During the gas crisis of the 1970’s, many people ditched their muscle cars in favor of more fuel-frugal roadsters imported from abroad. This was perhaps the height of popularity for brands like Fiat, Triumph, and MG in America before all three closed up their Yankee shops and retreated across the Atlantic. But just because they left doesn’t mean all the cars they built left with them.

So what do you do with an underpowered British roadster? You stuff a modern American V8 engine into it. That is exactly what one forum member of LS1tech did to his ’72 MGB GT, and the results are spectacular.

1972 was actually the first year for the “Mark III” MGB, MG’s flagship two-seater roadster. It was initially equipped with a 1.8 liter four cylinder engine making all of 92 horsepower and 110 ft-lbs of torque. The GT version, which was used in Keith Tanner’s build, was actually a hatchback rather than a roadster. The more-rigid fixed roof structure would be a much better choice than the drop-top for holding down that American horsepower he dropped into it.

Keith bought a donor Camaro two years ago and tore apart the MGB soon after. The engine is a stock LS1, but it was designed for a car much bigger than the MGB (which weighs right around 2,200 pounds). While MGB’s have been fitted with a V8 engine before, stuffing a LS1 engine into this car required a lot of custom fabrication. If you want to get a feeling for how much work went into this (nearly finished) project, head on over to the build thread where there are a bevy of updates and pictures.