MGA is the car I'm going to buy once I'm finished with my Sunbeam Alpine. Not fast, but IMO one of the most beautiful traditional roadsters ever built.
Brilliant video Ian, really enjoyed it as did you by the look on your face! The Flying Sausage as he is known is a lovely car. You are welcome to drive him any time. Thanks for testing him 😊
The joy on your face, it's wonderful to see. You are becoming my favorite motoring journalist. There is almost no one as knowledgeable as you are. Thank you. Keep up the good work.
The indicator switch is actually vacuum. The delay is adjustable via a small screw in the rear, though on most the leather sealing washer has fried out and they don't work as they did when new. Great vid and a lovely example.
You have just tested my favourite car of all time, I worked on loads as an apprentice in the late 80's and they drive so well. You're right about the rarity of Alamo Beige, I worked on loads over the 4 years and never saw one in that colour. You're also correct about the wood floor which was always something that I would add some metal plates to just for piece of mind. I'm off to watch this again, shame I can't give it more than one like ☹
In all the years I've watched your videos, I don't think I've seen you enjoy a drive as much as this. What a noise from that beautiful wee car. Magic!!
What makes it so special is the basic experience of driving a machine that is just complex enough to do what it needs to do, with no driving aides and no hiding the noise and feedback that the car produces. I'm considering buying an MGB here in Australia as I'm just done with modern cars. Excuse me now while I go change my shorts, that snorting roar was just to enjoyable.
What a great video HubNut. Certainly a contender for the (never ending smile) category. Its an absolute pleasure seeing how much you enjoyed driving her.
My late father owned an MGA hardtop when I was born YYK 30. He soon replaced it with an early Sunbeam Alpine after that which was a soft top. Shortly afterwards he bought a 1963 Jaguar Mark 2 which has defined my life and passion for classic Jaguars ever since. We still have the registration plate WWG5 on my mothers car.
Thank you, Hubnut - really enjoyed this. This car was on the cover of an edition of Classic & Sportscar about 20 years ago. I've got an Alamo Beige 1600 Mk II. The marshals at Silverstone in 2014 voted it the car they'd most want to drive home in. I've had it since 2001 and am incredibly proud of it. I love the colour but a lot of people hate it! Most new ones were red or OEW.
It's fun when a car actulaly sounds like it's got a tonne of power, but hasn't, yet gives the feeling of it being powerful, unlike modern things that have to do all kinds of trickery with the exhaust pipework to try and match this level of fun, but never achieve it... :P
I really enjoyed this video tremendously. It's so obvious how much fun you were having in this little car. These are fabulous little sports cars. You don't need a 550 horsepower V8 to have fun. The beauty of the MGA and the MGB is that even though they are not fast, they are still a lot of fun to drive, and unlike a lot of older cars, they can still keep up with modern traffic. Indeed they go plenty fast enough to lose your license in; please don't ask me how I know! I own a 1965 MGB Mk I (for nearly 54 years) and a 1962 MGA Mk II. Despite the very similar mechanicals, they are distinctly different experiences to drive. (You can easily recognise the Sydney Enever derived shared DNA when you look at them underneath on a hoist). It's wonderful to see an Alamo Beige MGA. It looks terrific. Here in Australia nearly every MGA and MGB gets repainted red or BRG. It's so unimaginative and tedious. A car like this one really stands out. Thanks so much for posting this.
I remember see mgs parked around LA. In the late 50s. While my Dad drove a Studebaker champion of green color. My dad did take a long look at the MGs Well done video ! 😊
MGs were and are so very popular here in western Canada. They're considered a common classic here. Last year I went to a car show called "All British Field Meet" and it had dozens of different kinds of MGs. Even UK market examples that were not sold here. Like a MG F, a RV8 and a MG TF. My family owned a '72 MG B that we restored. It was a blast to just be a passenger in!
I owned a ‘62 MKII for a few years in my early 20’s. Loved it. Sold it in early 70’s. Found the current owner who had restored it and won many awards for his hard work. It was like finding a kidnapped child when I found him.
