MG Car Club of South Australia
The Life of Brian’s Theory Mk 2
From..Peter Fietz
T
The first and last owners
Luck is largely about being in the right
place at the right time. On a balmy day
late last year I was having a leisurely
beer in the front garden of a restaurant
over the road from the Birdwood Mill,
MGA parked in front. A passing motor-
cyclist had stopped and was showing
more than average interest in the car,
especially curious about its early his-
tory. I could only parrot off Bob’s story
about the first owner, but that was all he
needed – it was just my luck to be talk-
ing to Peter O’Neill, the first owner.
he article in the March issue of the
magazine about Brain Lee’s leap-
ing MGA at Flinders Uni was good ther-
apy.
Brian might be interested to know that
his MGA 1600 Mk 2 is still alive and
well. It’s been in my custody for the last
four years, and it’s on the club MGA
Register. Unfortunately, it lost its SA 23-
492 rego about ten years ago, but it’s
still Nurburg White, still with its original
engine (thanks to Bob Bazzica – an-
other story), and it’s still in reasonably
tidy condition thanks to previous own-
ers.
Bob Bazzica was in fact the second
owner, although it was very new when
he acquired it. The only thing he could
remember about the first owner was
that it was so late in MGA production
that he had to go to Melbourne to buy it,
and that he soon disgraced himself by
selling it to buy a Holden.
His story is worth retelling. In the early
1960s Peter was a boilermaker, he
owned a TC, and lusted after an MGA,
but an ‘A’ was unaffordable at the time.
But he was about to have some luck.
He went to the races, at Gawler, and
placed a compounding bet on four
horses in four races. They all came
home first past the post and he went
home with a fist full of notes. He wasn’t
going to give that back to the bookies,
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