MG A. 1600. Roadster. 1960

The MGA is a sports car produced by MG division of the British Motor Corporation 1955-1962.

The MGA replaced the older vehicles of type T, and represented a breakdown of the complete style of the older vehicles. The car was officially presented at the Frankfurt show in 1955. A total of 101.081 units were sold through the end of production in July 1962, the vast majority of which were exported. Only 5.869 cars were sold in the domestic market, the export percentage highest of any british car. It was replaced by the MGB .

Design

The design MGA dates back to 1951 when MG designer Syd Enever created a streamlined body for George Philips TD Le Mans car. The problem with this car was the high seating position of the driver because of the limitations of using the chassis TD. A new chassis was designed with the side elements further apart and the floor attached to the bottom instead of the top of the frame sections. A prototype was built and demonstrated that the president of BMC's Leonard Lord . He rejected the idea of producing the new car as he had just signed an agreement with Donald Healey to produce Austin-Healey cars two weeks before. The fall of sales of models of MG traditional caused a change in the heart, and the car, initially to be called the series UA, was brought back. As it was so different to the models of MG's oldest, which was called the MGA, the "first of a new line" to quote the contemporary advertising. There was also a new engine available so the car did not have the drive XPAG planned originally, but was fitted with the corporate-type B-Series BMC allows a hood line lower. The convertible MGA had no outside door handles of the doors, however the coupe has door handles.

It was a body-on-frame design and used the straight-4 " B series motor "of the MG Magnette saloon at the rear wheels through a gearbox of 4 speeds. The suspension was independent with coil springs and wishbones at the front and a rigid axle with springs semi-elliptic at the rear. Steering was by rack-and-pinion . The car was available with wire-spoked or steel wheels-disc.

The engine of 1489 cc producing 68 HP (51 kW) at first, but was soon uprated to 72 HP (54 kW). Hydraulic Lockheed drum brakes are used on all wheels. A coupé version was also produced, so that the total production of SMG standard 58.750.

An open car early tested by the british magazine The Motor in 1955 had a top speed of with 97.8 mph (157,4 km / h) and can accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km / h) in 16,0 seconds. A fuel consumption of 26.7 miles per imperial gallon (10.6 L/100 km; of 22.2 _mpg-Us) was recorded. The test car cost £ 844 with taxes included.

A high-performance model Twin-Cam was added in 1958, it used a high compression (at 9.9:1 later 8.3:1). DOHC aluminium cylinder version of the head of the motor B-Series to produce 108 horsepower (81 kW; 109 PS). Due to the problems of detonation, a 100 HP (75 kW; 101 PS) version of the low compression was introduced later. Four-wheel disk brakes by Dunlop were fitted, along with steel wheels knock-off of the drive peg Dunlop similar to wheels used on racing jaguars, unique to the Twin-Cam. These wheels and chassis enhancements were used in a small number of "DeLuxe MGA's 1600 Roadsters" built after the production Twin-Cam is stopped. Apart from the wheels, the single handle off was a logo "Twin-Cam", near the vent aside the bonnet.

The engine moody was famous for warranty issues during the course of the production, and sales fell rapidly. The engine suffered from detonation and burnt oil. Most of the problems with the engine Twin-Cam were rectified with the release of low compression, but was by then already done the damage. Many restored Twin-Cams are running more reliably today than they ever did during production. ^{[ citation needed ]} The Twin-Cam was dropped in 1960 after 2111 (2210 according to some) had been produced. Production ended in April 1960, but had reduced to a minimum since long before.

An open car was tested by the magazine Motor in 1958 and was found to have a maximum speed of 113 mph (182 km / h), acceleration from 0-60 mph (97 km / h) 9.1 seconds and a fuel consumption of 27.6 miles per imperial gallon (10.2 L/100 km; 23,0 _mpg-Us) was recorded. The test car cost £ 1283 taxes of £ 428 including.

In may 1959 the standard cars also received an updated engine, now at 1.588 cc producing 78 BHP (58 kW; 79 PS). In the front disc brakes were fitted, but drums remained in the rear.

31.501 occurred in less than three years.

