The MGOC buyer's guide to the MGA

The sleek lines and enveloping bodywork of the MGA make it a firm favourite with MG enthusiasts around the world. Jonathan Kimber MGOC Technical Advisor, explains what to look for when buying an MGA.
© MG Owners' Club 2023

[@americanpatriot2422]

Great video.

[@jeffhildreth9244]

The Twin Cam is not the rarest of the MGA, the Deluxe models are the rarest.
Former owner of a 1956 MGA bought in 1970.
I now have a 63 MGB and looking for an MGA.

[@anjdog2003]

The deluxe didn't come out of the factory as a deluxe. It was from we have frames and extra parts from the Twin Cam what do we do with them?

[@jeffhildreth9244]

@@anjdog2003 Well known. But, not quite accurate.

[@jeffhildreth9244]

@@anjdog2003 For your edification:
"The factory never listed any official model called Deluxe. The official factory "option" was listed as "Competition Suspension", and it was quite expensive. The "Deluxe" is essentially a Twin Cam car with a push rod engine. It will have ALL of the earmarks of a Twin Cam car except for having the push rod engine in place of the Twin Cam engine. The "Deluxe also has the push rod car type heater box (when fitted) with air inlet hose on the right side. I think the "Deluxe" radiator mounting is also in standard position where the TC radiator is farther forward. With this combination of parts, the "Deluxe" incidentally has a special hybrid body shell. It is not particularly easy to modify a standard MGA to look like a "Deluxe" in all the proper places, so an imposter is pretty easy to spot.
"Deluxe" (and Coupe and 1600-MK-II) has vinyl on top of the scuttle between dash and windscreen, where Twin Cam did not. All of these car have vinyl on the dash. The Competition Deluxe Seats (a separate option) are not necessarily a part of the "Deluxe" package, but were are often included when new.
Cars with the Competition Suspension option were expensive and originally harder to sell. They were often (not always) configured with Competition Deluxe Seats, close ratio gearbox and high ratio final drive, considered as a replacement for the Twin Cam as competition cars. Without close ratio gearbox and high ratio final drive, the "Deluxe" roadsters were often fitted with a hardtop. 1600 body types usually got the more expensive alloy hardtop top (as long as supply lasted), then later production got the fiberglass hardtop.
It is thought that the term "Deluxe" (flippantly used as a model name) may have been applied by the dealers in referring to the more expensive special equipment cars (expensive = luxury = deluxe). For the past 30 years or so the term "Deluxe" (as a model name) generally refers to any MGA with the steel pin drive steel wheels and a push rod engine. This is somewhat confusing when a lot of Twin Cam cars are now running push rod engines, and a few standard model NGA have been converted to pin steel drive wheels."