Mello Yellow: ’69 MGC GT
We featured MGC GTs before because it is a very interesting car. Here’s a bit of background on how they came to be. BMC had a rather fuzzy product planning department back then. They really didn’t have a clear vision of how to begin to badge-engineer Austin-Healeys and the cars from Abingdon. They even hired our friend Donald Healey to develop prototypes of cars using a lighter weight straight-6 than the engine that powered the A-H 3000. Old Syd Enever, chief engineer at BMC, was given the task of developing a new engine using more modern thin-wall technology that should have reduced the weight of the engine by over 100 pounds.Unfortunately, Syd didn’t hit the mark. To make a long story short, they shoehorned Syd’s new motor into an MG chassis, killed the Healey version ’cause Donald hated the idea of his name attached to a car he wasn’t happy with, and the MGC was born. The press hated it. It was not a very sharp handling car and it was a bit thirsty without the resulting dramatic increase in power. But what it was good at was cruising. Hence the nickname of a working man’s Jaguar. Today’s Primrose Yellow beauty hails from the same dealership that our last Mallard Green MGC came from. They are great at finding good, solid California cars and this appears to be no exception. We like the Minilite wheels and the interior appears to be in good nick. If we know these guys, and we do, this is a turn-key cruiser. At $18,900 it is less than the lowest price stated in the Sports Car Market Price Guide. And in the MGC’s case, the Coupes are slightly more valuable than the roadster. Check it out by clicking here and tell them we sent ya!