Externally, the car is very similar to the 1500 with differences including: amber or white (depending on market) direction indicators front shared with the parking lights white stop / tail, separate turn lamps in the rear, and 1600 badging on the boot and the bonnet .

It produced a number of 1,600 versions of Luxe with special wheels spare and disc brakes in the four wheels of the departed Twin-Cam, or the full use of chassis Twincam modified left redundant by the discontinuance of that model. Seventy roadsters and 12 coupés were built.

An open car 1600 was tested by the motor in 1959. It had a maximum speed of 96,1 mph (154.7 km / h) and can accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km / h) in 13.3 seconds. A fuel consumption of 29.7 miles per imperial gallon (9,5 L/100 km; 24,7 was recorded. The test car cost £ 940 taxes of £ 277 including.

The engine size was increased again to 1622 cc by increasing the bore 75.4 mm (2,97 inches) to 76.2 mm (3,00 in) for the 1961 Mark II MGA. The cylinder head has also been revised with larger valves and combustion chambers re-engineering. Also had a rear axle with the highest proportion of 4:1, which made it to the high driving speed more relaxed. A grille insert and the rear lights Morris Mini inscribed horizontally below the deck lid were the changes more visually obvious. 8198 Mark II roadsters and 521 coupes were built.

As with the 1600 De Luxe, there were also some versions Mark II De Luxe; there Were 290 roadsters and coupes 23.

Story Competition

Body of the MGA is based to a great extent from that of a one-off MG TD specially built by the factory of MG at the request of the privateer racing George Phillips at the 1952 24 hours of Le Mans . Later, a new chassis was designed to seat the driver lower in the car and the bodywork even more clean that is on the prototype 175 EX.

The prototype MG late EX 182 was very close to the final production MGA and was the car actually raced at Le Mans in 1955. Three prototype MGAS are introduced at Le Mans in 1955. Two of the cars finished the race placing 12th and 17th overall, proving the worth of the new car. The third car crashed with serious injuries to the driver, Dick Jacobs.

The MGA has been raced a lot in the U.S. since its introduction in 1955, and with considerable success. In Sports Car Club of America competition the MGA has won numerous regional and national championships. It has also been the favorite choice of those who compete in races of the vintage . Kent Prather has been the pilot more successful of America MGA-to-date with G Production wins at the national championship in the SCCA in 1986, 1990, 1995, 2002, 2003 and 2005. Prather and his MGA accomplished this despite the fact that his MGA was often the old car for competition among several hundred race cars at the eliminatory rounds of the SCCA.

In the united States, the MGA was used in NASCAR 1960-63 in the Grand National Series , not winning a single race. After production ended of the MGA, MG (who at that time was the last automobile manufacturer overseas in NASCAR) decided not to align another entry in the circuit, which resulted in a de facto monopoly of the NASCAR circuit by Detroit's Big Three . Apart from a brief period in the 1970s when American Motors fielded the AMC Matador in the competition of NASCAR, not the other non - Detroit car manufacturer-much less a car manufacturer-that non-american to enter NASCAR until 2007, when Toyota entered in the competition of NASCAR with the Toyota Camry .

Appearances in film and television

• Movie - Blue Hawaii (1961, Elvis Presley & Angela Lansbury) Elvis sings from his open red 1960 MGA 1600 Mk I roadster. The car made numerous appearances in the first half of the picture, often with camera work that seemed suspiciously similar to the marketing, the panoramic view of the back of the car or put the car in conditions of lighting sound free. Elvis so liked the car he bought for himself, and after changing hands a few times, it re-acquired the vehicle, which is now at Graceland with his Lincoln , Cadillacs and Stutzes .
• Movie - Animal House (1978, John Belushi and Tim Matheson) a yellow 1956 MGA Roadster is driven by antagonist Greg Marmalard (played by James Daughton ).
• Movie - Guess who's coming tonight (1967, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier ), Spencer Tracy who is having a hard time with the participation interracial daughter with a black physician (Poitier), backs his dodge into a black MGA in a drive in, causing the owner, another black man, to become quite furious.
• Movie - good trip junior has a MGA seen only once outside of his house.