Description
I purchased this 1800cc, five-speed, MGA Coupe in 2018. The seller was a friend in our local car club and had owned the car since 1999.
The coupe was an import from California in the early 1990s and converted to right-hand drive. As a result the V5C shows the date of first registration as May 1992 and the declared year of manufacture as 1960.
The present five speed gearbox and 1800cc engine was fitted by Brown & Gammons in 2008. The original 1600cc engine was fully rebuilt by Brown & Gammons and retained by the car's previous owner. I can put a purchaser in touch if they wish to acquire it.
This coupe is in good, used condition. Bodywork is solid; paintwork is good to fair (there is some micro blistering in places); interior is good to fair, with signs of wear on the leather seat faces; carpets are good; chromework is generally very good but some parts show signs of age; chrome wire wheels are sound (chrome is good to fair, one wheel shows rust) and have excellent tyres. Spare is a painted wire wheel.
All controls and switches work as they should except the panel light rheostat.
An alloy steering wheel is fitted but the original MG steering wheel (in excellent condition) comes with the car. Four Vredstein snow tyres with good treads are included in the sale along with a chromed bootlid luggage rack. I had removed these items from the car on purchase. A model-specific dust cover is also included.
The car drives beautifully with excellent handling and taut suspension. Engine starts without hesitation. A manually-switched auxilliary radiator fan is fitted as a 'just in case' aid. The under-dash switch panel in the cabin also has USB/ cigar lighter outlets for satnav/ phones etc.
The five-speed gearbox is a great improvement over a standard four-speed and makes for far more pleasant motorway driving.
This is not a concours example and it doesn't pretend to be. It is a totally usable and honest example that you can take to the supermarket or take to the south of France.
The MGA coupe is arguably the prettiest and best-looking of all MGs. I shall be very sorry to see it go but I need to thin down my collection and it deserves more use than it currently gets.
