MG SA review - the pre war 1930s sports saloon time forgot
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- This car was kindly lent by Bidding Classics, who are selling it on their brilliant new website - www.biddingcla...
Sorry if by the time you watch this video the car is sold. New cars appear on their website every week (I keep checking, they're all awesome) so perhaps contact them if you're looking for a classic car and want something tip top and ready to roll!
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MG SA Charlesworth
With only 2,738 of the SAs ever built, it’s a car that sometimes is mentioned but not seen and with the help of the MG Owners club, I’ve got a bit of history on this model.
The SA was launched in 1935 and was the first model to be launched after the merger with Morris Motors, which had happened early in July of 1935. It was part of a trio of new models which also included the PB Midget and the revised N Type Magnette.
The new car drew mixed reviews with many saying it wasn’t a real MG because it was so different to the cars before it, it was the largest MG to date and although some of the early Magnettes weren’t small, some buyers just immediately took a dislike.
It was a funny time to launch a new luxury sports saloon, but 1935 was a big year for MG and things were changing at an incredible pace. Leonard lord was appointed as MD and almost instantly, all the racing activity and development ground to a halt.
Cecil Kimber who remained in the company and had some level of influence managed to gain enough support to persuade Lord a sport saloon was needed and with that, the MG SA came to fruition.
Whilst Lord would’ve been happy to whack an MG badge on an old Wolseley super six shell, Kimber wanted more and designed a new body for the existing super six chassis and priced the car at £375.
Whilst it was priced well, it came up against a few challenges in the fact customers weren’t entirely convinced and for a few key reasons. The use of the super six chassis meant the old MG chassis was no longer used and the engine they were familiar with, an overhead camshaft engine, was done away with in favour of the super six 2 litre pushrod lump.
The cable brakes of old were replaced with Lockheed hydraulic type brakes, much to the displeasure of Kimber and various other tweaks and endless fiddles and last minute adjustments were amended and rejigged, making it an incredibly fussy operation for what could’ve been a very simple car.
And in fact, these changes led to delays which led to the ultimate kicker: 10 days before launch, SS Cars of Coventry announced they were launching a new sporting saloon. The Coventry company produced this new car, the first to be badged jaguar and were quick to make decisions and stick by them.
This meant that whilst 1936 loomed and MG were still quibbling and amending, the all new Jaguar was there and ready and 500 customers who had waited patiently suddenly switched to the big cat over the new SA.
In fact, it was the Jaguar which pushed some of these last changes, because their new motor had been announced with a 2663cc engine and MG then had to work to up the 2062cc to a 2288cc to try and keep up.
Further changes were implemented including going from all crash box to part synchro on later cars and a final upgrade to engine power, taking late cars up to 2322 cc.
All in all, a rather lacklustre success story for a car which deserved so much better and deserved a much bigger footnote in the history of classics.
Now That’s a brief history on the model, but this particular car has an exciting history of its own!
There are only three owners from new and the first owner was Hollywood stuntman Gerald Gordon, who was apparently a stand in for Tarzan AND an olympic swimmer.
Mr Gordon shipped the car to America, whereby he went on an adventure and covered off over 19,000 miles; with one particular adventure allegedly nearly hitting 100 on the speedo. Needless to say, we’ll be daring if we hit half that today!
After a life well lived, Mr Gordon came back to England with his trusty MG and there’s a hefty pack with the car containing photos of all of this plus other notes and documentation.
But who owns this car now and why would they sell? I thought I’d catch them and ask a little about this very lovely MG SA.
Don't know if anybody's mentioned it, but it's nice that you're always matching your outfits to the cars you're reviewing.
It's all in the details.
@@bigdane87 the outfit is epic!
Yes and her outfit has a hint of 1930s, and Steph normally has outfits that sort of match the car.
Yes, Steph looks lovely in her blue ensemble; she's perfectly matched the elegance of this fine motorcar.
A vision in blue 🙂
Absolutely beautiful and only 3 owners in 85 years !! Thanks Steph xx
I'm fascinated by the style of illumination on the dashboard gauges. Things have certainly advanced - but still, that's aesthetically pleasing and seems a sweet car.
Radio dials of the time were very similar. I do agree with your impression of the anesthetic
A lovely classic,. Thanks Steph for bring this over looked MG, they made a lot of saloons but rely get a revenue.
Like the way you have colour co-ordinated your dress with the car, you and the car look great together.
The old man selling the car seems so sweet, I hope he finds a good buyer for his well loved car.
