I first saw an MGA Twin Cam at Oenstatt’s (sp?) foreign car wrecking yard near Long Beach, California in the mid to late ‘60s. It was a totally restored car (hardtop) and absolutely beautiful. It was for sale and, if I hadn’t been young and penniless, I would have bought it! LOL. The wrecking yard was where I would find used parts for my Peugeots.
In my youth I had a MGA twin cam that a service man had purchased in Germany and brought back to South Carolina. As with many of these cars it burned one of the valves and knocked a hole in the piston. This was a problem with the cars. Evidently there was a lean portion of the fuel feed that burned the valves.I paid $425 for the car. It was a roadster black in color. It was purchased when I was a Ph.D grad student at Penn State after my return from Vietnam in 1970.
My first car was a 1962 MGA. Bought it with a blown engine for $150.00 and rebuilt the engine myself. It had those Lemans knock off wheels I drove it for nine years sold it for only $900. I miss that car.
Nice story. Thank You! . . . My late father told the story that back in the early 60’s, he looked at a twin-cam sitting in a local Iowa used car lot. As much as he desired it, he had a family with three young childrem to support on a meager income. Then he owned a ‘62 Austin Healy 3000 for the final 40 years of his life.
Very nice presentation at a fabulous venue. Seeing so many significant British aircraft in the background adds to the video. It's noticeable how much the "wall" has degraded over time - it looks like the car might even bottom out in some of the rough spots! Thanks for sharing. 👍👍👏👏
To BeeGee I think the aircraft, at the BROOKLANDS MUSEUM (once the Brooklanss Race Track, in the 1920's, ) is the slightly scaled down version of CONCORDE, that used to be on show from the road, at London's Heathrow airport - when Concorde was still in use! Brooklands does have so many AIRCRAFT connections. Roads around there have many air craft and pilot's names, as a result!
Very very nicely preserved/restored car and excellent video. I knew of the Twin Cam but not very much about it and had never seen that very pretty engine before. I would like to know more about the design and development of that head. It must have been quite a task to develop this race version of the MGA and I see the old MG philosophy of "let's use what we've got" very much in play. I had no idea that it carried over it's predecessor's chassis which must have made it heavy and flexible for a racer. I used to have an MGF Trophy 160 which I modded to 190 along with many other hidden mods including Torsen diff and engine access was similarly difficult through removable panels above and on both sides which was that models demise really as it made maintenance time consuming and expensive so was neglected by "casual" owners and contributed to the engine's much discussed cooling problems, all fixable by competent home enthusiasts.
If you own a Twin Cam in the US, you should already know by now Auto Vintagery (James Alcorn) in San Diego, California and Moss Motors in Santa Barbara, California (Stu).
it is November 14, 2022, I have a 1958 mga that I have earned since I was 15 years old, in 1968.. I had the new rocker panels leaded in , Then the car underwent a two week doors off, trunk and engine cover, bumpers, off paint job.. I also have an aluminum hardtop as well as the convertible top behind the seats. My mga was a darker green than the one in this video. I believe it was called, I’m going to attempt to spell it TOYOLATTA green.. after I had the body made looking new again painted tartan red which was in the mga color, I had the engine rebuilt two totally stock specifications, new clutch and pressure plate, then I stored the car in my mother’s garage in 1974. Now it is in storage in my garage. my mga has steel wheels with hubcaps. I turn the engine over with the hand crank at least once a month .. my car has the standard pushrod engine. I knew a man that was into racing these types of cars decades ago. He told me that the twin cam engine had a lot of problems at the pushrod engine does not have.. my standard steering wheel was cranking where the spokes made the rim so I installed a MGB steering wheel which went right on.. I have been offered a great deal of money for this car from people that found out that I had it through acquaintances.. I always said I would get it back on the road when I retire, No I’m retired but my garage is so full of motorcycles, I don’t have much room to work on it to make it road worthy
Jody, you certainly have a beautiful piece of history there. The first cars I really spent much time reading about and watching for, on the road were the MGTC and the MGA. I had nothing against the TD or the TF (and I had the opportunity to drive an MGTD occasionally). The TC had the history that caught my eye from its ready acceptance by the American soldiers & Airmen who returned from their time during WWII in England. The MGA was a major step forward and its bodywork was just beautifully graceful.
A twin cam 1600 - 10 years before the Ford Escort TC!!! Just a little more development would have Yank-proofed that engine, and it could have been an option on all the B series engined cars. Perhaps even a 6 cylinder version for the Healey... 200hp?
I always considered the MGB a styling regression over the "A"; by comparison it looks lumpy - perhaps like the fit tart you married who turned into a bloated sponge. Not that I have anything against bloated sponges, they have provided ample fun across the years and I'm sure, to many. For me however, the "A" has cleaner lines and a purity of design. Can't help but thinking what a rotary engine and a chassis revision might unleash in the right hands.
It is really too bad they didn't/couldn't allocate the resources to further develop this engine. It might have changed the whole trajectory of the company. It reminds me of the Chevy Corvair in that it could have had an amazing future had they continued to improve it.
Could do without that irritating, hokey music!...I would rather hear that raspy exhaust note!...These cars are sleek and very nice, but were underpowered, compared to a TR3, or a Healey. And I have never warmed up to the MGB look...just rather boxy, and still were underpowered!
