The
MGA is a sports car
produced by MG division of the British Motor Corporation from 1955 to
1962.
The MGA replaced the older T-type cars and
represented a complete styling break from the older vehicles. The car
was officially launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1955. It was
replaced by the MGB when production ceased in July 1962. During that
time BMC sold 101,081 units, the vast majority of which were exported.
Only 5869 cars were sold on the home market, the highest export
percentage of any British car.
The design dates back to 1952,
when MG designer Syd Enever created a streamlined body for George
Philips' TD Le Mans car. The problem with
this car was the high seating position of the driver because of the
limitations of using the TD chassis. A new chassis was designed with the
side members further apart and the floor attached to the bottom rather
than the top of the frame sections. A prototype was built and shown to
the BMC chairman Leonard Lord. He turned down the idea of producing the
new car as he had just signed a deal with Donald Healey to produce
Austin-Healey cars two weeks before. Falling sales of the traditional MG
models caused a change of heart, and the car, initially to be called the
UA-series, was brought back. As it was so different from the older MG
models it was called the MGA, the "first of a new line" to quote the
contemporary advertising. There was also a new engine available,
therefore the car did not have the originally intended XPAG unit but was
fitted with the BMC corporate B-Series type allowing a lower bonnet
line.
It was a body-on-frame design
and used the straight-4 "B series" engine from the MG Magnette
saloon driving the rear wheels through a 4-speed
gearbox. Suspension was independent with coil springs and wishbones at
the front and a rigid axle with semi-elliptic springs at the rear.
Steering was by rack and pinion and was not power-assisted. The car was
available with either wire-spoked or steel-disc road wheels
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