A NEW MG celebrating the 50th birthday of one of Britain’s most iconic sports cars is being built by a small Oxfordshire firm, rather than the brand’s Chinese owners.

Staff at Frontline Developments in Steventon are building the MG LE50 – price tag £50,000 – to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the launch of the original Abingdon-built MGB.

They are using the original MGB moulds, owned by British Motor Heritage in Witney, to form the body of the new car and the engineers are working with 50-year-old tools to make the cars as authentic as possible.

Some 513,000 MGBs were made at the company’s factory in Abingdon before it closed in 1980.

Frontline is working on the project with the blessing of MG’s current owner, Chinese giant Nanjing Automobile, and sales director Ed Braclik said it was appropriate the model was made close to MG’s spiritual home.

He added: “Fifty years ago there were some incredibly talented and skilled local people who designed a handful of iconic cars that have stood the test of time.”

He said he wanted to create something lasting to mark the anniversary, adding: “We have spent a year-and-a-half developing a new vehicle, which looks exactly like the original of the 1960s, with all the modern stuff inside.

“The MGB is a great car and everybody likes classic old-school cars that are British.

“They were the biggest selling sports car of their time. People love them and there are still lots of them on the road.”

He said each car would take about 12 weeks to make, with one rolling out of the garage doors every two-and-a-half weeks.

The company plans to add four more people to its 12-strong workforce to help build the cars.

MG Car Club spokesman Chris Seaward said: “More than 500,000 MGBs were made in Abingdon, so the worldwide appeal of the car is in no doubt.

“But the fact that it is a company four miles away making the new car is very exciting.

“We have an opportunity to put Abingdon and MG back on the map again.”

MG fan Richard Martin, 64, from Abingdon, has owned 10 of the cars and has a 1964 MGB.

He said: “It’s nice there is going to be a new MGB around.

“I’m sure it will be a great car and, because they’re making a limited amount, it will probably hold its value.”

The new MG factory opened in China in 2009 after Nanjing Automobile bought the brand following Rover’s collapse in 2005. The factory, staffed by 2,000 workers, now makes 400 cars a day.

The cars from the Shanghai site are finished off by 400 workers at a factory in Longbridge, Birmingham, where the company also has its design centre.

More than 1.3 million MGs were made at the Abingdon MG factory, in Cemetery Road, between 1930 and 1980.

The marque was founded in 1924 and production moved to Abingdon from Oxford in 1929.