Late Summer GT

In the U.S., the rubber-bumper GT is the rarest of all MGBs, with just under 1,300 imported between September and December of 1974. For 1975, British Leyland decreed that Americans interested in coupes should be directed to the then-new Triumph TR-7, and the GT was pulled from the American market only a few short months after the rubber bumpers had been added. These GTs are officially “1974.5” models.

Many scoff at the rubber bumper cars, but honestly I always thought MG (and Harris Mann) did a rather good job of integrating the impact bumpers. Compare them with the blunt, rail-like bumpers on many cars of the time and they look positively svelte – they’re better integrated than the impact bumpers on the Alfa Spider or the big trellis on the late 70s Fiat X1/9 (don’t hate me X1/9 fans, I owned a wonderful X1/9 for three years, but a later Bertone model). In some ways, the rubber bumpers made the cars look contemporary into the eighties, long past the era of flap caps and wire wheels.

Outside the U.S. and Canada, the MGB/GT continued to be available until the end of production in fall of 1980.