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MG MGA - Old memories

Inspired by the enthusiasm of Colyn and Barney and others for my MG/surfboard picture, I thought it might be worth asking other long term (that sounds nicer than old, doesn't it?) MGA owners to share some old photos and memories. Here's another favorite of mine, on the Oregon coast in 1967. The green 1957 "A" on the left was my first car. The red 1958 "A" on the right is my third, the one I have owned since 1970. In 1967 it belonged to my cousin Gary. I went to college, he went to war; he didn't come home. The car was in storage until recently; it's now a rolling restoration, and beginning to explore its new home in Alaska.

So folks, how about some favorite photos and memories from the rest of you?

Ken


k v morton

Ken,
Nice picture.

While it's been a long time, I am sorry about Gary. I hope your memories are great.
Mike Parker

Mike,

Thanks; I do have great memories. And I still have Gary's MG, which is my most precious possession.

Ken
k v morton

How did you get your photos to load? no mater what I do my jpegs wont load
Chris Velardi

I don't have a picture, but I 32 years ago I drove with my dad in his 1962 MkII to our new home six hours north of San Francisco when I was 4. I even remember he stuck a bandanna on my head for some reason.

The car in now sitting in my garage.
Darian Henderson

Chris,

The most likely reason that your JPG files will not upload is that they are too large.
Check their size.
Open them with a program such as Microsoft Paint (included in all versions of Microsoft Windows).
Save the file again and it will be compressed.
While viewing the file in MS Paint you may also wish to resize it (a menu option).


Mick
M F Anderson

old and new one's over here
http://mg-owners-gallery.eu/

serge
serge

What are the size requirements of the BBS form?
Chris Velardi

Chris, I had the same problem trying to upload from nokia software and I found that just saving the photo to "my documents" and uploading from there did the trick, Cheers Vin
Vin Rafter

Ken,
Wonderful picture and nostalgic memories.

In 1966 I purchased my first car (a 1956 MGA) but don't have a picture of it. In September of that year on my way to my Army physical exam, I was hit by a VW traveling quite fast--the MGA was totaled. I was uninjured. The car went to Bob Eisen Motors in Milwaukee WI and was stripped for parts.

I went to VietNam, and though I had a few close calls, I did return home. I wish Gary had.

Now all these years later I labor on the my last restoration, which is appropriately a 1956 MGA. As I live the rest of my life, I will think of Gary, and my friends and "brothers" who did not make it home.
James Johanski

Darian,
Great memories of that ride. Don't you wish you had a photo of you in that bandana?

James,
Thanks for sharing your story. Through the "Virtual Wall" I have made contact with Gary's Army buddy. That has been good. How's your restoration going?

Serge,
Thanks for reminding us of your site. Some great pictures there. Any way of adding stories?

Ken
k v morton

Chris,
Initially file size was limited to about 100 KB on this site - recently I have been able to upload 440 KB jpeg photos to this site but is best to keep them around 100 KB.
Photoshop Elements is a good program to use to do this job as well as other photo manipulations - use the Save for the Web function
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Ken,
Restoration is slow but steady. About 1/2 complete.
James Johanski

Chris,
If you want to publish your old pictures, you have to:
Scan it, Save it, if you have Microsoft Office Picture Manager, open it with this program, go to Edit Images and Resize the imagen: Several Options, best is resize for the Web.
R Garcia

"Don't you wish you had a photo of you in that bandana?"

Yeah, that would be pretty funny. It was the 70s, so I guess it's not too out of place.

Still, though, it's a nice memory. I remember the gauges were right at my eye level.
Darian Henderson

OK, better late than never...my favorite MG photo...
.
My first MGA, a 56, that I used to take my go-kart to the race track. My girlfriend (now wife of 40 years) took this picture in front of her parents house and developed it in the High School photo lab. How I regret that we never got a photo of her and I in this car.
Oh yes, I traded this car in on a brand new 1968 Z28 Camaro. The next day, my girlfriend went to the car dealer to buy the car back....it was gone....(sob..)

Gerry


G T Foster

My dad, after he bought my '59.



Del Rawlins

A picture of me in my Twin Cam in 1964.
I can't believe I ever had that much hair!
The church in the background to the right is is where the British soldiers (redcoats) took the convicts in the 1700's and 1800's to cleanse their souls, with little success.
For those that do not know, Australia was founded as a convict prison. Now the people are honest and the politicians are criminals.