Steph, at a guess I'd say that shorter people might have used a cushion to sit on. I honestly believe this car really suits you. It's the right colour and looks amazing.. (Phil).. xxx
😀 Absolutely beautiful looking classic car, in every sense of the word. I myself have never seen one up close, let alone drive one !. Thanks for showing..
Another lovely car. The 60's and 70's cars are great but I don't think I've ever seen one of these on the road. Nice one.
This is one beautiful car - love how it's so well color coordinated - the swimmer the first owner would have stood in for was Johnny Weissmuller who played Tarzan in the 1930s.
The car looks great, and you look great! Thanks for doing a thoughtful and informative review of this classic MG that isn't well-known in the States.
Steph, a pleasure to watch this film, and your channel just gets better and better! Thank you.
Soft-top cars in winter are a special kind of cold hell. I'll never forget my 1950's overnight trip of 300 miles in an MG TC (if I remember) on a rainy mid-winter's day. Any air and rain which did not come in via the soft top's flaps came in through the ill-fitting door. For adolescents only.
MG made a prototype saloon with chassis and double wishbone suspension all round, inspired by the racing R type. They showed it off to William Morris, the owner of MG. It handled superbly and gave a sensationally comfortable ride. Morris was angry at such folly and ordered the car to be scrapped, and sold MG to Morris Cars. The SA is the result of these moves. Oh what MG could have been.
The rev counter (& speedo) are chronometric - driven by an intricate mechanical assembly. They were though to be more precise and reliable than conventional instruments, which are prone to waver.
Certainly more accurate than magnetic types. (Which i've noticed can even have non-linear errors)
My MG TD has similar instruments.
I use the original chronometric instruments on my classic Norton's and love the way the needles move, I see the wavering as a feature 🙂
I grew up with early 50s MG tds, and many MG a's, lots of Austin Healys, and jags. this is such an informative, and fun video I've seen in a long time ⌛️,
cheers to you!
Beautiful car Steph and a fantastic review. You get better with each review. You, Ed from Twin Cam, Matt from furious driving and Ian from hubnut are all amazing! Wish you could all be snapped up to present a top gear style to show. You would all fit so well together presenting. I have to day, yet again love how you coordinate your outfit to match the car. As always you’re incredibly well researched. You have cheered me up as I recover from chemo. I hope you have a good week. Already looking forward to the next upload. This car is absolutely stunning, it looks like it has just been driven out of the showroom, unbelievable and a credit to the three owners.
Lovely car, never seen one of these before, thanks Steph! 😊👍
Sometimes you can tell
what a car is worth by
the up keep , but this is
a truly timely kept car
looks like an Original,
very nice We like it it's
very Classic indeed .
As an historian, all be it armature, I appreciate these wonderful reviews. Thankyou Steph from your Canadian cousins. And to think when this car was first driven the Spitfire was still being perfected and very much still in development. The Hurricane was farther along. I love the way Battle of Britain documentaries and the movie always slip an MG into the visual story. This is a little less sporting than some MG's and grander in its appearance. Thanks, Steph for your dedication and great presentations.
I love the detail in your reviews. Our hobby has too much obsession with speed, and there's so much more to cars! I wonder if the saloon version of the MG is quieter inside? Beautiful car.
..It may actually be noisier (ie drum more) as mechanical noise from engine and transmission is less able to escape.
The pre war three MGs were very stylish cars, and very well equipped. The brass petrol gauge also doubled up as a sump oil gauge, activated by one of those inactive dashboard switches. Most had the Jackall systems in the event of a puncture. Simply lift the passenger footwell carpet, open the exposed lid, engage "front or back" and pump the system up lifting the wheels off the ground. A wheel change took under 5 minutes, unlike today whereby the majority wait forever for a recovery firm to turn up! I would love to own a WA from that era.
Lovely car - MG made some really good looking cars pre-war.
What a beautiful car! Thank you for the tour and the drive.
a very worthwhile review. One point I noticed: Steph was puzzled by the rev counter 'moving in jerks' rather than smoothly, but it's deliberately designed that way. I own one of these tachometers as a 'conversation piece' and in working order. The rev counter is the 'chronometric' type, something pretty much obsolete today. It was made by British Jaeger, which at that time was an 'upmarket' brand of the more familiar Smiths instruments company. It has a mechanism that is closer to the 'wind up clockwork' used in, say, traditional mantle clocks and pocket / wrist watches than it is to the magnetically driven tachometers that are found in later postwar classic british cars. The 'jerks' Steph mentions are actually precise speed steps up and down, and the beauty of that is that unlike the later type of tachometer it does not 'overshoot' when the engine speed changes rapidly, and that quality plus its accuracy made it particularly desirable in a sports car, especially one that might be used in competitive motor sports. And unless I'm much mistaken, this tachometer also has another strange feature: it can run both ways, meaning that it will still read correctly even if it's fitted to a car that uses a driving cable that runs through a gear train that causes the cable to turn 'backwards' from the normal direction of rotation. Finally, you'll notice that the tachometer incorporates a small clock. I could be mistaken, but I suspect it's kept wound up by the tachometer drive
Interesting gear box. Many, many years ago I acquired an MG J type 1933 with a dog/crash box, not sure which. The owner had beat me to it in the local showroom by 15 minutes! After four weeks he turned up on the doorstep asking if I still wanted the car. Of course I did. Reason for sale, after four weeks he could not change gear. I never mentioned to him double de-clutching and spent several days practicing changing gear on a quiet country lane. Eventually it became second nature and became my daily driver for many years.
