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MG MGA - Mystery holes on top of dash

Hey all, On my 1960 MGA, there are (2) small holes in front of the rear view mirror. They are about a #10 size, 1 & 1/2 inches apart and they are centered between the defroster vents.

I cannot seem to find them, or anything attached to them, in any pictures that I can find. Any ideas what they could be for? (Lift the dot studs)?

BTW, the picture I took was too large to load. Thanks, Tom
Thomas McNamara

Thomas,
Yes, they are for the lift the dot fasteners for the tonneau cover.
Ralph
L Poupard

Thomas,
Ralph is correct, you have two lift the dot studs there, quite close together. The reason being that the tonneau cover has a zippper down the middle. and it has a lift the dot on either side of the zipper.

Frank
F. Camilleri

Once again, thanks. I never thought that the mirror would have studs in front of it! Tom
Thomas McNamara

Just to provide visual clarification of what the others have said.

Best to load photos in VGA format from your camera.

Steve


Steve Gyles

Hey Steve and all, THANK YOU for the image but.........
the two mystery holes are in front of the mirror when looking from the drivers position. I also have the ones shown in the picture for the tonneau cover. Are they for more studs? Tom
Thomas McNamara

It sounds like at some point someone switched from one tonneau to another and the holes were in different places.

Or, maybe they tried some other accessory, like a different mirror, or a coffee cup holder, or a cell phone holder, or...etc etc.

Who knows?

Do you know the PO? Have any old pics?

Did someone here on the list use to own your car, or know the person that did (surprising how often that kind of thing seems to happen...)?

I don't think there is any "standard" reason why the holes should be there if not for the mirror or the tonneau, though.

Do they line up with the mirror holes exactly? Maybe the mirror has been moved for some reason - personal preference?

JIM in NH
AJ Mail

They will be for weight saving, your car was probably a famous and successful race car!

Seriously though, how about a picture then we can guess again.
N McGurk

The picture that Steve has posted is for the tonneau studs that have a single bolt to secure them. Often the type of stud that takes two bolts/screws is used on the front scuttle top.
J Bray

Right JB - mine has the turn buckle type studs - probably not original though.
Cam Cunningham

John

Never knew that. Interesting. I find those studs often become loose with frequent use so I can appreciate the utilisation of better anchored versions.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Hey all, here is an image of the "mystery holes". Any ideas what they could be for? Thanks, Tom


Thomas McNamara

Very odd. Just looked at my scuttle. Those holes would only just be inside the windscreen bottom rail. May be the previous owner fixed up a vertical mirror slider as in the MGB.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Follow on thought from my last post, any additional holes in the top rail?

Steve
Steve Gyles

Hey Steve and all, I think that the vertical "rod" on the MGB windshield holds the top frame from lifting, due to the pressure differences, with the top up at speed.

I don't have the top rail so I can't say about there being additional holes.

I guess the question now is how to hide them. It would seem a poor location for LTD studs.

Tom
Thomas McNamara

Tom

As you don't have the top rail I presume you have a sports windscreen. Have you retained the same rake by using the existing side stanchions and support bar?

My side stanchions are Le Mans style, being more raked so I have been unable to use the support bars. I blanked them off using round head machine screws set in cup washers. This will allow me to return to the standard windscreen should I ever wish. In the case of your holes I presume from your photo that the paint job is done for now. I guess you could insert rubber bungs or perhaps go my route.

Steve


Steve Gyles

Car dealers often used to fix a small metal plate to the car, indicating which dealer had supplied the car, (in a similar way to the sticker in the rear screen of modern cars). These metal plates were fitted with two screws

I would put two small stainless steel bolts in the holes, they would be visible but not out of place.

John
J Bray

It would be interesting to solve the mystery one way another. To either prove or disprove my theory I wonder if someone with an MGB could measure the distance between the centre rod bottom bracket holes so that we could compare to Tom's holes (item 28 on the attached Moss diagram).

Steve


Steve Gyles

Picture of a metal plate fitted to one of my cars by Mill Garage of E18 London.

Distance between hole centers is 1 3/4" (45mm)


J Bray

John

Probably 2 of the most likely answers. Where did the dealer attach your plate? Seems sacrilege to scar a new car externally with that sort of thing. Nevertheless, it's part of your car's heritage and if it was my car I would put it back in place.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve,

The plate was was fitted to the dasboard with two small bolts. I'm not sure how to confirm the supplying dealership, so it has not been refitted.

The only issue with Tom's car is that to drill the holes shown in the photograph, the winscreen would have to be removed. I don't think a supplying dealership would go to that much trouble unless cars were supplied to dealerships without the Windscreen.

I also wondered if the car had been fitted with an aeroscreen at some time, but if this was the case there would be another pair of holes as well.

The quiz continues
J Bray

John

I agree with you. I had aeroscreens on my old MGTC. They were large bolt holes, not like the small one shown in Tom's photo.

Steve
Steve Gyles

This thread was discussed between 04/05/2012 and 08/05/2012

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