A VERY SPECIAL MGA
The MGA, a timeless Classic.
On entering the village of Charlbury 1950cc bored out engine he was worried Again the top came down and off we
we headed out on the Burford Road and the power delivery would be very ‘on off’ went to the village of Leafield. Leafield is
stopped to take some pictures outside with lumpy running at low speeds. This located on the edge of the Cotswolds,
the local train station. The station was wasn’t to be the case with the engine being 18 miles northwest of Oxford, in the
opened by the Oxford, Worcester and ideal for modern traffic with a very middle of the triangle formed by the towns
Wolverhampton Railway in 1853. It is a very progressive power curve. He took it steady of Witney, Burford and Charlbury. The
original station building and formed a perfect but very quickly got the hang of it, amazed at Saxon barrow near the centre of the
backdrop for the ’50s MGA. We took our how easy it was to drive with the car feeling village is 650 feet above sea level; before
pictures and detoured down one of the very modern. As this gearbox has a Ford the 1974 boundary changes it was the
many lanes leading off the main road, to Sierra background this was not surprising. highest point in Oxfordshire.
really test the MGA. At last we decided it Andy is used to driving modern MGs having Approaching the village I was surprised
was time to take the car back and try out the an MG ZR, ZS and TF in his driveway. how completely different this car was to the
other recently restored example. Andy He was soon taking bends at a fair lick of previous car we tested, with everything
drove back; two things worried him. He had speed feeling totally in control, impressed feeling, well, new! This is a car to die for and
never driven an MGA and having the with the handling of the car as he was thoughts of taking a second mortgage sprung
expecting it to be a handful as, after all, it
was an old car, but instead he found a car
that had predictable handling that he could
put into a bend with confidence and power
out smoothly.
We arrived back at Oselli to be
handed the keys to the newly-restored car.
Charlbury Station formed the perfect backdrop for the The sleek lines of the MGA dash.
50’s MGA.
With the 1950cc engine the MGA had a fair lick of speed.
www.mgcc.co.uk NOVEMBER 2008 Safety Fast! 25
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