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MG MGA - Best Top?

Hey there,

It's time for a new top for the "A". Who sells the best one? I'm looking for quality and lasting material.

Cheers,
Christopher
Christopher Wilson

I purchased my top from "The Little British Car Co." and am pleased with it. We have been in some very heavy rain, and sleet storms, and stayed perfectly dry. I did buy a top with a zipper rear window, and I highly recomend doing so, if you drive on real hot days. With the top up, and the rear window open, the air flow is very close to top down conditions, except that you are sitting in the shade!
Ed Bell

I got a Stayfast top from Moss. It looks really nice. So nice, in fact, that it's been suggested that I show the car with the top up!
David Breneman



Ditto the stayfast top from Moss. Got mine in tan, single window. Looks great, fits great and keeps the weather out.

Pricey though. Taking a pair of sharp scissors to it during fitting was an experience in itself.
Tom M

I bought mine from Little British Car Co. and it is great. I think Mr Zorn told me it was from Don Hood of England. Made of Stayfast. The kit worked just like it should and had everything I needed. Cheak out Barney Gaylord's site for the most detailed instuctions I've ever seen. However I recomend putting the copper sleves on the outside of the fabric on the header..it makes for a much tiddier top. I'm very happy I got the one with the zip out rear window.
Thomas Koch

And Jeff @ Little British also stocks the original Everflex material used from 1960 on. If I don't get one for Christmas, I'll be ordering one in Janaury!! Unless your trying to win the 1000 point originality game, go with the zip out window as Ed and Thomas have already attested. Got one on the B and its great!

Paul
Paul Hanley

Greetings:

I purchased LBCarco's mohair top in black with the zip-out window. This fabric should last longest since it's folded most of the time anyway, and should store better this way than a vinyl top. It is a very attractive top, IMHO does not detract from "original" appearance, nice material, fit is a bit loose in the sidewindows area for my tastes, but that's probably the guy I paid $500 to put it on. Speaking of putting it on, I had had a bad experience with putting on my own tonneau (not a perfect fit), so I decided to "pay the bucks" to have the top professionally installed. If this is your choice, watch the installer - this means stand next to him while he does the work! Mine used staples on the underside of the header rail in place of the copper nails supplied with the top. The current technology does not use nails, it's staples all the way so he put in quite a few (and you can see them when driving with the top up). This aggrivates me everytime I see it. Just one of hundreds of lessons learned in my restoration.

As a note: the zipout window is a must. I had one on my TR6 years ago and won't go without ever again. Jeff Zorn has the only one I could find and his top is as with everything else he sells top quality (I'm still missing my cookies, though Jeff). You really can't tell the top with the zip-out from the "original" without.

Another note: Jeff was able to obtain matching fabric for covering my sidecurtains (about $90/yd). I still can't find anyone brave enough to apply this fabric to the steel sidecurtains, so I'm using them stripped of fabric, painted and padded in the right places. Looks bad, but it's functional until I find a brave upholsterer.

And another note: The mga top is installed with two pop-rivet type fasteners punched through the fabric from the outside. These fasten to the rear-most top bow. This distressed me knowing that it would most certainly be a source of leakage if not now then certainly in the future. I had the installer sew three doubled fabric straps inside the top to wrap around the back top bow, snap fitting male on one strap, female on the other. This allows easy attachment and easy disassembly when it's top down time. Works grest.

Best of luck with everything!
Gary Hattwick

During the installation I think the wooden header is one of the most critical points and deserves extra attention. I used the orig. one that came with car it seems to be made of mahogany or some other VERY dense wood and required the use of a powerful compressed air staple gun to get the proper penetration for he 1/2" wide staples I used. Spend the time to clean off all the old glue and tacks and staples that the PO's had covered over . Sand it smooth and coat with min-wax oil to prevent moisture from warping. I then glued a very thin strip of dense closed cell foam 1/16th" on the under side of the header before fabric is wrapped around it. This will then give a very tight seal on the top of the window seal....anybody installing a top on an MGA should check Barney Gaylord's site....it will make the job go much easier. Not sure why I even have a top I have only put it up twice while driving in the last two years... but when I do put it up it sure looks purrrrrtty...Tom
Thomas Koch

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I didn't even know there was a zip out rear window for these tops now, that's good news indeed!

My "A" is a '62 so I'll probably try to get the original Everflex material, that's what I have now, with the zip out window.

Oh, and I won't be installing myself, I've also had bad experience with doing seats and tonneau myself. There is a very good trim shop local that does work for many LBCs and street rods. They are good guys and I'll be going to them.

Thanks,
Christopher
Christopher Wilson

Check out Scarboruogh Faire. I installed one of their grey everflex tops with zipout window 12 years ago. It looked great then and it looks great now with over 60 k miles, rain, sleet, snow, coast-to-coast, hot sun, etc. Marvin
Marv Stuart

This thread was discussed between 09/12/2004 and 11/12/2004

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