Mick


M F Anderson

Here are some images of my dads MGA 1600 in Melbourne, Australia. I wonder where this car is today. Does anyone recognise the number plate.


DJ Lake

These images are from approx 1962.


DJ Lake

Gerry, your go-cart rack looks a bit more skookum than my surfboard rack. Did you ever get your MG out on the go-kart track?

Del, is this picture from Cordova?

Mick, did you do the clever air intake to the right of the grill?

Keep those great pictures coming!

Ken

k v morton

Mick, What is that oval ring to the right of the grill?- an air intake? Bob
rsa prentice

Mick, very interesting vents alongside the grill:>)
Chuck Schaefer

Those vents were put in by the previous owner. They were there when I bought the car in 1964. They are of course the same vents as originally in the wings.
See another photo attached (with original South Australian license plate).
I don't think that they did any good, just something influenced by the factory Le Mans and Sebring cars.
The car had a hard racing life in the early years, but the grille would then be removed as in the Dick Jacob's racing cars of the 1960's.


Mick


M F Anderson

It's kind of fun looking through the old photos. Here's my second MGA during the winter of 1968-69. A huge snow storm pretty well shut down all of western Oregon. My MG was my only car; I just chained up the back tires and kept going.


k v morton

I remember that winter well. I was driving a Fiat 600 and kept getting high centered in the roads with deep ruts. Fond memories?
Ed Bell

Mom's MGA in NH


Chris Velardi

Well I was unable to load the photo above from my computer but Mike P was able to from his !? This is a shot of my mothers 1959 MGA (I'm the little guy on the rear fender )in 1964 . I'd show some photos of my '61 I bought back in '81 but again I cant upload photos from any of my computers to this forum .
Chris Velardi

Another shot of my Mothers '59 taken in '62


Chris Velardi

Chris, I love the shot of you sitting on the rear fender. But what is with the angle/camber of the rear wheel. It looks like a low rider.
DJ Lake

my first mga was a 1960 1600 fhc which i bought specifically as a coupe as i needed to be able to transport my grp slalem canoe (kayak). ( we even made the kayaks ourselves in a friends spare bedroom using some rented moulds and gallons of grp resin. It was a very messy and smelly process and my friends wife whose spare bedroom we used was not very happy when she found that the smell lingered for months afterwards!)
I just threw an old piece of carpet underfelt on to the coupe top and when inverted, the kayak cockpit fitted perfectly and was tied down to the bumpers. we drove the mga all over the country in the 70s looking for the best white water and surf conditions with it attached like this.
I am searching for a photo of it but no luck so far.
i hope there are some more memories out there that this thread will unearth.
colyn
colyn firth

I noticed that the rear wheel looked canted ,not sure if something was wrong or the uneven ground tilted the rear axle to make that happen.
Chris Velardi

Here's me and my second MGA, shortly after high school graduation. That long hair nearly got me expelled from high school in 1968. I politely pointed out that Senator Kennedy's hair was longer than mine, but the principal wasn't having any of that!

Ken


k v morton

My MGA 1500 taken in Nairobi 1963. Now living in Perth Western Australia and enjoying driving my 1600 Mk1.


F Watson

Colyn, you don't need a coupe for that! I used to stick my slalom canoe directly on top of my midget roof, tied on at each end to the front and rear towing brackets! (It started to wear through the hood after a while, but a bit of duct tape soon fixed that!)
Neil McGurk

The only picture I have of my first MGA is really a picture of my '65 Royal Enfield on which I had just T-boned a Buick.

When I first bought the Enfield, the engine was locked up and I towed it home behind the MGA. Don't remember all the details, but I removed the front wheel from the Enfield and somehow attached the front forks to the rear bumper of the MGA. Pulled it home behind the MGA like a fifth wheel.





Jeff Schultz

Jeff

Your mention of the the Royal Enfield has brought memories flooding back to me. My father-in-law had a 350 bullet. I often had a go on it. Wonderful sound and feel from those old long stroke bikes. I asked him for first refusal if he ever wanted to get rid of it. Unknown to me, my brother-in-law had made the same request and, father-in-law, not wanting a conflict, sold it privately for £400 in 1985. We were both quite annoyed because all we wanted was to keep it in the family and would have both been happy for the other to own it. At the time it was probably worth well over £1000.

