![This classic MGB roadster was saved from the scrapyard Classic & Sports Car – Your classic: MGB roadster](/sites/default/files/styles/article/public/2023-05/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20Your%20classic%20%E2%80%93%20MGB%20roadster%20%E2%80%93%2001.png?itok=gDQoPQyY)
“Dad, what’s that?” our two boys piped in chorus as we drove home from school one day in 2004.
“An old MGB,” I said, slowing to pass the sad relic, with a hand-lettered sign wired to its windscreen: ‘For sale, $500.’
“Can we buy it?”
It was 20 years since I last owned a sports car, but the dormant worm had stirred. I called the number.
![This MGB roadster was painted gold by a previous owner Classic & Sports Car – Your classic: MGB roadster](/sites/default/files/2023-05/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20Your%20classic%20%E2%80%93%20MGB%20roadster%20%E2%80%93%2008.png)
The MGB’s early gold repaint was an acquired taste
On my daily jog I had often glanced at the car, unmoving under a dusty tarp in a south LA backyard just blocks from our house; now I stood puzzling at the B-less street.
When the MG’s owner emerged, his jaw dropped.
He soon determined the city had towed the non-functioning vehicle for being parked on the wrong side on the wrong day, so we reconvened at the impound lot.
![Working on the classic MGB was a labour of love Classic & Sports Car – Your classic: MGB roadster](/sites/default/files/2023-05/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20Your%20classic%20%E2%80%93%20MGB%20roadster%20%E2%80%93%2005.png)
Owner Arthur Tobias had to spend some time underneath his MGB before he could jump into the driver’s seat