Mention the MGB Limited Edition to any fan of Abingdon’s most famous product and they’ll probably think of the bronze or silver versions of the roadster and GT produced in 1980 to commemorate the ending of production.
In the crucial American market, however, these were pre-dated by another MGB Limited Edition, shown here in this US advert of 1979.
Jaguar Rover Triumph Inc. of New Jersey boasted that the MGB Limited Edition was “available only in black accented by dramatic silver striping”, and offered “distinctive cast-alloy wheels” and “performance features like a front air dam and a padded, smaller diameter racing-type steering wheel for quicker response”. You even got an official Limited Edition plaque on the dashboard.
Just 500 cars were originally planned for production, but soaring demand from American buyers meant that almost 6700 examples of the US-spec Limited Edition were eventually sold there. Suddenly this wasn’t quite the ‘limited edition’ that most buyers had expected.