Surprisingly, they are still being made by an Indian company and are on sale here in Preston as well as in the States I believe.

Sadly I have no nostalgic pictures of the MGA, having owned one only since 1996. My first car was a 1955 Morris Oxford side valve (scaled up Morris Minor in shape) that I bought in 1965; but I have no pictures. Bench front seat and column gear change, so it was great for courting!

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve, I've got a 1954 Enfield 350 Bullet, and
Jeff, is that an Interceptor or a Constellation...?
Lindsay Sampford

Chris, it looks like the car is tilted slightly back but 3 1/2 people sitting on the forward side have brought the body back level giving the illusion of a canted wheel.
John DeWolf

Lindsay,
It's a 750 Interceptor. After running into the Buick at about 30mph, it didn't even bend the frame. Mated a BSA front end to it and rode it for many more years. It is in my garage now as my next restoration project.
Jeff
Jeff Schultz

Jeff, a bit off the MGA subject so I hope no one minds too much, but I thought you might like this picture of my brother's Rickman Interceptor, a very nice bike!


Lindsay Sampford

> Del, is this picture from Cordova?

Nope. Granite Falls, WA.
Del Rawlins

Lindsay, that's classic bike porn!

Absolutely gorgeous!
Neil McGurk

Neil, if it was mine I'd have "clip-ons" on it, it's just crying out for them don't you think?
Lindsay Sampford

This is a picture of my first 4 MGAs.
The 58 coupe was my first car. I bought it in the spring of 1975. This is the only picture I have of it it was taken in May of 1976. I sold it to get married, two mistakes at once. It shows as being in Holland on Koen's register.
The white 57 was bought in 1986. The red car, a 58, was bought in 1987 as a basket case to help restore the 57. The best of both cars became the white car in the picture. The "leftover" parts were used to build the Red 58. It is powered with a 82 RX7 engine and trans. I still own it. The white 57 was sold to a local buyer in the early 90s.
The blue car sat behind a garage 1 block away from me for over 15 years rusting away. He answered my ad looking for MGAs in 1987. His son had wrecked his Mustang and needed the money to fix it up. It sat in storage while I did the white and red cars. I did a complete restore of it planning on keeping it. Alas I needed the money and sold it to a dealer who sent it overseas. It is also on Koen's register and shows to be in Holland.




R J Brown

Lindsay, definitely agree about the clip-ons! That bike was designed as a cafe racer.
Neil McGurk

Attached is a picture of my A taken at a concourse in 1968. It looks very much the same today, including the brass. Alas, I have lost the accompanying side view picture of the car itself.
I have a scanned copy of the original bill of sale, should I upload it? The original price in January '59 was $2,772.17, after trading in a '56 Buick Roadmaster the net price was $1,000.00!
Russ



Russ Carnes

Russ,

It would be great to see your bill of sale. That's a pretty amazing history.

Ken
k v morton

Hi Ken, I've been on the road awhile, here is the copy of the bill of sale. The story behind it is that a certain spoiled brat (that would be me) went the the dealer with his Dad, saw the red MGA, fell in love with it, would not get out of the car until Dad bought it, and eventually ended up buying the car from Dad about 7 years later. I have carried, pushed, push started, lived in a garage behind the car, and driven coast to coast a couple of times in the car since. Dad is about to turn 90, does not drive any more, but still gets a grin when we go for a ride. BTW the car next to the red one was a black coupe with wire wheels.

Interesting to note the Studebaker and Packard logos and the old style telephone number on the invoice! I wonder how they came up with the sales tax amount. ?

Russ


Russ Carnes

Still have my '66 RE 750 TT Interceptor, albeit in pieces. No MGA despite the fact that I built about 20 of them, and serviced hundreds.

