Page 35 - Wayne Carini's Guide to Affordable Classics

Due to production delays, MG was forced to enter their team in the prototype class for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1955. Fitted with aluminum bodies and special gear ratios, the four cars are seen at Abingdon before their departure for France.
THE BACKSTORY
The MG Car Company entered a new era when the MGA debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1955. The new two-seat roadster from MG represented a significant departure, with its smooth flowing envelope coachwork replacing the separate wings, running boards and two-sided hinged hood that MG sports cars had used since the 1920s. The MGA was a modern sports car,
MG MGA
representing a breakpoint that put MG on the path to creating the best-selling sports cars of the next quarter-century.
Born from the TF and the Magnette
The MG TF 1500 Midget was the culmination of 20 years of T-Series development, but very little of the car was carried forward to the MGA. The rolling chassis and suspension were of a similar design, but the MGA offered more room inside by lowering the cabin floor. The new MGA actually owed a little more to MG’s staid passenger car, the ZA Magnette. Since 1953, this mid-size family sedan had used pontoon-style fenders, and also carried the more modern BMC B-Series engine rather than the XPAG units that had powered the T-series. The smooth lines of the MGA were echoed in the new 1956 Magnette ZB, and both models carried the 1489 cc B-Series engine and four-speed manual transmission.
While the MGA adopted the flowing design that characterized the best from the 1950s, it retained the long hood and rearward driving position long associated with sports cars of all types. The MGA roadster’s doors were completely smooth, lacking any opening handles at all. To open them, you reach in (through the side curtains in the unlikely event they’re installed) and pull a cable in the door pocket. The trunk lid is similarly free of interruption. You open the trunk by reaching in behind the driver’s seat and pulling a release handle. The overall effect on visual presentation is astonishing. Hot rodders go to great lengths to achieve the kind of smooth presentation that the MGA possesses naturally.
Based on the EX175 prototype that had run at Le Mans in 1951, the MGA’s shape remained unaltered for the model’s entire production run. The version seen here is an MGA Mk II 1600.
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