I know I spend an unhealthy amount of time contemplating the taxonomy of cars. I’ve been told this by doctors, as they point to strange blobs on X-rays, saying things like “see this? That’s a mass of unhealthy cells in your brain’s stop-wasting-time gland. That gland, by the way, is effectively dead.”
Then they explain that my constant wondering about what is the difference between a two-door sedan and a coupé or how to define a wagon is what’s causing all this, and I deserve whatever happens. Well, fine. In that case, let’s just go all in and ask ourselves the really difficult questions.
Questions like this one: is this a convertible station wagon? Or is it, as the license plate suggests, a truck? Or something else entirely?
Morning ???????? pic.twitter.com/JGMBO9kiEa
— Lord Haydock (@MarkHaydock5) March 31, 2025
This is a harder question than it may seem upon first glance. Let’s just break down what we’re dealing with here, first: this seems to have started life as an MGB GT, according to our in-house MG maven, Mark Tucker, who suspects this started life as a 1970 model, as that was the only year of that split rear bumper, though he noted the all-red taillight lenses are a ’62-’67 trait.
The windshield surround is what clues us in to the fact this started as an MGB GT, as the roadster had a chrome windshield that was shorter and sort of bolted-on to the body, as you can see here, with the MGB GT on the right: 
Okay, so whoever built this started with an MGB GT, and then removed the roof entirely, then removed the MGB GT’s vestigial back seats and lined the cargo area with wood, making a rather nice well for luggage.
Here’s a quick sketch of this custom MGB from the side:
It doesn’t look that different from the roadster like this, but it is, I promise you. At least, a little:
The builder seems to have shaved off the exterior door handles, which is a bit odd. Anyway, let’s get back to the big question: is this a small convertible/roofless truck, or is it a small, convertible wagon/shooting brake?
Here’s what it would have looked like as truck with a roof:
…and here’s what it would be with a wagon/shooting brake roof:
I mean, it sort of works with either. And maybe the owner has one or even both of these as some sort of hard top that can be installed on the car? I have no idea.
But which is it? In my gut, I feel like it’s really a shooting brake, minus the roof. Here’s my argument for it being a wagon/shooting brake:
Now, it’s possible that is a working tailgate, but based on the placement of those bumper guards and no visible handles or hinges, I’m pretty skeptical.
Mostly, this thing feels more like a shooting brake minus the roof to me. It’s an MG, which already has much more shooting brakeitude than truckity, and that cargo area seems to be finished like something intended to be inside the car, not always exposed to the elements.
Is that box there fixed in place? If so, I’m not really sure how that would affect things.
Okay, but let’s give equal time to roofless truck identity, too:
That sort-of bulkhead does make it a bit more truck-like, though I think a two-seat shooting brake could have that, too. And the open cargo area is inherently more truck-like, even though the lack of a roof is something that affects the passenger/cab area too.
Finally, the custom license plate does say MGB TRK, which suggests that at least whoever owns this thing at least considers it as a truck, which is significant.
I’m sort of stumped on this one, to be honest, so I’m hoping we can hash this out in the comments here. Are we looking at a topless wagon or topless truck? Is this question answerable? Is any question? Help!
I’d say topless wagon. The box in the back looks like it was made to be inside a car.
Also, the license plate doesn’t necessarily mean truck. There are other words which start “tr” and end with “k”. Maybe turning this into a topless wagon was his “MG Trick”. Maybe he put an “MG Trademark” on this design. Maybe it stands for “MG Trick” again, but this time it’s because he’s a pimp, and uses this as his pimpmobile?
Well to be a truck it needs a minimum of 1/4 ton hauling. Pull it up drop a 1/4 ton of bricks from 10 feet then see if it can haul the brick 60 miles at highway speed. My guess it can’t. This is a mobile beach chair
It seems to me it’s not a “convertible” at all as there is no indication that it has a roof of any kind anymore. So just a roofless wagon…
trim boards on top of box match trim boards in the cargo area, suggesting that box is secured in place.
fwiw, categorizing as a shooting brake or truck is merely a model we use to describe reality.
reality doesn’t need to fit the model.
a model can change if it fails to adequately describe reality, but a corner case doesn’t necessarily break the model.
It was a kit, short lived because expensive, turned out that people with knackered MG’s were not a good market proposal .
This makes senses as the “tailgate” is obviously not crafted from the existing backend. Wonder where the fuel filler was relocated?
Just ahead of the left wheel arch.
Found one reference that says the box is for the owner’s dog to ride in.
https://www.mgexp.com/phile/1/245148/image.jpg
Solves that question. Not loving that tailgate deployment process, but it is interesting.
shows the tail gate well though, Me and dogs? let us say we have come to a conclusion, we both live on the same planet, sometimes.
Roadster Utility?
Roadster utility – Wikipedia
https://www.mgexp.com/phile/1/245148/image.jpg
Roadster wagon.
Well it’s a roadster because since there’s no way to attach a roof to that windshield thus it’s not converting into anything. It doesn’t even have side windows so between no roof and no side windows there’s not really any reason for exterior door handles.
Looks really well put together. If I lived near a beach, I’d consider something like this.
I think the license plate stands for MGB Trick.
MGB Turk.
I think the tailgate works. Hear me out: There are obviously a gaps on either side between the tailgate and the rear fenders. Now imagine that the center section of the split bumper is attached to the tailgate, as it looks to be. Notice the overiders seem to lack a gap between them and the tailgate. Now imagine the overrides are hinged below, and connected to each other through the license plate mount. So when the tailgate is opened, the overiders and license hinge down with the tailgate. What do you all think?