FRM
FR Millmore

This is my car the day after it arrived at the farm where I was living 20 years ago, about 8 miles from Newport Pagnell (of Aston Martin fame) My sister who was visiting screamed down the phone to her boyfriend "OMG he said it was old but I thought it would at least have doors". The whole village joined in the various labours of lifting the body around, erecting scaffold A frames to lift engine in and out and in and out and in, and put the body back on and off, and turn over and then back on etc. Quite a celebration in the pub too when it was finally finished. Confounded quite a few of the sceptics that thought it was a project that would never be finished (took just nine months, of which I spent six in the USA....)


dominic clancy

And today it looks like this (when it's clean) http://www.clancy.ch/MGA.html

dominic clancy

Dominic,
Your before and after pics are very inspiring,especially as you had less car there than I do, albeit not by much.
Mike Parker

My first MGA 1600, when I wore a younger mans clothes, a Beatles jacket!

1964, just before I sold it to buy an engagement ring! Still got the girl and the ring - yes, that's 44 years.

And I have another 1600!

Barry


BM Gannon

Great pictures and stories!

Ken
k v morton

Just had to join in. Here is me and friend outside a another friend's flat near Clapham Common in 1967. Bought the MGA for 12UKP (!). It had no petrol tank but a jerry can in the boot. We decided to go abroad in it but by the time we got to London the rear springs were sagging so much we changed them at the side of the road. We celebrated the success by drinking copious amounts of Youngs Special and then falling asleep in the sunshine on Clapham Common. Woke up with almighty headaches. Its replacement was a TF1500 - I thought 'well, it's a 1500 the same as the MGA so it'll be just as fast ...' Still have the TF!

I'm the one on the right. I think I look just the same ...

Regards

David


D Wardell

In 1967, just before my cousin Gary was drafted, we took a spring break camping trip to the high desert of central Oregon. It's amazing to me the places we took those old MGs. It turned out to be pretty cold; we warmed up in the hot springs and got a cheap hotel room the second night.


k v morton

Hey, these cars were made to be driven. My current MGA has been in some strange places. Attached picture from 1989 is a logging road a few miles off of Cow Creek Road between Riddle and Glendale, Oregon (about 30 miles north of Grants Pass). We had a minor fuel tank repair in Grants Pass immediately thereafter.

Then we took the "shortcut" (86 miles in nearly 2.5 hours) from Grants pass to Gold Beach via Merlin Road, Galice Road, Nf-23, Nf-33 and 595 (all the same black top road). That part of Oregon is loaded with nifty MG roads. You should look it up on Map quest, and check out the arial views to see what the terrain really looks like, which is the cause of all the twisties in the roads.

Some other fun places were Pikes Peak:
http://mgaguru.com/pic89/pikes.htm
Some very remote streets in Tijuana, MX:
http://mgaguru.com/pic89/tjmx.htm
and some cruising in one of the worst snow storms in Michigan:
http://mgaguru.com/tales/umlparty.htm

Sorry, I don't seem to have any pictures of the MGAs I owned in 1968-1969 (but I do have plenty of stories).


Barney Gaylord

A picture of a roadside repair in Vermont (or maybe New Hampshire) - circa 1971. While I remove the fuel pump, the state trooper tells me the parking lot is empty because a bomb threat was just called in tothe nearby factory.


Ken Doris

And one of my wife, Melon, with _HER_ MGA next to my Corvette, back in 1969, the month after we were married (some say she married me for the 'Vette, but others say I married here for the A :)

More pictures, old and new, can be found here: http://home.mindspring.com/~mga1600mkii/mga/index.html

- Ken



Ken Doris

Great photographs Ken and great cars, all three "models" have great curves if you dont mind me saying so?

I love the 1st one, it really cries out for a caption.
Is the trooper keeping his distance to avoid the fuel pump and his pipe from coming in to close proximity!!!

My guess is that you would have married Melon if all she had was a bicycle! she is a babe!
Thanks for sharing these with us
Colyn
colyn firth

Thanks Colyn! Yes, you are absolutely correct - I would have married her even without "wheels" of any type!

And I think your guess about the trooper keeping his distance was due to the smell of gasoline and his reluctance to leave his pipe in his car.

- Ken
Ken Doris

Not enough pipe smoking troopers these days!
Neil McGurk

I looked up the mindspring website Ken ani I think it is fan brilliant, great story and pictures. You really must post the photograph of you "feeding the A some pine!" Im still chuckling about it.
Thanks again
Colyn
colyn firth

i just re-read my post on this thread and it looks like I have just invented a new word! Where did I get the word "fan brilliant" from?