When the first owner had a this car specially shipped to the USA it would have been one of the first MG cars in the USA. Volume sales of MG cars to the USA didn't begin until after WW2 with the "TC" model which established the brand in the USA. MG didn't build any Left Hand Drive cars until the later "TD" model.
Oh my gosh. Steph I am way jealous. Thank you for another wonderful review.
I like most of the old MG's and this one also. It is a shame they messed around when launching this car but you know the saying, 'he who hesitates is lost' and Jaguar won! it did do well in town traffic and the rain so a testament to the build quality. Thanks Steph for another great review, sorry I am a day late but life gets in the way sometimes.👍👍
I’ve never seen this model MG. I briefly owned an F Magna some years ago, with the Wolseley 6 cyl engine. Regarding the rev counter and it’s jerky motion, this is a Jaeger system. The needle is “kicked” around the dial by a pin on a revolving disk, centrifugal force comes into play. On my Riley Kestrel the speedo and rev counter both had the same system, but I guess the speedo would be far too inaccurate for today’s legal requirements.
Once again, a great video, Steph. I love your enthusiasm for these cars!
Nice review Steph, thank you 😊
I always thought the MG SA was a fixed head 4 door, I've never seen the tourer version and this is a gorgeous car and looks so easy to drive. I drove a 1936 MG TA and that was quite the experience and not as easy to drive as this looked, it would tramline in the grooves in the road left by trucks and the steering was so vague that it was a little disconcerting and this car had been restored!!
You are so right. The Riley Lynx of similar type to the TA,B,C series is far superior on the road. I have owned a TB and TC. All very sound interesting cars. But they show up the basic nature of what MG produced under the watch of Nuffield. Riley engineering was second to none in many ways and I think although MG and Jaguar made cars from assorted parts, Lyons was the Genius and Kimber was too steady. All good in their own way though.
@@gbentley8176 I drove a lot of MG's back in the late 80's when working for a sports car restoration garage as an apprentice. The best handling one in my opinion was always the MGA, so forgiving and comfortable to drive, I could get them sideways but they always came back. I have always promised myself that if I come into money then I'm having a Mk1 1600 roadster in Glacier Blue (only available on the 1500's) but I'm willing to forgo authenticity/originality for that colour. Haven't made the money yet though!!
Interesting you should mention that, recently i heard a Riley owner being disparaging about the steering on an MG of the same period. He didn't like the look of the ladder frame chassis either.
@@thephilpott2194 I drove the TA,TD and TF and they all had very vague steering and you felt like you were sitting on rather than in them. The MGA in comparison was a revelation, very direct steering, you always knew what your front wheels were doing and you were sat in them lower down so it always felt a safer (in context haha!). Never having driven a Riley I can't compare but I can understand the complaints regarding the steering on the MG T Types.
@@gbentley8176 If Cecil Kimber had his way, MG would have been making road cars with double wishbone suspension all round and torsion bar springs by the mid-late '30s
You are a total darling for presenting this beautiful MG kindest Regards from David in New Zealand oh and very Merry CHRISTMAS thankyou
Being a kiwi you may be interested in the riley brooklands replica build that an NZ youtuber is completing.
Great to see a knowledgeable young lady with a passion for classic cars, giving us the lowdown on this beautiful old MG.
Have a 37 Mg TA here in The Bahamas, great drive put on the Cole Porter on the I
phone, always top down; only problem rust from the sea, sorry big problem.
Just wow. That is gorgeous. and surprisingly big. Not at all the stereotype of an MG we have here in the states of a small 2 seat roadster. The exhaust manifolds are beautiful castings. I don't blame the owners for selling but I think they're gonna miss it
Lovely car. Same colour as my 33 Alvis Charlesworth. The lines are unmistakable. I think you were right to say that MG missed a trick with these models. Such was the industry at the time.