Sold quite a few in Canada as well. I currently own a 1969 MGB GT. Just a comment , a lot of UK TH-camrs seem to forget that Canada actually exists. Canadian soldiers stationed in the UK during WW2 also brought back these cars in large numbers. Just saying…..
A local cellist I know has a fully restored red MGA which looks absolutely immaculate - I haven't been for a drive in it though, but he sometimes drives it over and parks it up outside my gaff when the weather is favourable when sharing lifts to gigs and picking up others in my far more capacious Accord tourer. There's a glimpse of an MGA in the film 'Silkwood' that Kurt Russel's character was working on (Karen Silkwood's car was famously a 1st generation white Honda Civic complete with the ridiculously large 5mph bumpers). At the time I found it odd that such a car of that era would even be seen in the US, but now you mentioned the US servicemen fell in love with them explains it. Although later on BL made a loss on every MGB sold to the US as the GB£-US$ exchange rate was in the favour of the US buyer at the time (and an MGB was featured in the '70s film 'Coma' along with a Fiat).
THE most beautyful 2 seater roadster of the 50ties I love the early ones the most, because of the tilt front grill and the small tail lights. I own one since 6 years and its so much fun to drive. It feels fast, even if you are slow. I'm using the much stiffer 72 spoke wire wheels in 5" wide. The car handels a lot more stable and it looks a little more adult.
Thanks, I've never seen an MGA before (I'm a Yank), but plenty of MGB's 😊 I was probably born too late for the MGA, being of 1972 vintage...also seen the older ones, like MG-TC, and kit cars that are designed to look like a T series. Yes, those exist...
I've looked at the price and to be fair they're not too bad at all. I want a 1600 mk1 in Glacier Blue (only the 1500 and Twin Cam came in this colour but sod the purists!!), if I come into money I'm having one and keeping it until my demise.
You can get a nice one for about £20,000 - but they're coming down in price because a) no one's got any money, and b) classic cars generally will be worth less and less as we approach carbon zero...but you're not allowed to say that! Happy days!!
Drove a restored MG A regularly in the mid-70s. It wasn't mine but a well-off friends. It was bright yellow and brilliant to drive, you didn't have to be going fast to enjoy it! Squashed me and my two small sons in it and they loved it too, especially with the hood down. Happy memories!
@HubNut It’s as if you were Ian Carmichael in School For Scoundrels who had just traded in his ‘there’s one born every minute’ Swiftmobile for the sporty British number to make Terry-Thomas grit his gapped front teeth in rage at being one-upped. Lovely car and your joy at driving it so evident. I know zero about cars, how they work, how to fix them etc.; but I come from a time when cars had personality, one could truly self-maintain them and my dad loved them. Think if I keep watching your videos I may start at my relatively senior age to understand how they work. Your videos are a joy - no overweening ego, just solid knowledge, joy and a sense of humour. 🙂
Gorgeous car. A mate nearly bought one in about 78. I bet he still regrets not doing it...mind you his TR6 was impressive. I always felt that design/style wise...the MGA was a Moggie 1000 stretched & restyled....the design cues are all there.
One of the prettiest sports cars, ever, anywhere. This one has a nice hard-edged exhaust note - and the colour suits it really well (but not the whitewall tyres!).
Highly enjoyable video! I really think you should sell something to buy one for yourself. The curvy body design is so perfect, it’s like a rolling sculpture.
I worked on these and E Types as a youth in the late 80's and as mad as it might sound, having driven a fair few examples of both I always preferred these over the Jag. A proper little B road car, not quick but didn't need to be.