I became a grandfather on thursday last and it appears that senility is already beginning to creep up on me.
Apparently I have to start looking for damp patches on any chair have sat upon, never go anywhere without a homburg hat and a pipe and begin to get quite excited wheneverI look at a Volvo catalogue!

Now, where did I leave the MGA keys?
Wait a minute, where did I leave the MGA?
Oh dear
cheers
colyn
colyn firth

Colyn - any sentence that includes my name and the word "brilliant" is a good one in my view! Very happy you liked the site - I really have to free up some time and update it to include some of the latest trips, etc.

Here's the "feeding the A some pine" photo you requested.

- Ken


Ken Doris

That picture could give owners of concourse cars a heart attack! I guess in those days it was just an old car and scuffs on the paintwork and a boot full of pine needles were everyday wear and tear.
Lindsay Sampford

Ken,
Post a picture of what the car looks like now for those that have not been to your web site.
Don
Don Carlberg

Did anyone notice the other MGA in the background of the picture that Ken posted?
G Goeppner

Oddly enough, there was another MGA at the same Christmas shop that day, but not anyone I knew. It actually wasn't all that unusual to see other MGA's on the road in 1969 in that area (Huntington) of Long Island. Also, I'm pretty sure we even had a Moss Motors retail shop right in the town.

I think our A was the only A to leave with an entire tree though :) Here is a picture of Melon taking it off the car to bring into our apartment.


Ken Doris

Hmm. One time my dad strapped a deer in the passenger seat next to him, but I don't think he ever carried a Christmas tree in it, although it's possible. I remember several fishing trips in the '59; the poles actually stowed in the passenger area pretty well, since I was a lot smaller back then.
Del Rawlins

Well, no MGA pictures from my misspent youth, but my first car, a 68 MGB, I drove from Tacoma to my grandmother's winter place in Palm Springs (one of those "gated communities" built around a golf course) in 1978. Here's a picture of it with a couple of typical 1970s cars belonging to white-shoe'd country club types with more money than sense. My friend and I made the 2500 mile round trip with only a cracked exhaust valve and stripped-spline wheel to show for it by the time we got home.


David Breneman

Per Don't request, here's a fairly recent picture of the A after a full, frame off restoration started in 2004 (and somewhat still underway).


Ken Doris

Typo there - I meant Don Carlberg's request.
Ken Doris

Del's recollection of his dad using the MGA to bring home the deer reminds me of the reaction I got when I bought my first "A" back in '66. My uncle wanted to know how I was going to carry a deer home from the hunt. A high school classmate wanted to know how I was going to get it on with my girlfriend in the car (he used a somewhat cruder term, however.) Neither of them got it that I just wanted to be Stirling Moss.

Ken
k v morton

For those who want to step back in time, check out this site:

http://barcboys.com/

For those not familiar, BARC is the Binghamton Auto Racing Club founded in 1958 by some Binghamton High School boys. The club was by invitation only and included some of the top MGA (and other marks) racers of "the day". Although offically disbanded I attended the BARC 50th Anniversary Reunion at Watkins Glen last year. Great stories and memories. And we continue to make more!

GTF
G T Foster

Hey Gerry - that is really an amazing site! I expect you were a bit too young, but were you a member back in your high school days?
- Ken
Ken Doris

Hey Ken,
Yes, it's a great site, and no, I wasn't a member when in High School, although I did drive a 56 MGA back then. The core group was a little older than me and I went to Union Endicott High, not Binghamton High. Even though I did some rallying and autocrossing in those days I never encounterd BARC. I didn't really get involved with the BARC crowd until about 15 years ago. Last year, at the annual day-after-Thanksgiving BARC get-together I was awarded a Jake's Stable shirt, signifying that I have been offically inducted into the BARC clan.

Cheers,
Gerry
G T Foster

Gerry,

Great site. It's hard for me to remember sometimes that MGAs weren't alway vintage racers, and that when I bought my first 1957 MGA, the last "A"s were only a few years old. Those photos sure show that the cars were no trailer queens then. It's a wonder so many "A"s have survived.

