In 1988, 8 years after the discontinuation of the original MGB, the British Motor Heritage subsidiary of Rover began to manufacture replacement MGB body shells to serve the restoration market. In 1992, having seen the success of the recently introduced Miata, Rover decided to reenter the 2-seat roadster market. This would ultimately result in the development of the MGF which would reach the market for the 1995 model year. However, Rover desired a more immediate product as a stop-gap - enter the RV8...
The RV8 started with the now over 30 year old design of the MGB as its base. Many parts were revised and replaced. According to Hemmings, “the RV8’s production breakdown was five percent carryover MGB parts, 20 percent improved MGB parts and 75 percent completely new parts.” A “Modern Classic”, in a sense...
The exterior and interior were heavily revised. The suspension saw some updates as well, though the basic architecture of the MGB remained. Under the hood was an all-aluminum Rover 3.9L V8, backed by a Rover 5-speed manual and LSD.
The RV8 was sold in very limited numbers, owing to it’s hand build nature - 1,982 would be built over two years of production at a price of £26,500 each. Amusingly, the majority were exported to Japan - 1,583 of the total production.
Find one here on Goo-Net.