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MAN AND MACHINE
Building an MGB from the ground up
PRINCE FREDERICK
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The most satisfying project that architect Ajit Ramchandran has ever taken up is a 1967 MGB
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Photos: R. Ragu
AUTO BUILDER Architect Ajit Ramchandran has a knack for restoring vintage cars. He stripped this 1967 MGB down to the chassis and sandblasted it before fitting in performance parts meant to take the car to a different level.
Ajit Ramchandran’s house betrays his passion for do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. For one, the woodwork has his stamp — From planing the wood to varnishing the boards, he has done the carpentry work. As an architect, he thinks this is not unusual. But he agrees that restoring old cars is something you wouldn’t expect of an architect! The evidence of this unusual ability is in the driveway — a 1967 MGB.
Without the aid of bookish knowledge, he has been infusing fresh life into old cars for over three decades now. Of course, he leaves the technical stuff to the experts. But, at the very minimum, he does 50 per cent of the restoration job himself. In the case of the 1967 MGB, this added up to over 70 per cent and therefore has been Ajit’s most satisfying DIY project to date.
When he picked it up twelve years ago at Bombay, the roadster was in a derelict condition. It had to be stripped down to the chassis and sandblasted. “With this car, I had to get down to the nuts and bolts of restoration work,” he says. There is literal truth to what he says as he removed and cleaned every nut, bolt and washer!
Ajit had to source a whole load of parts for this MGB. As a first step, he rid the sports car of an Ambassador engine. And did better than scouting around for an 1798 cc B-Series I4 engine. He placed an order with Oselli, a company originally set up to cater for owners of MG cars who are looking for performance engines. The Oselli engine fitted now is similar to the 1798 cc B-series engine, except that it is of a higher grade (2000cc) and has been tuned for performance. Ajit has tried other ways to improve the car’s performance. Examples: Removing a twin SU carburettor and putting in a twin Webber carburettor; and replacing spoke wheels with minilight ones.
That he has been thoroughgoing in his makeover work is evident from the MGB’s underside. The car can roll over on to its back and show off its underbelly. There is nothing unseemly there.
“I consider a car’s underside equally important. I pay a lot of attention to it.”
In Ajit’s dictionary, ‘doing it yourself’ probably means ‘doing it perfect’.
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