I owned one of these for a brief period in 1973. Actually, it was a Twin Cam. I found it sitting unloved in the car park of a motor factors that I'd visited to get something for my Riley 1.5 ( BMC type ). The MG was immobile, but I was so taken with it, that I asked who the owner was. £100 changed hands, and the motor factors transported it to the road outside my tenement flat. Where it sat. And sat. I was clueless about where to start in terms of resuscitating it. I found that every one of the 4 Dunlop disc brakes was seized. I must have tried every motor factor in Glasgow for Dunlop bits. No luck. Next, I found that the B-pillars were rotted. My 'solution' was to buy some expanding foam. And then the police arrived. They wanted to know who owned the uninsured, untaxed, non-MOT'd MGA sat outside in the road. I explained that I was in the process of restoring it. They had a 2 word reply. "Move It...". So anyway, I got rid of the car. Also, somewhere along the way, I noticed that the engine wasn't a twin cam, it was the standard 1489cc engine of the original MGA. As I recall, the Twin Cam engine was so unreliable, that many owners fitted the standard engine just to get a car they could actually use.
Ian you've made me all misty eyed about my 1966 MG Midget again. It's still in the town I live in and I'm so tempted to buy it back despite owning a 385bhp convertible Porsche!
MGA is the car I'm going to buy once I'm finished with my Sunbeam Alpine. Not fast, but IMO one of the most beautiful traditional roadsters ever built.
The ALPINE is in a class of its own.
I had an MGA. Keep the Alpine!
Brilliant video Ian, really enjoyed it as did you by the look on your face! The Flying Sausage as he is known is a lovely car. You are welcome to drive him any time.
Thanks for testing him 😊
I saw this the other day and assumed it was an American version. Ian has sorted that.
@johnnytenjobs you can't really mistake this car though can you.
@@clarebrookes314 Definitley not.
I've never seen one in that colour. Suits the car quite well.
It doesn't matter the 0-60 time... The longer it takes the longer you're having fun 🥸
So true!
The joy on your face, it's wonderful to see.
You are becoming my favorite motoring journalist.
There is almost no one as knowledgeable as you are.
Thank you. Keep up the good work.
I've had many sports cars but my 1962 MGA is one of my favorites.
The indicator switch is actually vacuum. The delay is adjustable via a small screw in the rear, though on most the leather sealing washer has fried out and they don't work as they did when new.
Great vid and a lovely example.
Wow. Cheers for the explanation.
You have just tested my favourite car of all time, I worked on loads as an apprentice in the late 80's and they drive so well. You're right about the rarity of Alamo Beige, I worked on loads over the 4 years and never saw one in that colour. You're also correct about the wood floor which was always something that I would add some metal plates to just for piece of mind. I'm off to watch this again, shame I can't give it more than one like ☹
In all the years I've watched your videos, I don't think I've seen you enjoy a drive as much as this. What a noise from that beautiful wee car. Magic!!
The smile on your face driving it says it all.. :)
I love my MGA. Not the quickest, but quick enough. Not the fastest, but fast enough. MGs just deliver more smiles per mile.
What a beautiful car.
Whoever owns that is so lucky.
Must bring a massive smile every time it's driven.
What makes it so special is the basic experience of driving a machine that is just complex enough to do what it needs to do, with no driving aides and no hiding the noise and feedback that the car produces. I'm considering buying an MGB here in Australia as I'm just done with modern cars. Excuse me now while I go change my shorts, that snorting roar was just to enjoyable.
I've always wanted a 1500 MG TF, but that MGA is making all the right noises for me!!! A "proper" sports car.....
What a great video HubNut. Certainly a contender for the (never ending smile) category. Its an absolute pleasure seeing how much you enjoyed driving her.
My late father owned an MGA hardtop when I was born YYK 30. He soon replaced it with an early Sunbeam Alpine after that which was a soft top. Shortly afterwards he bought a 1963 Jaguar Mark 2 which has defined my life and passion for classic Jaguars ever since. We still have the registration plate WWG5 on my mothers car.
Most of the British sportscars of the 60's and 70's had modest underpinnings but the design was on another level. Fabulous.
Love the colour. I think it really shows off the design of the car.
Thank you, Hubnut - really enjoyed this. This car was on the cover of an edition of Classic & Sportscar about 20 years ago. I've got an Alamo Beige 1600 Mk II. The marshals at Silverstone in 2014 voted it the car they'd most want to drive home in. I've had it since 2001 and am incredibly proud of it. I love the colour but a lot of people hate it! Most new ones were red or OEW.
