The MGB Abingdon AU Edition is a Classic for the Modern Age

Photos & spec thanks to Modern Classic Cars Sydney

Modern Classic Cars Sydney’s MGB Abingdon AU Edition takes the clean, classic and somewhat unassuming lines of an MGB, throws in hefty performance via a keenly-tuned Mazda motor and pairs it with completely reworked suspension and brakes. It’s gorgeous, plenty fast and you can have a poke around one at their Sydney workshop, or the Berry Motorfair next month.

The concept arose with Modern Classic Cars’ partners Frontline Developments in the UK, and the cars are now built here in Australia by Modern Classic Cars Sydney. From their workshop in Padstow, Sydney, the team will source a donor car for you (you can bring one in yourself, if you’d like) and get to work.

Working from the outside in, the exterior panels are either restored or replaced and are re-fit to exacting standards. Paint and wheels are re-done to your spec, as is the interior. The engine mounts are replaced and the front cross-member modified to be an order of magnitude stronger, while also finding space to fit the new mechanicals.

To give the car handling to match its new-found power, the entire suspension and braking systems are reworked. Modern Classic Cars’ partners Frontline Developments provide the suspension kit, including aluminium uprights with wishbones up front and coil-overs with trailing arms out back. It sits lower than standard, of course, but by how much is up to you.

The original combination of non-ventilated discs up front with drums for the rears is replaced. Discs are installed front and rear, with four-piston calipers handling the hard work up front and singles looking after the lighter load at the back.

Then, it’s time for the core of the whole build – a MZR L5-VE 16 valve DOHC motor. In its final form, the engine gets forged pistons, billet rods and crank, new head, cams and valves as well as a custom ECU and exhaust system. Power is delivered to the rear wheels through a six-speed Mazda box with a new LSD.

In that spec, the car is working with 289 horsepower, which is enough to shove the sub-1000kg ‘B’ from standing to 100 in four seconds and on to an estimated top speed of 240 kph.

All of this will run you a little more than a standard MGB, with the ‘Abington Edition’ starting at $170,000. For that, you get something that retains the clean, classic aesthetic of the original, but which hides a sweetly-handling monster underneath. And that sounds like a lot of fun to us.

For more information on the car, head to the Modern Classic Cars Sydney website here.

Modern Classic Cars Sydney are patrons of the 2020 Berry Motorfair, and will be at the event next month. Come along on Sunday the 15th of November, 2020, to have a look. For more information on Berry Motorfair, head to the website here.

Photos & spec thanks to Modern Classic Cars Sydney