April 2019
the next day he set about getting his
MGA, brand new. The main problem
was the MGA production had finished
(the MGB was about to be announced
in a month or two) and there were none
left in Adelaide. When he inquired, there
were still two left on the showroom floor
at Lane’s Motors in Melbourne. The red
one had been sold that afternoon but
the white one was one was still avail-
able, if he hurried.
So in August 1962 the car was regis-
tered HPC-650 in Melbourne, driven
back to SA, and as far as I am aware
spent the rest of its life here. Peter did
have the ‘A’ for only a short time. His
wife started a delicatessen business, so
he sold his MGA to a dealer opposite
Eclipse Motors (somebody might re-
member what this was) and bought a
Holden ute to support her business. The
world would be a better place with hus-
bands like that.
This MGA is the 111 th 1600 Mark 2 of
the 148 built in Australia. As far as I can
tell the car has never had a restoration;
it has just been used and maintained,
items replaced whenever needed. Two
honeymoons in its early life probably
explains why the seats have had to be
re-trimmed. It’s always good to have
some provenance for our cars, and if
anyone has any more historical informa-
tion I would be more than grateful.
Angaston is crossed by a rail track, at
Light Pass. The rail track was about one
and a half to two metres above the road
which was gently ramped up to the line
and down the other side.
My Mk 2A Sprite would slide smoothly
up one side and down the other. At any-
thing above about 50 mph the wheels
would leave the ground. The only sense
of being airborne was the engine briefly
racing, and the back tyres chirping on
the way down –no thump, no bounce,
smooth as a young lady’s cheek.
Mates watching from the side of the
road were adamant they could see a
foot of daylight under the wheels on
some of the higher speed runs, but
young lads are always inclined to exag-
gerate.
All this was happening around 1964 –
65, probably about the same time Brian
was conducting his research. Our ‘non-
academic research’ was limited to ob-
serving that one direction worked better
than the other; MGAs negotiated the
hump smoothly; MGBs not so well (too
squishy); and the one attempt by a Mor-
ris 1100 bounced so badly that changes
of underwear were required.
Our research diminished when we ma-
tured a bit, and was eventually curtailed
when the council rebuilt the road up the
level of the rail track.
I kept my first MGA, a 1500, for thirty-
three years, and the plan is to keep this
one a similar time. So if anybody is still
looking for a late model MGA, keep
your eyes on the ‘for sale’ classifieds in
the back of ‘MG Motoring’ in about
2060.
Post Script
Brian’s story evoked a few memories of
my teenage years. In the Barossa, one
of the roads between Nuriootpa and
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