Hi Steph what a wonderful rare MG some of the members in the MG car club hear in South Australia would love to be the proud owner of one of these. I would really love to see you take an MGA out for a spin I have a red 1959 roadster called Rebecca and absolutely love her. Yet another great car revue, I was over the moon when I saw this video in my play list.👍🏻
Lovely old car, much appreciated Steph 😊👍
What an absolutely beautiful car this is! Great vid Steph x
Outstanding video as usual! Keep them coming, that little mechanical "stop" to keep from accidentally crashing into reverse was pure genius.
The sweetness is in the patina, minute scratches and fine blemishes with age. Damn it. What a beaut. Britain made that?
The rev counter moves in a jerky fashion because it is a chronometric mechanism, not the more modern magnetic type.
Thank you for explaining! I love learning stuff like this x
The chronometric gauges are very cool. They use a clockwork mechanism and when working properly the needle moves every 3/4 of a second. When faulty a traditional clock/watch maker can clean them and probably repair them if needed.
Great video Steph. Never seen one of these before. Beautiful.
Great review. Thank you. And I loved that you dressed up to match the car!
Great review of this interesting pre-war tourer. PVTs (Post Vintage Thoroughbreds) are a particular interest of mine. Shame the weather didn't allow you to drive with the top down. Love the colour co-ordination of car and driver! 😎
That dashboard illumination just stopped my clock. It looks like the WWll amateur radio gear in my dad's ham shack.
Thanks for the interesting history of this car. When you referred to the SS competitor I immediately thought that the profiles of the two cars were similar.
Beautiful British car, excellent presentation. Well done Seph.
The sound this car makes is vaguely like that of the 1973 MG. I like the sound & what the car looks like, I am uncertain I would want to drive it mostly because of the small windows & the height of the Dash making visibility for me not so nice. but it is a beautiful looking car.
I am super impressed how quiet the engine is inside the vehicle.
I enjoyed the journey with you & this very interesting car. Thanks :)
Enjoyed the video. I drove a '37 VA Tickford for several years.
So relaxing
I hope all is well with you Steph, in these difficult times. I`m glad to see your out and about.
Thanks Steph for letting us all enjoy the drive in that history making MG like other like your outfits
I love the two-tone paintwork.
We just had a holiday called Thanksgiving here in the States and can we say we're thankful you didn't top yourself when your spirits were at their lowest a short while back. Oh, and we're enjoying this look at vintage autos we'd never see over here...
This exact car was my wedding car back in 2004!
wow! what a beautiful car. wanted one since I was a child. Thanks Steph
what a wonderful classic MG SA a look's like a great drive better then modern car's any time.
Jeeeezuz what a FANTASTIC car that is Steph!!!! I'm absolutely blown away 😍💗 AND YOUR OUTFIT *ROCKS*
Lovely car test drive Steph. Just the right kind of format as well, not the lunacy of recent years spearheaded by the return of Top Gear in a new format. I should think you'll be credited as a motoring journalist bona fide before long.
My dad had an SA saloon when I was little. I think, in either saloon or in Tickford DH form, it was one of the most stunning cars of its age. Better, vastly, than a Jaguar. But I'm biased - Cecil Kimber's daughter Jean and my mum were school friends in Oxford!
You so "own" that marvelous car ... Another great review 👍
Loved this Steph - enjoyed muchly, so well presented as always ...ps ..love your hat 👒 x
Another really enjoyable review Steph. Sadly out of my price range this would be ideal for someone who wanted to drive a decent pre war car but can't afford the Jaguar.
The part about people objecting to hydraulic brakes over cable operated boggles the mind 🤯
The rev counter is working properly. It's mechanical, running off the camshaft instead of the ignition. It's telling you what the revs were three seconds ago. 😊
Lovely car lovely lady with matching attire ,superb .
I have always wanted an MG ever since HS when I read a story...in school about an MG..1952, I n a road race some where...If I find a TC ot TD I likely would get one...
A lovely car indeed. And very well presented. Thank you!
Well that's a different sort of car review - and all the better for it. Thanks. Just one thing - to describe replacing an OHC lump with a pushrod lump as "moving forward" 4:00 is pushing it a bit. Although MG is now seen as the producer of traditional sports cars (Chinese MG aside), they were in fact at the cutting edge of technology in the early days, particularly in the engine dept; perhaps comparable to Lotus.
Thank you. Love all your reviews. This car is gorgeous.
Those wipers look inadequate, more than a triangle of doom left 😂😂
My thoughts exactly, dunno what HubNut would have made of them!
