Since selling off the two Jag e-types that my brother and I had gone in on together we’ve been looking for another project or two to tinker with over the winter, especially with quarantine and all, it could be a long winter. The market though has been tough, seems like everyone is thinking the same and decent projects are getting snapped up pretty quickly. Luckily we were able to get our hands on this really nice little MGA Coupe, we’ve been dealing with the seller on and off for at least a year or more, and were finally able to land on a price that was fair and take it home.
As far as projects go, this appears to be pretty easy (hence the subject line)…It’s a 57 Coupe, factory wire wheel car. ONE owner car (sorta), that has lived a pretty pampered life. It’s had one respray in the original color, and the interior has been freshened up with a really nice factory correct carpet and panel kit. The body, underside, factory wood floors, etc are all about as perfect as you’ll ever find on an unrestored car. It starts (even at -6C this morning), runs and drives well. The only mechanical issue I’ve found so far is a split in the muffler and everything seems to work except for a couple of exterior bulbs.
It needs a good detailing, wheels painted, some tidying under the hood, and a lot of the chrome work will need to be replaced or rechromed. That’s all it seems to need at this point to be a really nice presentable (maybe even show worthy) car.
Story is that the original owner became too old to care for the car, or himself, so he was moved into a old age home and the car was traded/sold to a local contractor in exchange for some work on his house. The contractor sat on the car for a few years, never registering it for the road, and eventually we got it off him. The best part perhaps is that we got the car with the original purchase order from the selling dealer in 1957 and the original BMC warranty card, handbooks, etc. To think that stuff has been with the car for 63+ years is pretty cool. It’s obvious that the original owner really loved this car, and gave it lots of love and attention over the years.
Today we brought it home (this time to my parents house where there’s an extra parking spot! Handy because it’s only 5 minutes away from my place), spun it around the block and took a quick assessment of things. We’ll take off some bits and pieces for restoration over the winter, collect parts, etc, so when the weather breaks in the spring we can be ready for the season.
The best part today was leting Firm Jr spend some time getting acquainted with it….Literally had to pry him outta the car after he worked the steering wheel and gear shift for a good 30 minutes. Brings back a lot of memories because MGA’s were my parents favorite when my brother and I were growing up. Dozens have passed through their house, and some of my earliest memories (from when I was around Firm Jr’s age) are of sitting in an MGA in that exact spot. My mom even had a white on red roadster that she drove daily (April-Nov) for the better part of our childhood. These cars all smell the same too...scent memory is a heck of a thing.
Excuse the lizard costume...it is Halloween after all.