Great little drive! The A is one of the most beautiful cars ever built, lovely lines.
Just Glorious that Ian, thanks for the test....you'd just never get bored of that! (as you obviously didn't!)...👍👍
The joy on your face Ian would make anyone want to own one.
Great review.
This car looks soo good. And the sound it makes is just incredible. Mr. Hubnut had huge smile while driving this!
It's fun when a car actulaly sounds like it's got a tonne of power, but hasn't, yet gives the feeling of it being powerful, unlike modern things that have to do all kinds of trickery with the exhaust pipework to try and match this level of fun, but never achieve it... :P
Just bought one, totally agree with the enjoyment factor, thanks for posting.
Great review of a lovely little car Ian; from a time when the world moved at a gentler pace. It looked like you genuinely enjoyed your drive! 😊
What a well chosen shirt for this occasion!
I really enjoyed this video tremendously. It's so obvious how much fun you were having in this little car.
These are fabulous little sports cars.
You don't need a 550 horsepower V8 to have fun.
The beauty of the MGA and the MGB is that even though they are not fast, they are still a lot of fun to drive, and unlike a lot of older cars, they can still keep up with modern traffic. Indeed they go plenty fast enough to lose your license in; please don't ask me how I know!
I own a 1965 MGB Mk I (for nearly 54 years) and a 1962 MGA Mk II. Despite the very similar mechanicals, they are distinctly different experiences to drive. (You can easily recognise the Sydney Enever derived shared DNA when you look at them underneath on a hoist).
It's wonderful to see an Alamo Beige MGA. It looks terrific. Here in Australia nearly every MGA and MGB gets repainted red or BRG. It's so unimaginative and tedious. A car like this one really stands out.
Thanks so much for posting this.
Beautiful car. Lovely rorty exhaust note. I saw one in San Fransisco when I was last there with quite a crowd looking at it. Another great video
The best 10 minutes in a long time seeing YT.
The sound is intoxicating 🤤
What a gorgeous, joyous little car! Wonderful
When you tried the wipers and pressed the water jet. I expected the water to fire over the windshield and on to you. Lovely car again Ian
I remember see mgs parked around LA. In the late 50s.
While my Dad drove a Studebaker champion of green color. My dad did take a long look at the MGs
Well done video ! 😊
MGs were and are so very popular here in western Canada. They're considered a common classic here. Last year I went to a car show called "All British Field Meet" and it had dozens of different kinds of MGs. Even UK market examples that were not sold here. Like a MG F, a RV8 and a MG TF.
My family owned a '72 MG B that we restored. It was a blast to just be a passenger in!
Beautiful cars. I used to walk to school in the 80's past a guy who was restoring one of these in his garage. That one is lovely.
This one was restored in a home garage in the 80s! I believe it was done in Middlesbrough if my research tells me correctly.
MG were indeed kings as you say.
Good gearbox, good engine, lovely interior. They broke lot less down than the Triumph cars.
What a sports car should be. Simple, light, and fun. Brilliant.
If there was a beauty pageant for cars it would win it !
I agree 👍🏻
Glorious little car and they make such a fabulous noise!
I owned a ‘62 MKII for a few years in my early 20’s. Loved it. Sold it in early 70’s. Found the current owner who had restored it and won many awards for his hard work. It was like finding a kidnapped child when I found him.
What a gorgeous little MG.
Great looking car. Unusual colour but it suits it perfectly. Seen them in the flesh, and get why people love them
That colour looks stunning on that MGA.
Sold quite a few in Canada as well. I currently own a 1969 MGB GT. Just a comment , a lot of UK TH-camrs seem to forget that Canada actually exists. Canadian soldiers stationed in the UK during WW2 also brought back these cars in large numbers. Just saying…..
Breathtakingly beautiful.
