Frontline LE60 and BEE GT: V8 and electric MGB restomods driven
“We were building restomods before the word existed,” says Frontline founder Tim Fenna. “Back in the early 1990s, I bought an MGB for my wife and couldn’t believe how dull it was to drive. It all started from there.”
Thirty years later, Frontline – based in Abingdon, close to the former MG factory – has developed two radically different takes on the MGB. The LE60 (the grey car pictured above) is a fire-breathing road racer with a burly V8 under the bonnet. And the pale green BEE GT is electric, albeit with a manual gearbox to recreate the classic driving experience.
I jump into the LE60 first. One of 30 cars planned to celebrate 60 years of the MGB, it’s based on the Pininfarina-designed B GT coupe and packs a 375hp Rover-derived engine: good for 0-62mph in 4.0 seconds and a top speed of 170mph. Prices start at £211,000, plus the cost of a donor car.
Muscle and flow
With its pumped-up wheelarches, widened stance and sawn-off tailpipes, the LE60 clearly takes no prisoners: an impression heightened when the 4.8-litre V8 rumbles raucously into life. Surrounded by supple leather in a hand-formed aluminium tub seat (shaped to fit the buyer’s backside), the view ahead says ‘British sports car’ while the soundtrack yells ‘Detroit muscle’.
Like Tim Fenna, I’ve also had the misfortune to drive a standard MGB, but this car is utterly transformed. Power steering, redesigned rear suspension, Nitron dampers and six-piston brakes endow it with a fluidity, stability and level of safety the 1960s original could only dream of. Despite having four times the power of a four-cylinder MGB, the LE60 doesn’t feel intimidating.
That snarling, rev-hungry engine inevitably dominates, though. With just 1,132kg to shift, it feels potent and addictively visceral – and makes swapping into the BEE GT even more of a culture shock. How can the 120hp electric MG possibly measure up?
BEE’s electric
It can’t, in truth, but a change of mindset is required here. If the LE60 is a weekend beast, the BEE GT (also available in BEE roadster guise) is a restomod you could sensibly drive every day. An EV that doesn’t feel like a four-wheeled domestic appliance, if you like.
This particular BEE GT is a work-in-progress prototype, with a fully charged range of 120 miles. However, Fenna says customer cars will offer more like 200 miles, along with upwards of 200hp. Production won’t be limited, unlike the LE60, and prices start from £144,000 (again, plus a donor MGB for conversion).
Frontline’s ground-up restoration process means the ‘approximate’ build quality of the Abingdon original (not helped by industrial strife of the time) is replaced by perfect panel gaps and a sense of sound-deadened solidity. Even though the high-pitched hum of the electric motor is always audible, it makes the BEE GT seem oddly serene. A dry weight of 1,186kg means it feels light on its feet, too.
V8 or voltage
The five-speed manual gearbox, sourced from a Mazda MX-5, might seem anachronistic, but it keeps your brain busy. EVs are impossible to stall, so you only use the clutch on the move: not to stop or pull away. On quiet Oxfordshire lanes, the motor spins round to 9,000rpm with elastic enthusiasm, its intensifying tone prompting me to change up – and indeed try a few heel-and-toe downshifts. How wonderfully old-fashioned.
The MGB is part of our collective consciousness, as British as cream teas or drizzle, but the reality doesn’t live up to the sepia-tinged daydream. Frontline turns that on its head, reinventing the B without expunging its classic character. Whether you go for the voracious V8 or the engaging EV, its restomods paint the MGB in a new light.
Tim Pitt writes for Motoring Research
MGB GT LE60
PRICE: From £211,000
POWER: 375hp
TORQUE: 297lb ft
0-62MPH: 4.0sec
TOP SPEED: 170mph
DRY WEIGHT: 1,132kg