Was This 1972 MGB Roadster the Best Buy of the Day?

This MGB Roadster auction result rather proved that we weren’t the only ones who thought Anglia Car Auctions’ guide price looked tempting.

When this 1972 MGB Roadster came up for auction, it carried an estimate of just £3,000 to £5,000.

Before the bidding had even started, I suggested it could be the best buy of the day if it sold somewhere around that money.

Then the bidders got involved.

And it soon became apparent that £5,000 wasn’t going to buy it.

A £3,000 to £5,000 MGB Roadster

On paper, there was plenty to like.

This Old English White MGB had been with the same family since 1989 and had even served as their wedding car.

More recently, circumstances had changed.

Following the death of its keeper, the MG had spent the last couple of years stored in the family’s barn before being brought back out and prepared for sale.

It had been serviced, fitted with a new battery and, importantly, came to auction with an advisory-free MoT running until July 2027.

The overdrive was also working.

Against a £3,000 to £5,000 estimate, it looked interesting.

Very interesting.

Plenty of history came with it

This wasn’t an MGB appearing from nowhere with nothing to tell you about its past.

The history file included a stack of old MoT certificates stretching back to 1989, the original bill of sale from that year and a substantial collection of maintenance invoices.

Among those was paperwork relating to a £4,700 restoration carried out in 2010.

It also came with five wire wheels and had a 1,798cc engine with manual gearbox and overdrive.

The odometer displayed 13,670 miles, although Anglia Car Auctions made it clear that it hadn’t been working for a long time, so that figure shouldn’t be treated as the car’s actual mileage.

Could it be the best buy of the day?

That’s what I wondered as the car came up in front of the rostrum.

At £3,000 to £5,000, it seemed difficult to ignore.

Of course, an auction estimate isn’t a valuation carved in stone.

Sometimes it’s almost exactly where the market sees the car.

Sometimes bidders aren’t interested and a car struggles to get anywhere near it.

And occasionally the guide simply looks low enough to get several people thinking exactly the same thing.

This MGB quickly fell into the latter category.

Watch the MGB go under the hammer

I was filming as the MG came up for sale at Anglia Car Auctions.

Before the bidding started, I said it could potentially be the best buy of the day based on the guide price.

Then things became rather more competitive.

Watch the full auction play out below:

The £5,000 guide didn’t last long

There was no chance of buying this one at the lower end of the estimate.

The bidding pushed through £5,000 and kept going.

Eventually, the hammer came down at:

£6,400.

With Anglia Car Auctions’ buyer’s premium added, the final price was £6,912.

That’s almost £2,000 beyond the top estimate once the premium is included.

So much for our potential £3,000 to £5,000 bargain.

Except I’m not sure it stopped being a bargain.

Was £6,400 still a good buy?

At the end of the auction, I said I still thought somebody had bought it well.

And I stand by that.

Nearly £7,000 including fees isn’t throwaway money, obviously, and any 54-year-old MGB needs to be judged on its condition rather than photographs and history alone.

But look at what the buyer was getting.

It’s a chrome-bumper MGB Roadster in Old English White with wire wheels and working overdrive.

It had been in the same family since 1989.

There was substantial history with it, including evidence of a £4,700 restoration.

And rather than buying a long-dormant barn find requiring immediate recommissioning, the new owner was getting a car that had recently been serviced and carried an advisory-free MoT until July 2027.

For £6,400 hammer?

I still like it.

Sometimes the guide tells only half the story

This is also a good demonstration of why auction estimates shouldn’t be taken too literally.

A £3,000 to £5,000 guide doesn’t necessarily mean the auction house believes £5,000 represents the absolute limit of a car’s value.

Ultimately, once several interested bidders decide they want the same car, the market takes over.

That’s precisely what happened here.

Enough people evidently looked at the history, specification and condition of this MGB and decided it was worth carrying on beyond the estimate.

One of them was eventually prepared to go further than everybody else.

A classic you can actually use

Perhaps that’s part of the enduring appeal of the MGB.

There are faster classics.

There are rarer classics.

There are certainly more exotic classics.

But relatively few offer the same combination of traditional British sports-car looks, straightforward mechanicals, excellent parts availability and a huge enthusiast following.

They’re classics that can still be used without every journey feeling like you’re risking a museum exhibit.

And at this end of the market, that’s important.

You can spend considerably more on plenty of other classics and arguably end up with less opportunity to actually enjoy them.

Would you have paid £6,400?

Anglia Car Auctions estimated this 1972 MGB Roadster at £3,000 to £5,000.

The bidders decided otherwise.

The hammer eventually fell at £6,400, making the total £6,912 including premium.

That means my prediction of it potentially being the best buy of the day didn’t quite work out in the way I expected.

But strangely, my opinion of the car didn’t change much.

At £5,000, I’d have thought it looked cheap.

At £6,400 hammer, I still think it looked like a good buy.

The more interesting question is whether you agree.

Would you have paid it?