Inca Yellow

The MGB GT's seat belts are anchored behind the back seat. That means that when you take a seat belt off it has a tendency to fall behind the front seats, ending up with you scrambling around for it when you get back in. To solve this the B's designers put a little hook on the pillar but this is often hard to tag with the belt and means you still have to twist to pick it up.

The gearstick has developed a bit of a rattle which is really annoying when your driving for any length of time - like 5 minutes! It turns out to be a really easy fix, which I wish I'd done earlier.

There are a few options for steering wheels out there - MOMO, Tourist Trophy and Mountenoy are a few, spanning a range of styles, materials and prices. Having had a good look through I'd settled on a Moto-Lita 14-inch 'Mark 4' wheel. These are really nice wheels with a chunky hand-stitched leather rim and polished chrome drilled spokes which I thought would suit the late-model B very well.

Getting the old wheel off is by most reports a git of a job, made harder by the later models having a collapsible steering column. This means the normal method of giving the steering wheel nut a whack with a hammer cannot be used for risk of having the column collapse.

With the weather getting colder, the so-far neglected heater valve needs replacing to allow me some heat in the cabin. At the moment it is jammed on closed (probably a rusted return spring), preventing hot water from the engine block from circulating through the heater matrix.

Found a few dozen of these under the front carpets. Don't know what they are, but hopefully getting rid of the underlay will have fixed it.

The interior is in pretty good nick. I really like the chrome boot hinges and rear side-window levers. It's touches like these which make this car stand out from modern interiors. You do have to watch your fingers when dropping the boot though as once the springs in the hinges let go the whole weight of the hatchback drops suddenly - best to hold onto the outside handle as you close it.

As this is a later model MG it has just the one battery bin under the rear seat - you can see the black cover here. It is a really tight fit so getting the battery in and out can be a pain, especially as the positive lead is really short. With the metal seat base in close proximity you have to be careful when tightening the connector - it's given me a shock once already.

The floor looks to be in good shape, apart from this bit under the pedals. It looks like rust has eaten through part of the floor, but it doesn't look fresh. I'll treat it and keep an eye on it.

Just 61000 miiles on the clock, nearly a third of what my daily car has done over the last 5 years. It also has the same top speed judging by the speedo here.

Late-model MGBs had overdrive rather than a fifth gear. You can put the car into overdrive in 3rd or 4th and the engine produces less torque, but hopefully saves you petrol and reduces engine wear and noise.

The centre console, currently known as 'stuff that probably belongs to the loose wires in the engine bay'. So far we know that the passenger-side headlights and indicator don't work, or does the heater.