Frontline Developments MG LE50

You might already have read about the MG LE50, brainchild of Abingdon-based Frontline Developments. It's an MGB GT, obviously, and a very old one if the number plate is anything to go by.

Yet it costs from £52,700 in its simplest form, or £55,500 in the Plus Pack guise seen here. Add some choice options and you could touch £60,000, which seems a lot for a MGB, however beautifully constructed.

But this MGB produces 238bhp at 7400rpm from its 2.0-litre Mazda engine, essentially the same unit as fitted to the new MX-5 GT, complete with the Omex ignition and fuelling systems, a throttle body for each cylinder and freer-breathing camshafts.

The existing LE50 has the same engine with different mapping and the original Mazda camshafts to give 212bhp; word is that Mazda was so impressed with Omex's work for Frontline that it commissioned its own version for the MX-5 GT.

For this LE50 Plus, though, the engine can be in Euro 4 management spec and, in a sort of Euro-previous-century style, can run without a catalytic converter because this is nominally a 1968 car. Hence that mighty 238bhp, backed up by 174lb ft of torque at 4200rpm. This sounds great until you think 1960s levels of torsional stiffness, a live rear axle and archaic lever-arm dampers, dated when the MGB was launched in 1962 and impossible even to consider now.

All of which is why these Frontline LE50s, 50 of which will ultimately be made (26 ordered so far) and which celebrate a half-century's passing since the B's launch, have a seam-welded bodyshell (brand new, from British Motor Heritage) with extra reinforcing gussets and a heavily re-engineered suspension system. Visible seams are spirited away and the rear side window apertures get bigger flanges, to take seals better able to banish wind noise.

Suspension is still double wishbones at the front, but just the original crossmember remains, with wishbones, hubs, Avo coilover dampers and geometry all new. At the back, the live axle stays but is properly located with four links and a Panhard rod and sprung, again, by Avo coilovers. Brakes, as you would hope, are hefty discs all round.

Despite a beautifully leather-trimmed interior and lots of Dynamat heat-and-sound insulation, this 238bhp car weighs just 941kg, spread almost equally between the four Dunlop-branded 15in aluminium wheels. These look like a racing Jaguar D-type's, and are shod with 195/65 Yokohama CDrive2 tyres.

As well as its extra urge, the Plus gets tougher brake pads, a plate-type limited-slip diff from Tran-ex (part of Quaife), an upshift light triggered at 7300rpm (500rpm shy of the rev limit) and a lower ride height (by 20mm up front and 15mm at the rear).

This drop is easily reproduced on the regular LE50, because the spring platforms are adjustable, but that's to miss the point. These cars are not just collections of aftermarket enhancements with all the scope for tinkering that implies. One look at the complex electrical system, as laid bare during production, is proof of that.

But could you really consider one of these over a Porsche Cayman?