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MG MGA - MGA Coupe to Convertible Conversion

Hi all,

I noticed on Barney's site he had a picture of a coupe converted to a convertible. I'm curious as to how it was done and would love to see some pictures of a conversion in progress. I prefer the roadster and I am not planning on making a roadster out of a coupe, I just like seeing the creative ways people do these types of things. Come to think of it, back home there is a lonely coupe that has been calling me for 10 years of so.....
Tom Baker

I don't know if it is the same car, but I have a few photos on this page of my site: http://www.mgnuts.com/mg/modslate/
Steve Simmons

Tom:

FWIW the car in question is NOT a Coupe conversion, but a Tourer fitted with Coupe doors. This was done for the Managing Director of a major MG distributor or Main Dealership (I’ve forgotten which) while the cars were still in production. If this were carried out by Abingdon, then there would have been a project number; but as that does not seem to have been the case, we would have to assume that it was undertaken privately.

The car appeared a couple of years ago on the website of a company called Rambling Roadsters, who specialised in classic car hire. They now seem to be absent from the planet, so it would be interesting to know what has become of the car.

The only MGA conversion worth a hoot, IMHO, is the original Abingdon one of Tourer into Coupe; I hope you won’t be so crass as to vandalise one of the latter!

Hope you’re making good progress with your sidescreens.

Alex
59 1600 Coupe
60 1600 Tourer
A. W. Risk

Steve,

Thant is the car I saw. Great pics on your site. How have I missed them???

Alex,

Your explination makes sense. The car looks good, though. I'd love to see the original Abingdon one sometime.

No, unless there were extreme circumstances (like a coupe that rolled over and repairs would not be possible) I would not convert a coupe. Not too many of those left. Better to try to convert the roadster. But that would ruin the classic feel of the car.

My brain is always spinning for these types of projects. Converted a Datsun 240Z to a convertible after a rollover about 10 years ago. Would love to to an MGB V-8 someday (with a rubber bumper further converted to chrome).

Ah yes, the infamous sidescreens. I have been trying to find a way to contact Bob West but have had no luck. I searched the archives and found a reference to a "cover kit" for the sidescreens. Wonder if that is what I'm looking for??? The Lexan sliding screens are in good shape and would polish up well. ALl the brackets are there and I think I can get the thin 'glass' pieces from Todd Clarke.

We'll see I guess.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom Baker

Hi all

There has also been a coupe that has been converted to a convertible. I found a picture of it in an old issue of Safety Fast dating from January 1982. It was a 1600 MkII coupe, then owned by Ron Zoltolski. The MGA was maintained at Moto-Build of Hounslow, who also carried out this conversion. The basic idea was to chop off the top and then adding a hood and frame. Simple idea, but the execution proved quite difficult. A major problem was to make a good seal between the hood edge and the door frame, so they made a removable door surround to provide a rigid edge to the hood materials. There's a photo on my webpage: http://rutgerbooy.nl/MGA_&_Magnette_specials.htm
Does this special still exist?

Rutger
Rutger Booy

This thread was discussed between 26/04/2006 and 01/05/2006

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