Ken
k v morton

My wife and I bought our MGA1600 from a hippie in Fountain Valley, California for $250.00 in 1972. (He had owned the car for two years and had never put the top up.) Seemed like a lot of money at the time. The body was in great shape and it looked like a "good deal." It was about the 10th MGA that we had looked at over the previous 4 weekends. It was not unusual to see 4 or 5 advertised for sale in the Sunday LA Times. We had a "small" electrical fire on the way home and both of us became well aquainted with the Long Beach salvage (junk) yard that specialized in British autos (you had to see it to believe it.) MGAs were stacked three high and you could get just about any used part that you could possibly need. Those were the days - gas was $.19 a gallon. We spent the next year avoiding the random car inspections that were so popular in Southern California. A quick trip to Tijuana for a new top and we were in heaven. The car has since been towed across the country from Long Beach to Toledo, Ohio to St. Ignace, Michigan, to New Orleans to Meridian, Mississippi where the tow bar broke during my final move in the Coast Guard and then trailered to Columbus, Ohio at the cost of $800 (over three times what we paid for the car.), we finally got it to Detroit in 1986 and then to Aiken, South Carolina in the moving van in 1989. The MGA has witnessed the birth of two children and two grandchildren and pretty much has been with us as long as we have been married. It is now up on jack stands waiting for a fuel tank. Can't wait to get it back on the road!
Don Carlberg

Don - with such a lone history with your car, surely you have some pictures of you and/or Vicki (preferably Vicki) with the car "back in the day", no? Please share some with us.
- Ken
Ken Doris

OK Ken, I had to get into the old photographs but found this one taken on the morning after Vicki and I bought the MGA. Our friend Dave (standing - that's his 59 A in the background) came over to help sort out the electrical problems left over from the fire. Note the orange shag carpet not only on the floor but also on the doors. Dave later sold his 1500 and got a mgtf while attending Navy Post Graduate School in Monterey. Note the 65 Mustang parked across the street.


Don Carlberg

Here is another photo taken (1973) after our trip to TJ for new carpet, seat covers, and top. Forgot that I was ever that skinny.


Don Carlberg

Don - great shots!
..and yes, seems like many of us were "that skinny" back in those days!
- Ken
Ken Doris

My MGA Story
As a teen I had a 1965 Austin Healy Sprite, 1962 Austin Healy Sprite, 1963? Triumph TR4A, At different times and Loved each one very much
About the same time 1973, I came home from high school and told my Dad about a 1960 MGA 1600 that a friend at school had for sale. My Dad promptly went and bought it! I got to drive it once in about 1982 and What a Ball I had. Over the years My Dad drove it alittle most years and bought some new parts for it but did not put to many on it. By 1994 My Dads health was failing And he knew what he had to do. He knew even though I have three older Brothers and also that I could not afford to pay him what the car was worth... That I should own this wonderful little car!.He asked me to come to his house one weekend under the premise that I would be helping him do some work around his house. You see he had not started the MGA in 3 years and the last time I had seen it , it was under a pile of rugs and cardboard and you could not even tell the car was under there! Well when I arrived at my Dad's house he took me directly out to the garage and there was the 'A' all cleaned off... Top up and very accessible!!!, I still didn't know what he was up to!. I just couldn't help not jumping in and making motor noises. While I was sitting at the wheel he said to me." I have been thinking alot about this car and I think you should own it". I replied ,"Dad I would love to but I can not afford it" He said "Ric I want you to have it" "it's Your's". And with tears streaming down my face ... and again now as I type this story. I became the PROUD new owner of this very special little car.
Within a few days of that very memorable moment in my life the papers were all signed and I charged the batteries and put some gas in it and the engine fired right up and I drove it home. Over the next three years I had the privilege of driving My Dad around in The "A" and even have some great Pics and Video of us enjoying life together. He passed on to A Better place in 1997 and now I am charged with carrying on without his guidance and getting the "A" back in drivable condition. Presently it has a clutch problem that I hope to repair this winter. Thanks for taking the time to read my story, I feel better to have written it down.
Richard Enck
Well now its oct 20 2009 and I still have not tackled the job of fixing the clutch! I can not believe that it has now been ten years since I had the "A" on the road. The first part of this story was written at least five years ago. I hope and am determined for the next paragraph to report that it is fixed and on the road. I am now Married to a great helper and assistant in accomplishing pretty much anything I try to do. I am sure it can be done! The green A in the middle is mine Thr red mark two is my cousins and he still has it!


