1957 MG MGA Roadster Additional Info:
View our eBay StoreSign up for our Newsletter 1957 MGA Roadster Offered as a buy-it-now. Make us an offer!
Safety Fast! The MGA is one of the hottest cars in the collector car hobby due to its stylish looks, excellent handling and drivability, great club network, and easy parts availability. The driving experience is truly British with its sporty exhaust tone and seat of your pants driving position. Although these cars have risen in value substantially in recent years we pick these cars for continued growth due to their great drivability, good looks and all around ease of ownership.
This exceptional original unrestored example has had only one owner- the seller's late husband bought the car new in 1957. The car has been used on sunny Summer days only - it was never a daily driver-but always a pleasure car. It has always been kept covered and garaged when not in use.
The condition of this car is simply amazing- the paint, chrome, and interior finishes are all in excellent condition, it has just the right amount of patina on the seats to testify to its originality. The car was resprayed back in the 80's in the original color. A British Motor Heritage certificate accompanies the car. The car runs and drives without fault, sounds great, and handles well. The car had not been started in 2 years when I visited and photographed the car and it started right up and ran well after sitting all that time. This is a legendary car in the local MG club- the benchmark car others have used to restore their cars.
Its very difficult to find a car like this- one that has been lovingly maintained and always kept ready to go for a drive by a single owner for over 60 years.
This is a rare opportunity to acquire a true heirloom- a trusted member of the family really-a car that can be lovingly enjoyed and maintained by the next owner-and happily passed down to the next generation.
We have many more photographs of this car, please click on any image to be taken to our full-size image list!
The MGA is a sports car produced by MG division of the British Motor Corporation from 1955 to 1962. The MGA replaced the older T-type cars and represented a complete styling break from the older vehicles. The car was officially launched at the Frankfurt Motor 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 5869 cars were sold on the home market, the highest export percentage of any British car. It was replaced by the MGB. The MGA design 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 TD chassis. A new chassis was designed with the side members further apart and the floor attached to the bottom rather than the top of the frame sections. A prototype was built and shown to the BMC chairman Leonard Lord. He turned down the idea of producing the new car as he had just signed a deal with Donald Healey to produce Austin-Healey cars two weeks before. Falling sales of the traditional MG models caused a change of heart, and the car, initially to be called the UA-series, was brought back.
As it was so different from the older MG models it was called the MGA, the "first of a new line" to quote the contemporary advertising. There was also a new engine available, therefore the car did not have the originally intended XPAG unit but was fitted with the BMC corporate B-Series type allowing a lower bonnet line. The MGA convertible had no exterior door handles, however the coupe has door handles.It was a body-on-frame design and used the straight-4 "B series" engine from the MG Magnette saloon driving the rear wheels through a 4-speed gearbox. Suspension was independent with coil springs and wishbones at the front and a rigid axle with semi-elliptic springs at the rear. Steering was by rack and pinion.
The car was available with either wire-spoked or steel-disc road wheels. The 1489 cc engine produced 68 hp at first, but was soon uprated to 72 hp. Lockheed hydraulic drum brakes were used on all wheels. A coupé version was also produced, bringing the total production of standard MGAs to 58,750. An early open car tested by British magazine The Motor in 1955 had a top speed of 97.8 mph and could accelerate from 0–60 mph in 16.0 seconds. A fuel consumption of 26.7 miles per imperial gallon was recorded. The test car cost £844 including Our Ebay Policies:
Significant Cars is one of the largest Collector Car Brokers and Dealers in the Country. Since 2003 we have worked hard to "change the way collector cars find new homes" by providing unparralleled web presentation of the cars we are representing. Most of our cars have over 30 photographs, and these can be viewed by visiting our website (our eBay handle dot com), or by clicking on any of the photographs in the black background area of our EBay listings. We welcome your call with any questions about any of our listings at anytime at 800-837-9902 and certainly encourage your personal inspection of any of the cars we are selling-just call us and we will be happy to set up an appointment for your to see and test drive the car.
We realize that eBay is a difficult venue to properly evaluate an item as complex as an automobile. You can feel secure bidding with confidence on any of our cars since we guarantee your satisfaction! Should you win the auction and come to see the car and decide you do not want it for any reason, no negative feedback will result, any deposit you may have paid will be cheerfully refunded.
Description images and copy © Significant Cars, Inc.