MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - Original MGA dies?

Just appeared on Ebay 110665964739..said to be the original dies/formers for MGA panels. What would the value of these be?
Gary Lock

Priceless.

Ken
k v morton

Fraud. They appear to have some used wings/fenders with some braces that MIGHT be used for taking molds for fiberglass parts, and some homemade tooling for forming (maybe) some small sections.
Certainly not factory press tooling!

FRM
FR Millmore

For interest I have attached a picture of a body panel press in a BMC factory.
This is not the factory where MG bodies were made but it would have been the same.
They would not use jigs but properly formed heavy metal dies pressing out the panels in a single movement.
I have watched the press in the photo stamping saloon body panels.

Mick


M F Anderson

I agree Mick..also, the front wings were pressed in two, joined, and lead loaded?
Gary Lock

Yes, it must be remembered that all shapes cannot be pressed only. Many shapes are pressed then go to folding and bending machines to make the final shape.
I watched all the stages of a car body being built in a BMC factory in 1958, pressing, bending, shaping, welding, painting etc......

The Service Parts List (attached) gives an idea of some of the panels involved.

Mick


M F Anderson

Interesting photo posted by Mick. I used to work for Clearing Press at the US engineering office near Chicago, fascinating business. You can see (or used to see) Clearing presses in most automotive stamping plants in the states and Europe. They are no longer in business.

G Goeppner

They could be forms or bucks to construct replicas from sheet aluminium. The thing though that surprised me was the weight of them at 200 kilos (unless he has made a mistake). A full set of MGA steel wings only weighs 27 kilos ........Mike
m.j. moore


Mick,

That photo of a body panel press is exactly as I remember at Lark Hoskins at Zetland in 1966. I was a junior in an external Chartered Accountant auditing team at the time and we used to take 'long lunches' and stroll ( boss cocky-like) around the plant site. Nobody ever queried who we were, I suppose because we were in suites and assumed to be 'management'. I remember watching MGB and Morris 1100 cars in various stages of completion. Unfortunately I did not know at the time that by 2001 I would be the owner of a B and have a personal interest in the old factory. If only I had had the foresight to take photographs then!!!
Roger T

This is a mold for a large auto part used in a press like the above mentioned.


R Garcia

Other mold


R Garcia

The description has been amended..the items are said to be the formers for the dies which were used to create the panels?
Gary Lock

The guy has no clue as to how such tooling or panels are made. The assertions that these are original factory tooling are ridiculous.
This is so stupid that I must assume the guy believes his statements are true; I don't expect even the most enthusiastic fraudster would try to foist this off on the gullible.
It is possible that the braced used wings were used to reproduce "close" copies in alloy or plastic, but that ain't factory. The bracing shown is about what it takes to keep a rear wing to the correct shape when it is off the car, as you would need to do to take a good mold for making FG panels.I have read and thought of filling panels with concrete as a buck to make repro panels, and I wouldn't be surprised if some odd corners of these were so filled, which would account for the weight. Note that "200kg" is a couple of orders of magnitude less than real tooling would weigh.

FRM
FR Millmore

I don't know about the provenence of these particular items, but it is possible that they were bucks used by the factory in the formation of aluminum fenders as used for factory prepared competition cars. MGA bodies were made in Coventry and shipped completely assembled to Abbington. I seem to recall from somewhere that they used a rubber die forming system and that is what accounted for the dimensional variations that are found.

Vitrikas mentions that the aluminum fenders were made by first running them through the regular production presses and then finishing them by hand as the aluminum didn't form the same as steel.
John DeWolf

Some years ago an MGA enthusiast, who lived in Sri Lanka, visited me a few times. He told me that he and his colleagues were making one-off MGA body panels by filling, say a front mudguard, with concrete to use as a buck. I don't know how successful this was but I do know that they were making replica Morris Minor body panels and sending them to the UK for sale. He showed me photos of their workshop in Colombo (which I tried to find without success!) at which they had a collection of all sorts of interesting old cars, mostly English with a few prewar MG's amongst them!
Barry Bahnisch

Barry,

Probably molds made of concrete is the easiest and inexpensive way to fabricate large parts using fiberglass or other moldable plastic resins.
Molds made of fiberglass is other option.
R Garcia

This thread was discussed between 24/03/2011 and 28/03/2011

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.