in Dynamat and having wooden frames made to cover petrol inlet etc.



Interior also covered in Dynamat




First time I have seen the car with the Grille installed.


Lots of other nice cars in the workshop.

After the trimmer gettign COVID over Christmas he is back at work and making progress. It is looking great.

You are treating yourself!

Looks like a very good quality red leather.
I bet they never came out of the factory with acoustic matting on the floor and in the doors!
Don't forget to ask for the offcuts of the various materials for potential patching in the future.

That all looks very good. However, I was surprised by the time it took to build the car.

As the saying goes (in German at least), good things come to those who wait.

Your trimmer is a very good craftsman indeed

Many thanks for posting so many interesting pics CC. Boy that is one very special "B" never seen anything like it, a work of automotive art indeed. My old +8 was restored to concours condition at the time I purchased it, and having repaired and restored a few machines myself, the time and thus effort that Kevin had put into it in the out of the way places was so obvious, all of which can lead to the machine being thought of as being too precious to enjoy on any day one might be in the mood to just enjoy a drive, lest it suffer a paint chip..! Been there with other of my past sports cars having spent as much as a year restoring one and the crowning glory is a lovely paint job polished to perfection... Hmm..?

Yeah, well first day I had my Mog out I ran it hard and fast up a local unmade road, and I could hear stones hitting the underside of it`s alloy bodywork. I wanted to use this car rather than be a slave to it, and my drive up that road took me out of the precious mind set to the extent I could enjoy driving my new to me Morgan, rather than being concerned of perhaps suffering death by a thousand cuts every time a stone might ping off the paintwork....Each to their own for sure.. I hope your "B" brings you great joy in whichever way you care to derive pleasure from it C.C. Your pics brought a degree of pleasure to me on this wet and windy early morning ...thanks..

Thanks for the nice comments.

I think the saying All things com to those who wait exists in lots of countries, but I agree it is very applicable to my car.

The work they are doing is great and I am going to have to take great care of the car once done. But I do plan to drive and enjoy it, just not go to the local shops in it etc.

Fingers crossed I get it soon.