1959 MGA 1500 Roadster Is Our Bring a Trailer Pick of the Day

A relic of a distinct time and just as engaging as it was back again then, this 1959 MGA 1500 roadster is up for auction on Provide a Trailer.

The car or truck has a 72-hp 1.5-liter inline-four and a 4-pace handbook transmission, equally of which have been rebuilt.

With 4 days remaining to go prior to the auction’s conclude date of April 15, bidding is at $16,000.

The MGA operates deep in my loved ones, and that is why this 1959 MGA 1500, now for sale on Bring a Trailer—which, like Car and Driver, is portion of Hearst Autos—caught my eye. Some of my earliest memories are driving in my dad’s 1962 MGA Mark II, holding the shifter from in which I sat in the passenger seat, with my dad’s hand about mine shifting gears that in some way constantly seemed to hurt a minimal. There were being instances we all experienced to things into the two seats with my mom keeping my sister with my brother and I stuffed in the footwell. The car’s aluminum doorways have been soo comfortable that my dad never ever desired any individual even leaning in wanting at the interior shut to the doorway, out of anxiety that their knee may dent the metal. Surely not up to the expectations of today, but come on: the automobile failed to even have seatbelts and nevertheless does not to this working day. Let us just say it was a distinctive time.

1962 mga mk 2

The author’s mothers and fathers with the relatives MGA.

Darin JohnsonMotor vehicle and Driver

My dad finally offered the car or truck to an individual he labored with, but we finished up purchasing it again when my brother was about to convert 16. What a excellent first car to send your 16-12 months-aged off in. Obtaining it to crack the 100-mph barrier was normally entertaining of study course that was dependent on the accuracy of the speedometer. We joke decades later that our mother and father were being obviously striving to get rid of us.

1959 mga 1500

Bring a Trailer

What was often stunning to me was how significantly entertaining the motor vehicle was to push with so little power. This case in point just isn’t really the rocket the Mk II was with its 90 horsepower, but the power-to-bodyweight ratio and a more than able chassis taught me early that electricity isn’t really every thing. These autos failed to operate at each and every community racetrack for no motive, and to this working day these are however a well known option in classic racing.

1959 mga 1500

Provide a Trailer

1959 mga 1500

Even in the late ’50s this motor vehicle nonetheless have to have seemed very quirky, with no door handles and a pull cable you experienced to reach for inside the door pocket driving the plexiglass side curtains. The horn is mounted in the centre of the sprint with a speaker that was meant to be potent ample to listen to everything out of it. From the choke cable and pull starter to the crank start out rod mounted in the trunk just ready for you to try applying when the vehicle has still left you stranded. Middle-mounted chrome knockoff hubs add to the racing heritage.

This example has the exact wire wheels with chrome centre locking hubs we had, which I discover substantially much more appealing than the stock wheels.

1959 mga 1500

Carry a Trailer

I know when my dad acquired his, it was about the British styling and the racing pedigree. Actually, what he needed was the Jaguar E-variety also sitting down in the showroom, so I usually felt this was a lousy man’s version to some diploma. We made use of to discover it amusing that the car was procured for the exact same value as our lawnmower tractor in the 1980s, somewhere close to $2000. The individual who receives this 1 is going to fork out a great deal much more. With the auction scheduled to close April 15, the significant bid with 4 times to go is previously at $16,000.

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