Okay, guys. I can answer this with some authority, since I bought a brand-new 1972 - in 1972.
From September 1971 to April 1972 I had been on my second tour in Vietnam. The entire time, I had a picture of a TR-6 on my barracks wall and I dreamed of owning one when I returned to the states. Upon my return, the first car I bought was a 1963 Spitfire; go figure. That didn't turn out so well, so I went looking for a new car. I visited the Triumph dealership off of Baltimore Pike outside of Philadelphia and drooled over the shiny new TR-6s in the showroom. I tried one on for size, and was disappointed that I couldn't fit comfortably in one.
So I went in search of an MG. Havertown Auto Sales was an MG/Sunbeam/Simca dealer in Essington, PA, not far from my home. I drove over there to see if an MG would fit me. Walking into the dealership, the first thing I saw was a brand-new, harvest gold 1972 MGB roadster on a raised platform in the middle of the showroom. It sparkled in the spotlights and I stood mesmerized. The interior was in navy blue and had that new-car smell. There was a factory-installed oil cooler, but that was about all in the way of add-ons, if indeed that was an add-on. Working with the salesman, we agreed upon a price of around $3200.00; I have the bill of sale around here somewhere, but it was right around that price. I even bought the hardbound Chilton Repair and Tune-up Guide for $6.95; I still have the manual.
While in the Army, I had learned to drive a manual transmission and drove everything from an M151 Jeep up to a 5-ton wrecker, and I had owned the spitfire for a time, and driving the MG was a pleasure. The body was tight, the engine started first time every time (when properly chocked), and the time that I owned the car was relatively trouble-free. The Prince of Darkness did rear his ugly head about a month after I took ownership, however. The alternator went out on me and I had to take it to the dealership for replacement under warranty. The mechanic bent the engine cover when they tried to lower it without releasing the support, and then some time later an old guy in a Dodge Dart backed into me at a stop light denting the right front fender. But I truly enjoyed that car.
When I would go driving on the twisty Pennsylvania back roads, I sang a song that went something like this:
Driving along in my new MG,
taking the world in stri-ide.
Makin' it do what I want it to,
Life ain't passin' me byyyyy.
Driving along in my new MG...
The one thing that I remember most, other than that beautiful exhaust note, was the smell from the preservative burning off the exhaust system. I guess they had put some sort of preservative on the car back in England to protect it on the trip over, and it would burn off of the exhaust with a somewhat sweet odor. And under the hood, there were places where this waxy-like preservative had pooled and was difficult to remove.
During the fall, I drove to Gettysburg for a day. It was warm and sunny when I left that morning, but in the afternoon, the temperatures dropped to freezing. I attempted to put the top up, but the vinyl was so cold, I was afraid it would crack. So I sat at a gas station with the top partially up and the heater going full blast in order to soften up the top enough to fasten it down. On another trip to Northern Pennsylvania to visit my grandmother one winter weekend, I stayed warm as snug as a bug-in-a-rug. The heater performed flawlessly in the freezing temperatures and the car ran great! It wasn't terribly good at driving up a snow-packed road, but if the road was clear or there was just a dusting of snow, she did well.
As an aside, when I was looking at the MG in the showroom, there was a white 1970 Jaguar XKE roadster in the used car lot priced at $5000. I looked it over and tried it on for size and although it was sweet car, it wasn't as comfortable as the MG! Odd.
So that's my experience with a brand-new MGB.
Sad to say, the 1977 MGB that I drove up until recently is no more. I was on my way back from a car show in Sapulpa, OK when a kid in his mommy's Lincoln Town Car pulled out of a shopping center and ran into my right rear fender. He twisted the body and shredded the fender, so the insurance company totaled it. Cost to repair would have been well over the value of the car.
Happiness is a new MG!
zach