MGB GT

Origins

Our Story

Dell'Aquila Garage exists to build the MGB we always wished existed. A car that keeps the soul and beauty of the original, but drives with the precision, reliability, and performance of a modern machine. Every build is carefully developed, hand-assembled, and refined with one goal in mind: to create the ultimate driving MG.

We grew up around MGs. Our uncle Emile runs a repair shop in Santa Cruz and has spent his life working on these cars, so they were always part of our world. Our dad had a 1968 MGB GT, and that's really where it all started — vintage rallies, late nights in the garage, and learning to push these cars down back roads long before we probably should have been.

The problem was, we were always the slowest ones out there… and we were tired of breaking down. We loved the character of the cars, but we wanted something that could actually keep up — something reliable, something fast, and something that still felt like an MG.

Our dad bought a Miata brand new in 2006 and eventually converted it to a 2.5-liter engine — the same powertrain Frontline Developments was using in the UK. Once we drove that car, we understood what the platform was capable of. Then we saw Tiff Needell drive a Frontline car on Fifth Gear, back-to-back against a stock MG, and that was the moment everything clicked.

We reached out to Frontline, and they welcomed us in. Eventually we became the first people to build one of their full conversions outside of their own factory.

The car that started it all — this 1967 MGB GT — wasn't something we went looking for. Sawyer noticed it sitting across the parking lot at Fred's Foreign Auto Repair while he was working at On The Road Again Classics. The owner had passed away in the middle of rebuilding it, leaving behind little more than a shell and a half-assembled engine.

We spoke with his wife and ended up buying the car for $500. It had been sitting since the 1980s — untouched, unfinished, and almost forgotten.

At the time, we had no idea that car would become the first Dell'Aquila Garage build.

“We don't restore cars.
We complete them.”

Quentin started sweeping floors at his uncle's shop at sixteen and spent the next fifteen years working through Toyota, BMW, and Porsche dealerships. Working at Porsche raised the bar — seeing what it feels like when a car is engineered and assembled correctly the first time, and how that level of detail should carry through every part of a build.

Sawyer took a different path. At sixteen he had his first real lesson with our dad's '68 GT, and taking on the responsibility of repairing it became the thing that brought him and our dad closer. That experience pulled him into the trade. He eventually worked at Hardcastle Body Shop in San Jose, then spent four years at On The Road Again Classics restoring Jaguars, Triumphs, MGs, and Austin-Healeys under their lead technician.

Eventually the two of us decided we wanted to build something of our own. The long-term goal had always been to open an independent shop, so we teamed up and made the move to Performance Technic — a BMW/Porsche service and performance shop. It was the kind of environment we wanted to learn from: high standards, precision work, and performance-focused builds.

But our real passion was always the MG restomod.

After years of talking about it, planning it, and imagining what the perfect version of these cars could be, we finally decided to go all in. Nights and weekends in the garage slowly turned into the beginning of something bigger — the first prototype of what would eventually become Dell'Aquila Garage.

Working closely with Frontline in the UK, we spent months carefully engineering and assembling the car, dialing in every system until the build came together exactly as we envisioned.

The moment the engine fired for the first time after all that work… it's hard to describe. It felt like the gates of heaven opening.

That was the moment we knew we had unlocked something special.

“Two brothers. One garage.
One car at a time.”

Each Dell'Aquila Garage build is commissioned individually and assembled by hand. A full build typically takes about a year, allowing us to develop every car with the level of care and precision it deserves. For owners who already have a clean MGB and are looking for the mechanical conversion, the process can usually be completed in six to nine months.

We take on only a small number of builds each year to ensure every car receives the attention it deserves.

For us, it's never just about restoring an old car. It's about taking something timeless and giving it the performance, reliability, and attention to detail it always deserved.

“Classic car. Modern heartbeat.”