CarBrandLogos archive · MG · 1955

MGMG MGA

MG finally caught up with aerodynamics, and sold nearly all of them abroad.

Photo: SG2012 · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in MG history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the MG MGA, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Syd Enever had built the answer before MG was allowed to sell it. In 1951 he bodied a TD chassis in a streamlined shell for George Phillips to race at Le Mans; the driver sat far too high in it, so Enever redesigned the frame with side members running outside the cockpit to drop him down into the car. That chassis was finished in 1952 and then sat unused for three years while BMC's management insisted the world still wanted the upright TF.

MG A rot 2 · User ChiemseeMan on de.wikipedia · Public domain

Design and engineering

When it finally reached production in 1955 the MGA was MG's first full-width, envelope-bodied car and the sharpest break in the marque's history. The shape did the selling, but the engineering was sound too: rack and pinion steering, a wide track and the BMC B-series four in a chassis capable of handling considerably more power than it was given.

MGA1600coupe · The original uploader was Malcolma at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 2.5

In production

More than 100,000 were built and the overwhelming majority went abroad, most of them to the United States. The range grew a fixed-head coupe, a 1600 and a 1600 Mk II, plus the Twin Cam, a twin-overhead-cam version with disc brakes all round that was quick, fussy about fuel and detonation, and withdrawn after about two years and some two thousand cars. That is the rare one now.

'58 MG MGA Roadster · Bull-Doser · Public domain

Legacy

Seven seasons in, the monocoque MGB replaced it. The MGA remains the moment MG stopped looking backwards.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1955–1962

Designer

Syd Enever

Body

2-door roadster

Technical specification

The MG MGA, in detail.

Production: 1955–1962
Class: Sports car
Body style: 2-door roadster; 2-door coupe
Layout: FR layout
Designer: Syd Enever
Assembly: United Kingdom: Abingdon, England; Australia: Enfield, New South Wales
Manufacturer: MG (BMC)