COSMETIC SURGERY
When a car has been in production for some years, it’s not unusual for its manufacturer to give it a bit of a refresh. A new grille here, some updated trim there, with an array of fresh colour choices and renamed spec levels thrown in for good measure. It’s a cost-effective way of preventing a slide in sales while said car’s successor is still in development. But of course, not every admirer of the original model will automatically take to its update. In fact, many a motoring facelift has met with howls of horror from traditionalists.
That’s why we thought we’d revisit some of those controversial facelifts, not just to remember how they were received at the time, but also to gauge how they stand in today’s classic car market. Have the years been kind to some of the updates that were a talking point when new? In many cases, yes – including what was arguably the most controversial restyle ever inflicted on a British-built sports car.
MGB & MGB GT
The biggest controversy of the evergreen MGB’s career occurred when the 1975 model range was announced in late ’74, featuring large, black, heavily protruding bumpers in place of the chrome items of before – changes that were deemed necessary if MG’s crucial exports to the USA were to continue.
The new, steel-reinforced black ‘rubber’ bumper at the front also incorporated the grille area, doing away with the previously separate front grille and giving a wholly new look to the MGB’s now more pointed nose. At the rear, a similarly obtrusive black bumper was applied, having an equally dramatic effect on the car’s appearance.
American legislation now dictated that a car’s bumpers had