RJ Enck

What a great story Richard, I think we will all shed a tear reading that!

With a combination of Barney's great site and the support of the forum, there is nothing that can stop these cars!
Neil McGurk

Richard,

Thanks for sharing your story and photo. The only thing better than an old sports car is an old sports car that has long been in the family and has stories to tell. My "A" had been in storage for about 30 years when I finally got back to it. As Neil says, with help from a great community, these cars are unstoppable.

Ken
k v morton

Finally manmaged to find some old transparencies of me and my old MkII coupe circa 1974.
I have managed to scan them, wifi them to the laptop at work then transfer them via data stick to my home computer! phew!! I think a fair bit of image quality has been lost in the process but it is the best i can do at present.
The white coupe is the 2nd mga i had and it was my pride and joy even though it was 13 years old even then. We drove that car to Switzerland in 1975 which is another story and if i can find any pics i will tell it another day.
My first MGA coupe was a blue 1960 MkI but unfortunately it was totalled when a in attentive driver forgot she was on a bend and T-boned my coupe. It put my wife Chris into hospital with concussion and bent the car in half in the process.
I still have the steering wheel somewhere, bent almost in half where my arms were resting on it.
No seatbelts back then.
If this upload works you should be able to see the wreck in my garage and some various bent parts behind my car in another pic.
I had the rod stewart hair style back then but fortunately the pic quality doesnt really show just how bad the big collar shirt and kipper tie actually were! I must have been on a starvation diet in 1974!

The last pic is me back then just recovering from capsizing my kayak, I seemed to spend an awfull lot of time in the water and not so much in the kayak! i used to transport it on the roof of the car turned upside down on an old blanket. It was a perfect fit and i just fastened it with washing line to the front and rear bumpers.
Not so much health and safety back then, but great times.
Here goes with the pics
cheers
Colyn



colyn firth

this is the wreck of my 1st coupe being dismantled for spares after i bought it back from the insurance company
colyn firth

this is the wreck of my 1st coupe in my garage being dismantled for spares after i bought it back from the insurance company
colyn
colyn firth

My 2nd coupe in 1974 which was put into my garage in 1980 and was most reluctantly traded in for my present roadster 2 years ago. ( in my defence it did need a total rebuild by then)
You can see bits of the wrecked car behind it


colyn firth

Looks like i uploaded one of the pics twice!
Heres me looking very wet as usual!
Note the homemade neoprene wetsuit and ex war department "mae west". It actually was a ships lifeboat emergency boyancy aid.
I used to think I looked really cool back then!!
colyn


colyn firth

wreck pic
3rd attempt with this one
looks like it worked this time
colyn


colyn firth

Hey Colyn, those pictures of your coupe reminded me of the days when it was the "done thing" to slap thick matt black stuff on your sills when they got a bit rusty. In the 1970's I remember most cars more than about 4 years old sported black sills, after a while the manufactures started producing cars with black sills as new! How I remember those good old days when a new pair of sills was part of the 36,000 mile service, they don't make cars like that any more!
Lindsay Sampford

Nice picture of my MGA 776 CLU in Calderstones Park, Liverpool June 1967. Haven't done this before, hope it comes out OK!


MR Blencowe

And another one in June 1967 in the Lake District after an idiot in a left-hand drive Merc rearranged the driver's side rear wing of our MGA! Note the stunning Alamo Beige colour!


MR Blencowe

Ouch. In the two years that I had my second MGA, I had all four fenders damaged by hit-and-run drivers while it was parked. Do you still have 776CLU?
k v morton

In 1962 My older sister and her new husband (a Lt. in the Air Force) bought a brand new 1962 MK-II from a dealer in portland Oregon where we lived. The husband totaled the car when it only had 3,000 miles on it. The insurance co. refused to total it and found a shop that would fix it. In the three months that it took to repair the MG he was transfered to Phoenix Arizona. Here comes the good part. I was 18 years old and had just graduated from High School when the car was finished. I got to drive it all I wanted for a week to make sure it was OK to make the trip to Phoenix. I was the envy of all my friends. Then my sister flew home and her and I drove it to Phoenix. It was the first of September and the weather was very hot. We tried top down for a while but finally put it up to keep the sun off of our heads. I can still remember the heat comming off of the transmission tunnel. It was too hot to allow your leg to rest on it. They and the car were stationed in Arizona, Texas, California, and several years in Hawaii. After my sister and the car returned to Oregon in 1974 she was broadsided by a Buick. That put the MG out of commission. It was stored in various places for the next 25 years. She would not part with it, always saying "I will get it fixed some day". She passed away in 1999. Her husband asked me if I wanted the MG. I told him I had wanted it for 25 years and still did. This is what it looked like when I got it in 2000.


