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Another eBay Find!

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First of all - that's no '78 MGB GT...at best its a '67!

Second, British Motor Corporation entered 8 cars, BL entered 4 cars in the 1978 12 hours of Sebring - 3 of which were the MGC GTS's & 1 was an MGB --- that car isn't listed as an entrant by either ---- actually, that car isn't listed as an entrant at all!...the ad says the build of the car was financed by BL...so, it might've been a privateer but its not listed among the private MG entrants either...
And #52 in that race was an 1892cc 1971 MGB owned by Waldron Motors out of Boca Raton, FL & driven by Ben Scott, Lowell Lanier, Dave Houser that placed 50th

[ 04-02-2004: Message edited by: tony barnhill ]</p>
 
Looks like maybe ( I wasnt there
smile.gif
) that this car was numbered 50 in Daytona and 52 in Sebring in '78.

Records Indicate:

1978 24 Hours of Daytona
Finished 33rd overall #50 Charles Kleinschmidt / Lee Culpepper USA MGB-GT Spyder 477laps completed 13th in GTU 68th best practice time.

1978 12 Hours of Sebring
Finished 30th overall #52 Charles Kleinschmidt / Lee Culpepper / Bill Koch/ USA MGB-GT 160 laps completed, 14th in GTU 69th best practice time. Entrant was registered as Native Tan as noted on the entrant list at https://racingsportscars.t35.com/photo/1978/_Sebring-1978-03-18e.jpg

NOTE: There are Native Tan decals on back quarters.
I dont know any more than what is stated in ebay about the history surrounding this car nor can I verify that this car was in fact the car I'm pulling these stats for. Klienschmidt also raced a #52 MGB in 77 at 12h of Sebring.. wondering if this is the same car?

You are right though the taillights look to be late 60's vintage however those are easily replaced. When on the track 'signaling' your lane change comes generally as the direct result of turning the wheel and sort of just being there. However indicating that your are slowing down might have been a lot more important to help keep the little orange car's backend outta the front seat.

I dont know for sure if this is a 'factory car' It looks like maybe The Works was 'possibly' (sic. congecture) helping to fund Smokey's efforts at the time.. and maybe the 'Best **** Garage in Town' did some of the work (perhaps all of the work) to get the car 'race ready'. Maybe, it was a Works car prior to racing in 78 since the model does appear to be older than a 78 year model. However as I said this is all totaly congecture.

Where did you get the listing of #52 stats for 12 hrs of sebring '78 ? Seems as those may have been mislinked, as I verified the data above over several independant sources. Ah well
smile.gif

Hope this helps,
-D

PS. all this research makes me wish I could afford it .. Alas some other BGT will get my attention, love and money =]
 
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