Dispatches from the Frontline
The MGB GT is a charming classic, but as James Fossdyke has been finding out, a little magic from a workshop in Oxfordshire can make all the difference
Old cars come with myriad charms. Hailing from a time when design teams were led by one person with a vision, they have a distinct style that’s missing from modern vehicles, and the thought of tearing through the countryside in a classic car is definitely an appealing one. Particularly if you’re on your way to the pub. But like all old things, whether they’re cars, pets, people or houses, they need the right maintenance if you want them to work properly. And even then, they aren’t always reliable.
That’s where companies like Frontline come in. From an unassuming industrial unit by a railway line just south of Oxford, the small team painstakingly restores and improves old cars, stripping away the years of wear, tear and sometimes neglect, before reconstructing them to the owner’s exacting specifications. Primarily, although not exclusively, the company works with MGBs, the small British coupes and roadsters built just a few miles away between 1963 and 1995.
But Frontline does more than just fix up some old classics. By stripping away most of the mechanical features and the interior, the company manages to make these cars usable every day. Out go the wheezy old engines, replaced with more modern power plants (including electric motors, if you ask nicely), and the gearboxes are replaced, too. Cooling systems, brakes and heating are all up for modification and replacement, and Frontline’s duo of schoolfriends-cum-trim shop specialists will build a new interior exactly the way you want it.
It’s a good little business that Frontline has got going, and the firm is thriving, with orders streaming in from customers around the world. After all, who doesn’t like the idea of a classic British sports car that actually works? And it will – or at least should – work. There’s no more fear of ending your journey in a cloud of steam at the roadside than there would be in a modern sports car, and given the evident quality of the craftsmanship on show, there’s arguably even less chance of things going to pot.
Although it might be easy for Frontline to look upon its handiwork and think ‘job done’, the company refuses to rest on its laurels. And for the 60th anniversary of the MGB, there’s a new special edition. It’s called the LE60 – a name we can’t type without thinking of a certain Danish building toy – and it has taken the Frontline build to a whole new level.
Ordinarily, customers choosing a Frontline would get a 2.4-litre Mazda engine in place of the crummy four-cylinder used in the original. That’s lovely, but it isn’t exactly supercar stuff, and given LE60 customers will be asked to part with more than £200,000 for their car, it wasn’t really up to snuff. So the engineers took the old Rover V8 engine, notorious for its unreliability yet loved for its power and sound, and set to work. Pretty much everything was changed except the main engine block, and even that was modified, but Frontline now reckons it has managed to give the old motor modern reliability credentials.
That engine has been crammed under the MGB GT’s long bonnet (unlike other Frontline MGBs, the LE60 is only available as a ‘GT’ coupe), and the cabin has been completely revamped. Air conditioning, posh leather, wood trim and satellite navigation are just some of the options available in the beautifully crafted and era-sympathetic interior, all of which is hand built to your specification. Frontline has even built a mock-up of an MGB interior in its HQ so customers can have a special seat fitting session.
Our test car came with distressed brown leather ideally suited to a sports car of the era, and it featured a rally-specification exterior that’s common to all LE60s. Customers can, of course, choose any colour they like, but all LE60s come without the chrome bumpers that are so often seen on classic MGs. The ‘pepper-pot’ wheels are standard, too, along with the dark window surrounds and the widened body. In short, it’s designed to look just like an ordinary MGB GT, albeit with a few sporty modifications.
But that image hides some incredible engineering that sees the 4.8-litre V8 engine churn out around 375bhp, all of which goes to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox. And because the car only weighs just over a tonne, that’s an impressive power-to-weight ratio. So impressive, in fact, that the LE60 will get from 0-62mph in about four seconds, which puts it on a par with a modern Porsche 911.
Speed, however, is only one part of the LE60 puzzle, because it comes with that stellar V8 engine that gurgles and spits its way through a massive vocal range that rises to a scream of intense rage as you wring its neck. They don’t really make engines like this anymore. Except, of course, Frontline does.
Yet for all the modern engineering, the Frontline still feels very much like a classic car. The noise is still old school, the skinny steering wheel feels lively between your fingertips, and the suspension doesn’t have the deftness we’ve come to expect from modern sports cars. Don’t get me wrong, it’s comfortable – the LE60 rides a little like an old Mazda MX-5, with a slight softness to it that you just don’t get from, say, a go-faster Porsche 911 – but it doesn’t have the body control of modern cars. In fact, the suspension is merely an upgrade on the original, rather than a wholesale substitute, so there’s still a bit of lean in corners when you’re driving too quickly.
That’s a good thing in my book, though. So many modern sports cars are so capable that you can’t really enjoy them on the road – at least not legally – so a bit of playfulness is welcome. The LE60 is great fun, and though it commands serious money, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It wants you to rev the engine and push on a bit when the mood takes you, and there’s no need to wrap it in cotton wool. Yeah, I’d probably garage it, partly for security and partly because it’s too beautiful to leave outside in the snow, wind and rain, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t use it every day if you so wished. It has a big boot, and unlike the original, it has been painted and treated properly, so it shouldn’t rot. At least not as long as it’s properly maintained.
The LE60, then, is the ultimate classic car. It has the period-correct styling and the soundtrack to match, but it comes with the handling of a 1990s sports car and the reliability of one from the 2020s. It can be specified with all the modern features, too, and though the price is a sticking point – you could buy a very fast supercar for that money – the Frontline is still about as good as classic cars get.
Frontline MGB GT LE60
Price: From ~£200,000 plus tax
Engine: 4.8-litre petrol V8
0-62mph: ~4 seconds
Top speed: >170mph
Power: 375bhp
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