@@jonathangriffin1120 Indeed, Wipers of disappointment 🤣
Yes, in period those wipers were widespread in the industry, and were rather poor. They don't apply any real pressure to the glass, that's the issue. Many cars had fold down or fold up windscreens/windshields as a result.
Should see if you can find one of the weirder pre-war Morgan cars. They used to make (albeit small) actual luxury cars, I’ve seen some with landaulet bars (maybe even an actual landaulet top) and stuff like that. Dunno who built those bodies, perhaps not Morgan themselves. I just find them very interesting because they’re so different than the archetypal Morgan we’ve known for donkeys years.
Stunning and the car is beautiful too
Stunning car!.. although I so prefer it as a saloon
A bigger car was the pre war MG VG, the only one I have seen in person was a 1938, this was in Martinez California.
What a stylish old car, beautiful. Imagine if it knew about MG in 2022
Fabulous motor, noticed the “M” on revcounter, (Roman for 1000) Also obviously Before octagonal MG dials got invented 😮
You are dead right that the SS took the cigar! More powerful and almost a dead ringer in the beauty stakes. When MG moved to the W models with 2.6 motor, in 1938 Jaguar just went to 3.5 with 90mph potential and secured their legend. As Jaguars after WW2, the 2.5/3.5's continued up to 1949 with MG left on the sidelines with the cute but slow Y type, ergo nothing to compete.
I think the rev counter was meant to work in the conventional way, but is now wonky because of wear and no doubt new parts are not available. It could be repairable with maybe 3D printed parts or some made by a skilled engineer. However nobody is going to rev the guts out of such a dear old lady, so it's only academic. The story of this cr was predictive of the future of BMC/ British Leyland, taking way to long to bring a new model to market because they designed them by committee. The reason the Mini was such a success was that Isigonis insisted on sole control and brought a revolutionary design to market long before the competition had caught up.
No, it's working as it did when it was new. As mentioned elsewhere, it's 'chronometric'.
@@thephilpott2194 OK, I just never heard of it before.
I enjoyed your comments, but I'm afraid you're mistaken about the rev counter. It works using a 'clockwork' design known as the 'chronometric' type, rather than the magnetic coupling familiar to us and used in most later cars. It's supposed to move in incremental steps, and one advantage of that is that it doesn't 'overshoot' when the engine speed suddenly increases. Very probably all it needs is a good clean by a professional clock maker or instrument maker, and a smidge of oil in the right places
That rev counter is probably chronometric which operates through gears rather than the normal magnetic type.
yes, I have the very same instrument. Beautifully made and still accurate, and it's supposed to move in steps
Did I walk passed you in Huddersfield town centre last week, you had a white fur hat on ?
I had a 1937 MG TA and if I remember correctly the rev counter operated much like this car ie a bit notchy.
When warm these Classic Cars seem to start up so much faster than modern day Cars I guess back in those days they wasn’t as technical
Typically lower compression. It's also a 6-cyl. so somewhat smoother for the starter motor and battery to turn than a four.
@@thephilpott2194 That’s a very good point actually
Good review liked that one!
STEPH YOU ARE COLOR COORDINATED WITH YOUR REVIEW CAR. THANKS FOR VLOG.
Deffo the sort of thing that Terry Thomas would drive
What a beauty!
Great video! The mic at the intro was a bit muffled though
😲😳 Wow that is gorgeous beautiful 😍❤️❤️ l like your outfit!.🙂
10:27 , they are supposed to be like this because I know certain 50s and 60s cars had similar tachometers, one of the Lancias on Tedward's channel had it.
indeed.
Interesting, for a car made as long ago as 1936, that the water temperature gauge is calibrated in degrees C rather than degrees F. Or was that something that was changed in the restoration?
Beautiful car.
That rev-counter is faulty, as is the ammeter.
The WA, now that's the one to find..
In the 1980s when I was working at Barry Simpson Engineering in Devon UK, we restored a WA. Beautiful car. It was owned by Count Jacques de Wurstemberger, a Swiss aristocrat who was also a friendly and approachable man without airs and graces who enjoyed chatting to us whenever he visited the UK to check on his car's progress. In his younger days he had something of a 'reputation' for hard partying that even attracted the attention of the police, and good luck to him say I! He began the Foundation Herve around his own vehicles, which still exists as a notable Swiss motor museum
is that the car that Mr. DeWinter drives in the original Rebecca movie?
As played by Laurence Olivier, yes.
The rev counter is probably chronometric, they work like that.
I'm just going to say. People who don't know anything about the 1930's and choose to avoid it because something something great depression..well, you don't know what your missing.
Amazing ...thank you.
Mg car club have a register for these
Your looking different 👍