A local cellist I know has a fully restored red MGA which looks absolutely immaculate - I haven't been for a drive in it though, but he sometimes drives it over and parks it up outside my gaff when the weather is favourable when sharing lifts to gigs and picking up others in my far more capacious Accord tourer.
There's a glimpse of an MGA in the film 'Silkwood' that Kurt Russel's character was working on (Karen Silkwood's car was famously a 1st generation white Honda Civic complete with the ridiculously large 5mph bumpers). At the time I found it odd that such a car of that era would even be seen in the US, but now you mentioned the US servicemen fell in love with them explains it. Although later on BL made a loss on every MGB sold to the US as the GB£-US$ exchange rate was in the favour of the US buyer at the time (and an MGB was featured in the '70s film 'Coma' along with a Fiat).
A shirt that so matches the car. Great video again.
Great job hubnut great video makes everyone want a MG for lovely summer days
Great video and a fantastic car, it surely fits into your "Power, less is more" mantra.
That sounds proper roarty! Love the car and the sound it makes.
That was just great the MGA is just one of the prettiest sports cars ever.
That looked like a lot of fun! The model on top of the dash is a nice touch 😊 Thank you! 👍
THE most beautyful 2 seater roadster of the 50ties I love the early ones the most, because of the tilt front grill and the small tail lights. I own one since 6 years and its so much fun to drive. It feels fast, even if you are slow.
I'm using the much stiffer 72 spoke wire wheels in 5" wide. The car handels a lot more stable and it looks a little more adult.
Great knowledge and a great shirt. Thanks for another great video Hubnut
Fantastic to see here back on the road again
Looks and sounds glorious
All the beige…. Excellent!
The smile per mile index was obviously off the scale too… 🤪
Thanks, I've never seen an MGA before (I'm a Yank), but plenty of MGB's 😊 I was probably born too late for the MGA, being of 1972 vintage...also seen the older ones, like MG-TC, and kit cars that are designed to look like a T series. Yes, those exist...
All of the beige! 😁👍
We owned this car several years ago… a little beauty 💕
I think I was enjoying this almost as much as you were Ian. Fabulous stuff!
What a beauty! I've never dared look at the price of them but would love to own one.
I've looked at the price and to be fair they're not too bad at all. I want a 1600 mk1 in Glacier Blue (only the 1500 and Twin Cam came in this colour but sod the purists!!), if I come into money I'm having one and keeping it until my demise.
You can get a nice one for about £20,000 - but they're coming down in price because a) no one's got any money, and b) classic cars generally will be worth less and less as we approach carbon zero...but you're not allowed to say that! Happy days!!
Great video Ian, one of those only you can do. Great to hear MGA history.
Oh my word. You know you’ve arrived with a red leather interior. Marvellous 😊
And a lovely patina on the leather!
What a beauty! I love it.
On the drive you did remind me of Toad in "Wind in the Willows"!
That soundtrack does not get old fantastic.
Drove a restored MG A regularly in the mid-70s. It wasn't mine but a well-off friends. It was bright yellow and brilliant to drive, you didn't have to be going fast to enjoy it! Squashed me and my two small sons in it and they loved it too, especially with the hood down. Happy memories!
@HubNut It’s as if you were Ian Carmichael in School For Scoundrels who had just traded in his ‘there’s one born every minute’ Swiftmobile for the sporty British number to make Terry-Thomas grit his gapped front teeth in rage at being one-upped. Lovely car and your joy at driving it so evident. I know zero about cars, how they work, how to fix them etc.; but I come from a time when cars had personality, one could truly self-maintain them and my dad loved them. Think if I keep watching your videos I may start at my relatively senior age to understand how they work. Your videos are a joy - no overweening ego, just solid knowledge, joy and a sense of humour. 🙂
Thank you Ian for that B series soundtrack how many times is too many to keep re- watching with the volume up👍😊
I had one in the 1970s. I wish I still had it!
The hand brake is known as a "fly off" type. Not unusual in sports cars of the day.
My brother has an MG A 1600 from '61 I believe. A great little car, pretty too! Joachim
You obviously really enjoyed this!
