MGB Roadster bodyshell is assembled with tooling and equipment originally used at the body assembly plant at Cowley. (Photo: BMH)


MGBGTV8 bodyshell nearing completion when it will pass to the finishing department. (Photo: BMH)
Visiting the British Motor Heritage body plant at Witney is an experience of contrasts - the plant is on a modern industrial park on the western outskirts of the Oxfordshire town of Witney and is housed in a modern building, but once inside the production hall you face a time warp. Component parts, panels and bodyshells are assembled by an experienced workforce using assembly jigs and tooling together with traditional handcrafting skills used when the bodies were assembled back in the sixties and seventies but the plant is very much an operation producing good quality products much needed by classic car enthusiasts today.

In many ways those products are a better quality today as the inspired management team have very successfully combined craftsmanship and originality with innovation, not least with the extensive use of modern materials, equipment and processes. The most notable feature is the corrosion resistance of the panels and bodyshells is far better than ever before. So for classic car enthusiasts the continued success of the BMH body plant is a very reassuring package - a thriving replacement parts manufacturing business and one which delivers an extraordinary range of better quality products.
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See our reports from a recent tour of the plant

Background to British Motor Heritage

Complexity of assembling an MGB wing

MGBGT bodyshell assembly

Views of the plant




Posted: 080626
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