The MGA design dates back to 1951, when MG designer Syd Enever created a streamlined body for George Philips’ TD Le Mans car. The new bodywork traded the MG TF’s articulated fenders and running board for pontoon styling, with a single styled envelope fully enclosing the width and uninterrupted length of a car.

The TF featured a high driver seating position. 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 B-series engine allowing a lower bonnet line. The MGA convertible had no exterior door handles, however the coupe had door handles. [4]

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 four-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. The car was available with either wire-spoked or steel-disc road wheels.
To get a good idea of the car, we advise you to come to one of the viewing days.