It's rare to be introduced to a car as the one “we didn’t want to make”. Abingdon-based MG specialist Frontline resisted the idea of an electric restomod for a long time before customer demand reached a level that was simply too hard to resist.
Yet the resulting BEE GT feels like the culmination of a life’s vision, its aesthetic, detailing, fit and finish all being sublime and the whole thing exuding a coolness that I’ve never quite come across in a stock MGB.
This prototype links a 40kWh battery to a 120bhp electric motor for a junior hot hatch level of performance and up to 140 miles of range in favourable conditions.
Frontline now offers a slightly pricier 60kWh long-range model that hikes both the power and range figures past 200 (slicing the 0-62mph time to less than 7.0sec) and raises the charging speed from 7kW to 22kW – useful, as a full refuelling of this standard BEE GT takes around seven hours.
The core of the donor B (either roadster or coupé) remains, with new components hooked up to enough of the original structure to avoid reregistration and thus a jarring Q numberplate. It looks every inch the car that went before, right down to its Type 2 charging port tucked neatly behind the old metal filler cap.
Much of its electric equipment is stuffed where an engine once lived, but Frontline claims similar weight to its petrol projects and smarter weight distribution of 50:50 front to rear.
Around 30kg of its mass is sound-deadening to counteract the hubbub that would usually be drowned out by internal combustion.
Most curious of all is what sprouts from the middle of the car: a glistening wooden knob that links you to a five-speed manual gearbox beneath. Slot it into third and you can operate the BEE GT via two pedals and a single speed like it’s any other EV, but you would be missing the point.
The taut ceramic clutch isn’t used to pull away or come to a halt, but you do need it during gearchanges. So you select first, release the handbrake and feed in the throttle as the muscle memory in your resting left foot almost spasms.
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Well, this is just silly. You might as well buy a used BMW i3S, and although I don't know the price, you'd probably have £65,000 left! The point of the MGB was the way it handled and the V8 engine (in the MGBV8). The manual gearbox made it fantastic (even though I wouldn't drive anything which wasn't auto, now) through sweeping bends and country roads. Slotting an EV pack into an MGB frame won't give you ANY of that, even with a manual box. Seriously, any potential buyer of this turd hasn't taken an i3S out for a spin...and you get two seats in the back!
Unless I missed it this was a pretty pointless review as the expected price isn't shown.
If you have to ask a price, this isnt the car for you!