That is a beauty. And the colour suits it.
You looked like you was having a real good time Ian. Lovely car loved the colour
Gorgeous car. A mate nearly bought one in about 78. I bet he still regrets not doing it...mind you his TR6 was impressive. I always felt that design/style wise...the MGA was a Moggie 1000 stretched & restyled....the design cues are all there.
Always love the look on your face, for a man who generally drives low powered fare, when you're given something sporty to play with
Thing is, this really isn't powerful at all. It just sounds and feels fast. 0-60mph is 13 seconds.
You looked at home behind the wheel, your shirt complemented the paintwork nicely.
One of the prettiest sports cars, ever, anywhere. This one has a nice hard-edged exhaust note - and the colour suits it really well (but not the whitewall tyres!).
Oh I love the whitewalls. With the colour, it looks very American market I think.
@@HubNut Yup - whitewalls are period correct. Not a favorite with classic purists, but they were a common sight in the day.
Beautiful colour combination indeed
Highly enjoyable video! I really think you should sell something to buy one for yourself. The curvy body design is so perfect, it’s like a rolling sculpture.
Thanks
Thanks Clare! Hope the sausage clutch issues are soon overcome.
Me too, I've pulled the master cylinder out and it looks very suspect. Fingers crossed it saves me pulling the engine out!
So simple but it gives the driver so much enjoyment
never seen you smile so much whilst driving a car.😂
Who needs a Jag when you can have that? Wundervoll! That engine sound... mmmhhhhh
I worked on these and E Types as a youth in the late 80's and as mad as it might sound, having driven a fair few examples of both I always preferred these over the Jag. A proper little B road car, not quick but didn't need to be.
I owned one of these for a brief period in 1973. Actually, it was a Twin Cam. I found it sitting unloved in the car park of a motor factors that I'd visited to get something for my Riley 1.5 ( BMC type ). The MG was immobile, but I was so taken with it, that I asked who the owner was. £100 changed hands, and the motor factors transported it to the road outside my tenement flat. Where it sat. And sat. I was clueless about where to start in terms of resuscitating it. I found that every one of the 4 Dunlop disc brakes was seized. I must have tried every motor factor in Glasgow for Dunlop bits. No luck. Next, I found that the B-pillars were rotted. My 'solution' was to buy some expanding foam. And then the police arrived. They wanted to know who owned the uninsured, untaxed, non-MOT'd MGA sat outside in the road. I explained that I was in the process of restoring it.
They had a 2 word reply.
"Move It...".
So anyway, I got rid of the car. Also, somewhere along the way, I noticed that the engine wasn't a twin cam, it was the standard 1489cc engine of the original MGA. As I recall, the Twin Cam engine was so unreliable, that many owners fitted the standard engine just to get a car they could actually use.
Aw. Certainly a troubled engine back in the day.
Always thought the styling of the MGA was alright, but nothing special. But in that colour, with the whitewall tyres, that's really nice.
Lovin the mini mullet mate, v cool !! The car is pretty special too
That's a lovely looking car. Thanks
I love the MGA we had an MGA 1600, an MGTF and an MGB. I do love classic British cars. Good vlog. 😀
I have always loved the MGA 😀
Your face says it all. You set off, with that extraordinary noise and as the revs rise, so does the grin! 😁
Ian you've made me all misty eyed about my 1966 MG Midget again. It's still in the town I live in and I'm so tempted to buy it back despite owning a 385bhp convertible Porsche!
Power. Less is More. 😉
@@HubNut Having said that the MG Midget was 125bhp and was fully stripped out with a lot of lightweight parts so weighed 672kg 😁
Lots of smiles from` you on this video. Nice posting and car.
That's beautiful
That gearbox whine though ❤
Lovely machine. Three bearing crank nice and revy.
Great video, felt like I was riding along with you.
The dad of an old girlfriend of mine had a twin cam MGA-35 years ago.Edit-Neither the girlfriend nor I were old back then!
Best looking MG.
Pure magic. video presentation and the car.