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MG MGA - Nostalgia - photos from the '50s, early '60s

The MGA Register (MGCC Victoria) recently had an MGA Nostalgia Night where members displayed photos of them and their cars back in the '50s and early '60s (with or without girl friends) along with a story about the circumstances. A lot of the photos have been captured here for posterity
https://www.mga.mgcc.info/anightno42019-nostalgia
Please add your photos from this era to this thread.
Cheers
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

I didn't have a car until 1980
Dave O'Neill 2

I had my first car in 1983, so no photo of me.... I draw the line at sharing baby photos here.

But the attached photo is of my street in 1957 or 58, released by the city archive last year. It is still recognisable, but the trees have all grown massively, and in the bottom right there is an MGA.....


Dominic Clancy

Mike E

Superb nostalgia photos, and I was delighted to see my old MG TC racer "MG Buttercup" at 13 photos down in the left-hand column, on a trailer behind an MGA. Also two photos further down, at left, in its yellow paint.

I think George Makin must be driving in the colour photo, and in the (later-dated) B&W shot it looks like driver Vaughan Gibson between the fair hair and the white overalls. Vaughan had an MGA in those days.

I bought Buttercup in 1966, taking over from Vaughan, and campaigned it for three years at Calder Raceway, Philip Island, Sandown, and Winton circuits, and at Templestowe hill-climb.

Would love to know more about those two photos.

I attach a 1960s photo taken at Calder Raceway from the MGCC Victoria club magazine. Not an MGA, but powered by a highly-tuned 1800cc 3-bearing B-series driving through an MGA C/R gearbox.

Mike C



M D Card

Hi Mike,
Yes you are spot on with your observations. Buttercup on the trailer was then owned by Jim McKenzie (he bought from George). That is Jim's MGA towing the trailer - he still has the coupe and in fact brought it along to the Nostalgia Night - it is in better condition (slightly) now.
Not sure if you have heard but Buttercup has been fully restored by a guy up Bendigo way and actually made an appearance at Rob Roy in 2016 (see pic)
Cheers
Mike


Mike Ellsmore

...and another Buttercup pic.
Mike



Mike Ellsmore

The first vehicle I ever built back in 1961 as a 15 year old. Could not afford an MG in those days. My younger brother at the controls in the National Scoutcar Races at Skegness.

The car had 30 gears which included 2 on the pedal crank; 3-speed Sturmey Archer on an intermediate spindle and a 5-speed derailier on the final drive shaft which had a limited slip (none) differential. Inboard rear wheel disc brake. Ackerman steering. Very stiff (none) suspension. WW2 era pram wheels. Separate tubular (heavyweight) chassis made of electrical conduit and junction boxes. World War 1 style lightweight wooden frame with doped nylon nightie (mum's) covering.

My brother came 3rd in the Cub Scout section, reaching 30mph from a standing start over a 1/4 mile straight track (road running parallel to the promenade).

Photo is of brother Bob winning his semi final heat.

Steve



Steve Gyles

No early MG pics from me, my first sports car in the 60s was a Jag. engined 100/4, There wasn't an MG about that could get anywhere near it, actually there wasn't much at all that could--Them new whiz-bang GT Falcon things didn't have a hope which was good fun
Ahh the memories
William Revit

You must have really good eyes Dominic to spot an MGA in that old picture, I tried to enlarge it but, when I did that, each pixel must be the size of an MGA wheel and so it didn't help :^)

Steve, you made me chuckle when you mentioned your
mums "doped nylon nightie"! what did she say when you gave her the nightie back, doped into a rigid race buggy shape?
I bet she looked just great in it! :^)
But probably not quite as comfy to sleep in as it was!

Colyn
Colyn Firth

This pre-dates the 1950s/60s opening thread title. But I have reason to believe the photo may be an MG, possibly a C-Class single seater variant. My late Father-in-Law used to marshal at Brooklands in the 30s while late Mother-in-Law used to time keep and lap count. The photo was taken by her during a race circa 1935.

Steve


Steve Gyles

I couldn't afford an MGA in 1964 - (a PA was for sale at £50 locally) - so I had to make do with a 1936 Morris 8 Tourer for which I paid £12/10s- photo with my mate Terry messing about inside .


Cam Cunningham

Hi Colyn

The restrictions on image size are the issue. Check your email and I will try again here


Dominic Clancy

Thanks Dominic,
I think I have spotted it at last, in the bottom right corner of your pic, I think it is the car 3rd up from the bottom?

The problem may be me! I have recently become short sighted in my left eye, which makes reading without specs a bit easier but the vision is a bit fuzzier too. Its the first sign that I am developing cataracts, which is not uncommon at my age, but also a little ironic in my job as an optician.

Colyn
Colyn Firth

Mike, Garry Kemm had sent me the link to your club's period MGA related photos about a month ago. What a fabulous thing for your club to do!

Looking at the photos, I couldn't help but think that, despite all our modern "advances", life somehow seemed easier, less complicated, less stressful and, frankly, happier back then than it is today.

It's also great to see so many MGAs being used by their owners in the way they were intended to be by Messers Thornley, Enever, Brockelhurst and others at Abingdon, as sports cars and fun cars.

Looking at the three photos of the MGA hurtling along a dirt road raising a cloud of dust, I couldn't help but think how horrified some of today's MGA owners might be subjecting their cars to all that dirt, dust, and possibly stone chips. Heaven forbid! It would take hours to clean! Yet I think I can see the huge grin of the driver enjoying his MGA to the the full. Decades later I can still sense his elation.

Here's a small contribution from me. I visited the Australian National Sound and Film Archive in Canberra last June. They were playing a newsreel from, I think, 1965. I snapped a photo of what I believe is a Bardiman Grey MGA 1500 parked in what appears to be the Warringah Mall car park in Sydney.
It's amazing to think that the vast majority of the cars seen in the photo would have been built in Australia.



T Aczel

Thanks Tom
Definitely around 1965 as I see an EH Holden station wagon in the pic.
MGCC Vic still have a couple of dirt track (and muddy OSTs) events on the competition calendar each year, wisely after the Club Concours!
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

That jerked the memory Mike
Back in the 70's the guys at Rennies talked me into doing an OST in my new(then)v8 roadster conversion, Andrew was going to have a run in his as well but strangely they just turned up there to laugh at me,probably knowing it was going to be a mess, it was out past Calder there somewhere on a grassy slope, good fun day that--remember it well--
Couple of weeks later was flying into Tas and there were only 4-5 passengers in the plane so I asked if I could go up to the cockpit for a look-yep ok was the answer(doubt that would happen now)--Poked my head in the door and the pilot turned around, looked at me and started laughing-"you're that bloke with the blue MG" come in, don't touch anything -------------small world
William Revit

This thread was discussed between 02/12/2019 and 15/12/2019

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