Photo: BMC British Automotive (edited by autoevolution)
There's a few unspoken rules when it comes to building restomods. One that goes something to the tune of there's no engine too big, and no engine bay too small for the person with the tools and ambition to make their mind's creations come to life. In short, restomodders are heavily incentivized to prioritize big power and big performance numbers over just about everything else. But don't let the propaganda tell you otherwise; it's not all about big V8s and even bigger burnouts.
There's room for less insane stuff mixed in with the LSX and Coyote swaps. Just check out this 1967 MGB GT coupe if you don't believe us. Thanks to one scrappy upstart tuning shop in Isanti, Minnesota, called BMC British Automotive, we now have an idea of what the archetypal anti-restomod looks like. In short, it looks like any other classic sleeper with picture-perfect, seemingly numbers-matching interiors and exteriors, except with something far more reasonable under the hood than an LS, a HEMI, or a Coyote.
It started with a very typical mid-to-late 60s MGB with the standard B-Series four-cylinder engine endemic to the type under the hood. Heaven only knows what kind of backstory this MGB had before it found its way to BMC, the type was routinely one of the most popular British sports cars sold stateside during its day. One can only imagine how many miles of backroads someone enjoyed behind the wheel of this thing before they parked it. One thing's for sure, it's making more power nowadays, but not an exorbitant amount.
Once the car was stripped down to the bare chassis and body shell, a thorough rust repair job was followed by the installation of, of all things, the 3.4-liter GM L32 V6 you'd most commonly find in California-specific variants of the Pontiac Firebird and Chevy Camaro between 1993 and 1994, as well as from 1993 to 1995 everywhere else. Though not exactly powerhouses, L32s happen to be just the right shape and size to be perfectly suited for retrofitting into older British sports cars, particularly ones built by MG. Entire forum posts on enthusiast websites even exist dedicated to helping people swap L32s and other older GM V6s into MG sports cars.
With a wicked Riviera Blue paint job to match the drivetrain and a Borg Warner five-speed stick shift out of an old Ford Thunderbird, this is the kind of restomod that prefers short circuit tracks and carving canyon corners more than point-to-point drag strip pulls as you might expect. But one thing's certain. In the Firebird and Camaro, this L32 V6 was an absolute dog. In a car that weighs nearly half the weight of either, the results are nothing short of sensational. Check the BMC British Automotive page right here if you want to learn more.
It started with a very typical mid-to-late 60s MGB with the standard B-Series four-cylinder engine endemic to the type under the hood. Heaven only knows what kind of backstory this MGB had before it found its way to BMC, the type was routinely one of the most popular British sports cars sold stateside during its day. One can only imagine how many miles of backroads someone enjoyed behind the wheel of this thing before they parked it. One thing's for sure, it's making more power nowadays, but not an exorbitant amount.
Once the car was stripped down to the bare chassis and body shell, a thorough rust repair job was followed by the installation of, of all things, the 3.4-liter GM L32 V6 you'd most commonly find in California-specific variants of the Pontiac Firebird and Chevy Camaro between 1993 and 1994, as well as from 1993 to 1995 everywhere else. Though not exactly powerhouses, L32s happen to be just the right shape and size to be perfectly suited for retrofitting into older British sports cars, particularly ones built by MG. Entire forum posts on enthusiast websites even exist dedicated to helping people swap L32s and other older GM V6s into MG sports cars.
With a wicked Riviera Blue paint job to match the drivetrain and a Borg Warner five-speed stick shift out of an old Ford Thunderbird, this is the kind of restomod that prefers short circuit tracks and carving canyon corners more than point-to-point drag strip pulls as you might expect. But one thing's certain. In the Firebird and Camaro, this L32 V6 was an absolute dog. In a car that weighs nearly half the weight of either, the results are nothing short of sensational. Check the BMC British Automotive page right here if you want to learn more.
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