MGA - First of a New Line

John Price Williams is a member of the Society of Automotive Historians in the US and the Guild of Motoring Writers in the UK. He writes extensively on classic cars in newspapers and magazines. His last book, Making MGs (Veloce 1995) tells the story of the Abingdon factory in the postwar years. John lives in Eastbourne on the south coast of England.

A(c) John Price Williams & Veloce Publishing Acknowledgements 4 Introduction 6 Chapter 1 THE BEGINNING 7 The TF stopgap 11 Chapter 2 THE ENGINEERING 17 The body 17 The B-series engine 18 The chassis 21 Chapter 3 LE MANS - & THE START OF PRODUCTION 26 EX 182 26 Into production 30 "A jolly good little sports car" 33 Making the MGA 38 The coupAe 43 Chapter 4 THE TWIN CAMS 48 Engine 54 Transmission 56 Chassis 56 Brakes 56 Wheels and hubs 46 The body 56 In production 57 The de Luxe 62 Chapter 5 SUCCESS ABROAD 65 The North American story 65 Canada 70 Assembly abroad 70 Australia 72 South Africa 74 Mexico City 75 Cuba 75 Chapter 6 IN COMPETITION 76 Rally successes 76 Competing in North America 82 Record breakers 87 Le Mans - the other years 92 Tuning the MGA 94 COLOUR SECTION 97 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 7 UNUSUAL MGAs 115 Police cars 115 Very odd MGAs 116 Secret MGAs 116 The 'cheap' MGA 116 The V4 117 Rear suspensions 118 The four-seater 119 The four-carb Twin Cam 120 The Italian job 121 Chapter 8 THE 1600 122 Time for a change 122 The 1600 Mk II 126 Chapter 9 BUYING, RESTORING & RUNNING 131 Buying 131 Restoration - looking for trouble 135 Appendix 1 Specifications 137 Appendix 2 Colour schemes 142 Appendix 3 Chassis & engine numbering 144 Appendix 4 EX cars 147 Appendix 5 Concours MGA specifications 148 Appendix 6 Production 153 Appendix 7 Clubs, specialists & bibliography 154 Index 157 A(c) John Price Williams & Veloce Publishing