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MG MGA - 55k km and third owner

In January Gary Lock put me in touch with someone here in Switzerland looking for an MGA.

He has today found and bought a 55k km MkII from its second owner, who bought it with 7k km! It is going to get a recomissioning in terms of brakes, oil seals and all rubber hoses and suspension seals / bushings, but it seems to be fairly unmolested from the photos he has sent me. Must be rare to find a car with this provenance and still be able to talk to the previous long-time owner - it is a late MkII with the original jack as well! Always kept in a dry garage as well, so apparently no rust. And he bought it for less than the junker we saw together yesterday (it was so bad I said it wasn't worth even half the asking price without getting out of the car - a typical dealer import from USA being offered at four times the previous sale price with minimal work done)

It should get to me in early July, and give me something to do for a week or two! The idea is to get it as oil tight as reasonably possible, (engine runs and it drives but it has been standing for 25 years, so I expect all oil seals to be rock hard and leaking like the Exxon Valdez) redo all the brakes and suspension and cooling rubbers, and then drive it to see what else needs to be done.







Dominic Clancy

Goodness. Is that original Abingdon dust on the firewall. Mike Ellsmore needs some for his mate!

Steve
Steve Gyles

Glad that he has found a car Dominic. Couple of things on the last photograph though...I know that this has caused many a discussion, but the VIN plate is placed in the opposite way to about 98% of other cars, and wondering why one of the heater plates is black (or appears to be)?
Gary Lock

How sweet it is !!!

Great find.


Cheers

Gary
79 MGB
gary hansen

I'll be able to tell more when it gets here. I am still trying to evict the Heinkel
Dominic Clancy

That sounds like a nice find, Dominic,
It’s interesting that for such a low mileage unmolested car that the demister vents are on back to front.

Cheers,
Mark
Mark Wellard

It had a repaint 30 years ago
Dominic Clancy

Dominic

I misread your opener and thought it had only done 55 km! I was about to say how badly the driver's seat had worn for only that mileage. Then I spotted 55k km.

You mention it still has the jack. I always welcome pictures of an original unmolested jack, plus handle. When you do get your hands on the car any chance of a few pictures?

Cheers

Steve
Steve Gyles

Hi Dominic,

don't forget to record the VIN and Body# for me.

Thanks

Gio
Giovanni Delicio

The car has arrived, a very late MkII and as expected all rubbers are perished. But the base is REALLY good - better than most restored cars I have seen. I am certain that it was originally white, not the Monza Red it wears today. But no rust, no accident damage. 52k original certified km (32k miles for the metrically impaired)- having told him last week to buy the best example he could afford, I told him today he stole this one from the previous owner.

It will get new oil seals everywhere, new hoses, new brakes (everything), and I have to find out why the fuel gauge only reads 1/2 when full (suspect a bad contact). But everything except the heater fan works and when the suspension rubbers are done I think it will drive just great too. It is leaking oil from just one place (oil cooler pipe union), the wiring looks faded but is in good condition, and it runs at a steady 75C (230km from Geneva to Zürich on the highway, and it was well over 35C this morning).

The owner wants me to fit seat belts, which means three point belts using a quick release on one body fitting (so that the top can be used). I found the correct belts at Limora, but at $600 USD for a set, I thought I would ask here for alternative sources before giving him the pain-in-the-wallet-inducing news. The body mounts are all there so it's a bolt in job.

Gio, Body numbers etc will follow by email

Dominic




Dominic Clancy

Dominic, the Securon retractable belts fit the Mk2 fittings, although you will have to get the chassis connection piece from Todd Clarke (this piece allows the strap to be disconnected for the hood up/down). BTW, Rimmers appear to be only retail supplier for Securon. Moss used to be, but not now it appears??
Gary Lock

I got my Securon seatbelts from MGOC Spares and it looks like they do them for MGA too. - http://www.mgocspares.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.cgi?WD=m070&PN=MGOC_SPARES_SEATBELTS__MGA__274%2ehtml#topanch
Nigel Atkins

I got my belts 10 years ago from https://www.quickfitsbs.com
Not sure if they have the detail that you want but I have been very pleased with mine. They have the period look and do the MGB quick release fitting for the shoulder.

John
John Francis

The seat belt mountings turned out to be 5/16" thread, not the standard that everyone uses today. I have ordered the fitting kit from Todd Clarke, but now have to wait for that to appear before ordering the correct belts.

The brakes have been completely replaced, and all the suspension has been completely dismantled, cleaned, checked, painted and reassembled, I am just waiting for two distance tubes to arrive to finish the front right corner. Rear springs were fine, so have been cleaned and painted and installed with new polybushings.

The radiator is damaged because it has been used as a jacking point. Out of interest I have taken a couple of photos of the core, but it will be replaced with a new one. If anyone wants the old one (crushed bottom tank) then shout before it lands in the recycling.

Seat cushions have been replaced, the original latex was perished. The original leather has been fed heavily to make it more supple.

steering wheel had delaminated so will be replaced with a new wooden one.






Dominic Clancy

More photos





Dominic Clancy

Dominic, my old rad core leaks. I think the bottom of my old one could be soldered to your unit. I replaced my rad with an inferior one and its borderline on hot days.
How much would it cost to ship to Canada?
Art
Art Pearse

Did you paint the caliper Dominic?
I quite like the effect and I think I will probably do something similar to my brakes.

Colyn
Colyn Firth

The callipers are plated in that finish, not painted. Art, I will weigh it and let you know the weight. You will need to solder the overflow tube to the neck too
Dominic Clancy

Dominic, is there any reason other than aesthetics that the rad is not serviceble as is? Presumably it is water tight?
Art
Art Pearse

Art, the lower tank looks like this, and the overflow tube is no longer attached at the neck. It has obviously been losing water somewhere, and the last time someone repaired one here the bill was 680 USD, so a replacement was the obvious choice.

Rad packed up shipping to Canada will be 55 EUR if I can keep it under 10kg, 75 EUR if it is over 10kg.






Dominic Clancy

OK Dominic, let's forget it!
Art
Art Pearse

Dominic, where did you source the new rad? And is it the original style core?
Art
Art Pearse

New rad came from Moss-Europe. Looks to be well made, and I can take a photo of the core for you. There are other cheaper suppliers, but with placing a large order on Moss, the extra shipping for the radiator was minimal .
Dominic Clancy

Thanks Dominic
Art Pearse

Dom,

Can you get a quote for shipping of the rad to the UK?
Chris at Octarine Services

25€ less than 10kg, 35€ less than 20kg

Using DHL Germany
Dominic Clancy

Chris, I will be cleaning up tomorrow so please say yes or no before it lands on the recycling !

Dominic
Dominic Clancy

Unless you can find a hole for it in the garage until I visit again, I'll have to say no. It would have been interesting to see if I could unsolder the bottom tank and reshape it.

Don't forget I have that 1622 sitting in parts on the shelf!
Chris at Octarine Services

Dominic, that core looks like an original style open cell core that MGAs lust after, definitely worth saving for an A the runs hot as many do!
Cheers
Richard
R A Prior

Well the rad has been saved from the scraper Chris on his next trip through. I have cleared the garage and have a LOT more space, so can put it away for now.... but it definitely needs the tank sorting out.
Dominic Clancy

This thread was discussed between 25/06/2020 and 11/08/2020

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