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MG MGA - From a new owner

Good evening all.

Just a quick note to say hi. I fulfilled a long held dream this weekend and bought myself an MGA for restoration. I got exactly what I wanted, an early 1500 roadster. It's due for delivery sometime within the next two weeks. I guess I'm what you'd call a serial MG restorer, so far 2 MGB's and one midget as well as one MGB V8 conversion.

I've bought a 1956 two owner car, dry stored for the last 30 years. The PO had carried out some restoration on the chassis and suspension as well as having the engine professionally rebuilt. I guess most of this will need doing again but it looks pretty solid and complete - famous last words?

Just thought I'd say hi and prepare you all for hundreds of daft questions.

Andy


Andy Kenning

Welcome to the MGA group Andy!

Important other site, especially when you are doing the work yourself (and just in case you haven't been there yet), mgaguru.com.

This BBS is (of course) brilliant and there is nothing that cannot be fixed!

Neil
Neil McGurk

Hi Andy, as Neil said welcome, by the way were there any tools in the boot


gordon
g c pugh

Hi Guys,

Sadly no tools in the boot. However there are several biscuit tins of parts removed by the PO as well as some new inner wing panels (not in the boot). Just as well as the originals are rather 'frilly' towards the bottom.

Thanks for the mgaguru link, off to have a look now.

Any suggested reading? I've got many generic MG books, all with good coverage of the A, also the MGA restoration guide and the BMC workshop manual.

Andy
Andy Kenning

Hi Andy only joking I have something of reputation to maintain when it comes to MGA toolkits, totally unjustified I might add,


gordon
g c pugh

Between the official Workshop Manual and Barney's site you've got it pretty well covered. Otherwise Clausager's "Original MGA" is quite useful, especially if you're after originality.

A Service Parts List can also be useful. I wasn't sure where you get one of those (mine came off eBay) so Mr. Google says:
http://www.motorbase.com/shop/profiles/by-id/10858/
http://www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/shop/mga-including-twin-cam-1955-to-1962/index.html
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/MGA-1500-Official-factory-parts-list_W0QQitemZ330193596109QQihZ014QQcategoryZ32086QQcmdZViewItem
http://kaqoo.com/index.php?act=list&item=1102422313

Neil
Neil McGurk

Congratulations - welcome to MGA world - looking forward to seeing how you progress with the restoration - good luck - Cam - black 1960 1600 MkI(secretary West Lancs MG - www.westlancsmg.co.uk)
Cam Cunningham

Welcome Andy, You have a hectic time ahead of you. My Concours winning car looked like yours when I found it (see below). Dont hesitate to ask the questions. Good luck.
Barry


BM Gannon

Welcome Andy
I wonder how many other A owners started with an B? As a kid I always admired the A's due to owning a VIP slotcar set that included 2 red roadsters.Back in '79 my wife bought a new B.Three years later I got my A
gary starr

Thanks for all the info and encouragement guys.

Brace yourselves for the first daft question, here it comes ...

Can I get an idea from the chassis number when in the run my car was built. It was first registered in April 1956. Decoding the chassis number it shows as H (MGA), D (two seater), D (mineral blue),1 (RHD home market), 3 (cellulose paint). Do the last three numbers indicate a place in the build or are they just random. My last three numbers are 705. If the build started at 101 as the last three numbers, does this mean my car is the 604th MGA built (705-101=604).

Any ideas?

Andy
Andy Kenning

You are on the right track. The first MGA built would've been #10101. If your car is HDD13/10705, that would make it the 604th car built which would be quite an early car.
Andy Bounsall

Correction...HDD13/10705 would be the 605th car built.
Andy Bounsall

Ahh, thanks Andy.

My car doesn't have that many digits,it is HDD13705 rather than HDD 13/10705 - is this an error on the reg document?

Are there many early ones left out there?

Whilst on the subject of numbers, what should the engine number prefix be for a 1500? On the original hand written registration document it looks like AK or possibly RK.

Sorry for the vagueness, I'm waiting for the car to be delivered later this week and am working off photo's I took and the original hand written registration document.

Andy
Andy Kenning

Welcome.
James Johanski

Yes it sounds like an error on your reg document Andy. There are a number of fairly early cars still around. Mine (HDA43/14408) was built mid-April of '56. The prefix on early 1500 engine numbers is "BP".

Andy Bounsall

>Decoding the chassis number it shows as H (MGA), D (two
>seater), D (mineral blue),1 (RHD home market), 3
>(cellulose paint).

Mineral Blue was only available on 1500 coupes, so your car would have originally been Glacier Blue.
Del Rawlins

have fun with your new toy andy
all the best paul
www.60sclassics.co.uk
p chamberlain

Thanks Paul, Hope you're feeling better soon. You sounded terrible earlier!

Very excited about delivery, (sings) happy christmas to me, happy christmas to me etc, etc, etc.

Andy
Andy Kenning

Welcome Andy, and don't worry about any daft questions, just our daft answers! ;-)
Bill Young

Good luck Andy and fire away on the questions! I did :)
Below is the begining!


WMR Bill

And two years later and a slight dent to the bank account :)
ON the road pic!


WMR Bill

Andy you are headed for a lot of fun. As stated before, don't worry about the questions. You can ask anything on this BBS. I don't guarantee that I know the answers, but I think that I can guarantee that somebody here will have been there, done that, and has the best answer for you.
Welcome.
Mike
BTW< I really appreciate seeing all these before pictures. They help me keep my hopes up.
mike parker

This thread was discussed between 02/12/2007 and 04/12/2007

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