I saw the gaps and am thinking similar to you, BTW, this puts it in the tiny sport truck camp. I want!
It’s a truck and has a tailgate
https://www.mgexp.com/forum/mgb-and-gt-forum.1/mgb-truck-i-want-one.2669546/
Yep; when you “enhance” the photo on Twitter, you can see that it hinges behind the bumperettes.
I think the bumperettes are connected to the tailgate? or just covers they can take off
The border between the two areas make it a truck. Shooting brakes should have at least a tunnel between the seats or something.
Neither, it is a convertible sportback since that is what it originally was.
Maybe the plate is MGB TRK because MGB CSW (Convertible Station Wagon) was too cryptic.
I’m trying to avoid any connections with that cesspool that used to be Twitter. Could future articles include a screenshot instead of the Twitter module, please?
If there’s no top it’s a truck. If it has a top, we base the answer on the rules of wagon with the top on. If there is a top I bet it doesn’t meet the window requirements anyway, making it a hatchback not a wagon.
I think it should be a requirement that a hatchback has an opening hatch. I also doubt that there is a top for this.
Its a topless wagon. Not going to support my argument.
The bigger thing to discuss here is the idea of the “truck with a roof” concept you drew up. That would be amazing to see. An MG Ute just seems way too cool.
I haven’t looked at a B-GT closely in some years, but pretty sure the windshield and cowl bolt on those same as the roadster, it’s just raked differently. Fun fact – the bolt-on windshield and cowl assembly for a Triumph Spitfire is the same as that for a TR4-TR6. Wacky yet frugal Brits!
As for truck vs. shooting brake – I vote shooting brake. That wood, which very much reminds me of the cargo bay of a Peugeot 504 wagon (I’ve had two, delightful cars), is much too nice to leave exposed to the weather.
Peugeot 504 wagon:
https://i0.wp.com/www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Peugeot-504-Wagon-Diesel.jpg
Nope, the GT A-pillars are part of the body. The windshield is 4″ taller, but about the same rake. (Source: I own an MGB GT.) This looks like a roadster windshield with the top edge capped in trim.
Interesting. So different build style between roadster and coupe? Or does the roadster just look like it’s seamed and a seperate panel? That is very surprising if so, given how the Brits love to save a buck when designing and building these things. Certainly the MGB monocoque is more sophisticated than Triumph’s hoary old body-on-frame construction.
It’s a completely different unibody between the two, and different front fenders-I mean, wings-as well. Most everything else interchanges, except the door glass, obviously, due to the extra height.
Fun fact: the GT was (re)designed by Pininfarina, who supplied a complete prototype. The BMC brass liked it so much that they put it straight into production, no changes.
Interesting! I knew that about the design. One of this best works. I REALLY like BGTs, and have long wanted one as a Spring/Fall fun car to go with my Spitfire. Still quite reasonably priced for a good one too.
I have a fair amount of seat time in the roadster, a good friend had one for decades, but sold it a long time ago now. He had a TD too.
If that tailgate works I’m going to say truck, if it’s fixed I’m going wagon. That said, I think maybe that tailgate might actually open, or at least I hope it does. There’s a pretty noticeable panel gap between the tailgate and the body work and the wood trim on top is also segmented out to allow for opening/closing instead of just being one long strip of wood across the top.
I’m thinking that a person who would go through the trouble of shaving off his door handles wouldn’t have left that line in the body if the tailgate were fixed in place. Also someone with the skills to shave the door handles would also know how to engineer a working tailgate with no obvious latches.
The only thing left are those bumper guards, which would absolutely dent the tailgate every time it swung down… and maybe I’m giving the builder too much credit here, but what if they swing down too or what if the hinges are hidden inside those bumper guards???
I think I’ve talked myself into believing that’s a functional tailgate, mostly because I just want it to be a functional tailgate, so I’m voting truck.
Why would the tailgate be a differentiator? All wagons have them, and many are bottom-hinged just like trucks. I hope it does too, but those bumperettes would have to get out of the way somehow.
My reasoning for the tailgate being the differentiator was entirely arbitrary, inexplicable, and undefendable, but I’m standing by it 😉
LOL, I bow to your reasoning!
Concur on all points. Separate cargo box is the wagon differentiator.
Dad’s 1970 T&C wagon had a functional tailgate. Same as the 64 Buick up the street. Tailgates aren’t necessarily truck-y
I always love the “two-way” tailgates many American wagons had. Fold-down, OR open sideways like a regular door. But the best were the big GM wagons that had the “disappearing tailgates” where the glass went into the roof and the rest under the floor. Some were fully electric, some the bottom half was manual.
Oh yeah, friend of mine’s family had a giant butterscotch colored Chevy in the 70s that had that
Whatever it is I irrationally want it.
Imagine if you took a Chevy SSR and removed the retractable roof mechanism and the tonneau cover. I think you’d wind up with something very much like this. Since the SSR was (at least marketed as) a truck, I’m calling this a truck.
Be careful about arguments about cargo area’s being done up like an interior invalidating it’s truckishness. You’re going to make all 4 Lincoln Blackwood owners very upset when you have to argue their trucks are actually just sedans (they are, but I don’t want to be the one that tells them)
Looks like yacht varnish in the bed to me, which is an exterior finish. Truck!
You were so close to Headless Wagon or Topless Truck