The very last MGB Roadster – which rolled off the production line on October 23, 1980, marking the end of MG’s historic Abingdon factory – has made a dramatic return to its home town.

Owned by the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, this very special MGB is now on indefinite loan to the Abingdon County Hall Museum. But with numerous practical limitations imposed by the Grade One listed building, the MG had to be ‘posted’ on its side through the arched windows of the first floor, with just inches to spare.

The task of first stripping the MGB to a bare shell, fitting it to a specially designed cradle, masterminding its delivery into the building via a 30-tonne scissor lift and finally rebuilding the car for public display fell to British Motor Heritage (BMH), which also sponsored the ambitious project from start to finish.

BMH’s managing director John Yea commented: “2012 is the 50th anniversary of this perennially popular sports car, and it is very fitting that a representative example will be proudly displayed in the town where over 500,000 were built.”