Ed Bell

After 2 year of work, including a total engine rebuild and lots of little bit and pieces repaired or replaced it was back on the road again. We have enjoyed driving it and have put about 18,000 miles on it since the rebuild.


Ed Bell

Another photo of the repaired MG. I think my sister would approve.


Ed Bell

K V in Alaska.Hi,no 776 CLU had to go when the daughter was born.But the carry-cot fitted perfectly behind a Sunbeam Alpine seat so that's what we swapped it for in Kings Lynn,Norfolk.776 CLU is still shown as extant in UK but is now white.
MR Blencowe

Had a fellow last spring trying to track down the owner of the A he sold him back in the early sixties contact me and he sent these pictures from our area.


LED DOWNEY

Amazingly I did find him a family member contact.


LED DOWNEY

Never heard back from him so I don't know how it turned out.


LED DOWNEY

Have just read through this lot - fastinating - don't we all just love 'em!
Colyn you lost me with all the technical process of getting your transparencies on the computer screen. I just project them on the wall and take a picture with the digital camera.
Here's my first 1600 in 1964 - the best car I ever had and the reason I have had another for the last 12 years.


Pete Tipping

Not an MGA, but this is one of my Father-in-Law in his Morgan back in the 30s. In those days Morgan trikes were 10 a penny and he used them as a step up from motorbikes. He had about 3 at any one time: one buying/repairing; one as a driver; and one for selling. Pity he never kept the odd one, worth a mint nowadays.

I have been told by the Morgan Club that this is a particularly rare one, being a new version/prototype/demonstrator that was shown at one of the big Motor Shows back then.

Steve


Steve Gyles

Hi All - Again, not an MGA photo but my first MG none the less. My Mk1 Midget owned from 68 to 75- photo taken on Ainsdale beach in 1968 - MR Blencowe our MG paths may have crossed as my stamping ground was around south Liverpool and my aunt lived next to Calderstones - but I couldn't afford an MGA insurance at the time - cheers Cam


Cam Cunningham

Ed,

Beautiful car and a wonderful story. I've probably got pictures of your car from GT28, too. I didn't have my "A" there; I was just starting to think about digging it out of 30 years of storage. I joined NAMGAR and the Columbia Gorge MGA Club that year and attended my first GT. My rebuild is taking a little longer than yours did.

Ken
k v morton

Hi Cam.I'm originally from Speke and the missus is from Woolton.I escaped from Liverpool long ago and ran away to the Air Force going native in Wales years ago.If you want a laugh our first car(in Jan '66),a TC,is on the TC BBS.The MGA arrived May '67 via a Mini and Frogeye Sprite.
MR Blencowe

Hi all,

I don't want to let die this thread with your wonderful stories an pictures! I cannot tell you such a nice story from the good ol' times, since I have my MGA only for eight years now. But I have a nice picture of my friend's MGA and his wife in the early 70s in Germany. Then it was not a common car here, it was something really special. He often told me how much he loved his red MGA and it was always a great wish for him sometimes buying another one again. Unfortunately he died last year much too soon and his wish never come true ...

Robert


Robert Mueller

hi

a lot of nice pictures here
can i use them over here ?
http://mg-owners-gallery.eu/


serge

Joined this thread late, Barney might enjoy this one!

Mark.


Mark Dollimore

Serge,

You are certainly welcome to use any of my pictures. I posted this one a couple of years ago, but it's already getting to be an old memory: towing my MG up the Alaska Highway, Steamboat Summit, September 2007.

Ken


k v morton

Serge - also feel free to use any of mine. Here's another one, taken the same day as the one I uploaded earlier in this thread with Melon between the MGA and the Corvette.
- Ken


Ken Doris

This thread was discussed between 22/08/2009 and 29/11/2009

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