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MG MGA - Today's laugh

This from an eBay ad for a 61 MGA;

" Also, there are no side windows present on the vehicle. They may be trapped inside the door, but the top groove is closed off with leather trim-work. I have only had the top up one time anyway and it was in my garage just to check the condition. I haven’t had any need for the windows! This car is beautiful and will continue to appreciate in value. Take it home for the spring and summer!"

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80750&item=4530287593&rd=1




carl w french 1

I think we should all look inside the doors for those trapped windows, especially on rainy days.
HJ
Harley

I found my windows 'trapped' in the boot along with about half the upholstery when I bought my A.
I guess that is the difference between a roadster and a convertable, trapped windows! ;-)
Bill Young

Another fine MG being sold on eBay by a genuine enthusiast. LOL. Thanks, Carl, it restores my faith in eBay. LOL
Bob Muenchausen

I have a photo of an MGA roadster with roll-up windows. :)
Steve Simmons

So THAT'S what happened to my side windows! Trapped and never to be recovered. :>)

Ralph

Sorry in advance. If you're going to trap them, what do you use for bait?
The Other MG Brother - Phil White

This sounds funny to us because we know about the windows, but when my father bought our MGA in 1967, we drove it all over southern California up until the early 70's, not knowing the cars had sidecurtains! When it rained, we just got wet. When it was cold, we wore coats.
Not until I looked at another MGA for sale in 1974, did I ever see any sidecurtains. I was so impressed, the man selling the car gave them to me, so I could use them in my car. He said the person that finally buys his car will never miss them. What a guy!
Cleve

I saw this yesterday and couldn't resist so I email him and set him straight on the sidecurtains. I wonder if he will change his ad?
Kris Sorensen

Says a lot for the "professional restoration" and his friend who sold it to him......
Mike

C'mon guys. Your being too sceptical. If you look at all the photos in the Ebay listing, you'll soon find out this guy is a real clown!!

Pete C

Him and his friends, apparently! :D
Steve Simmons

Hey you guy's, I found them there windows on my MGA. Now I just need some help getting that bubble shaped metal roof off!
gary starr

Those of us on the T series (TD & TF) BBS had a good laugh at this guys expense about this also. Cheers - Dave

PS about the only thing better for a laugh is to watch a uninitiated Yank try to release the hand brake on one of our cars (or even better trying to set it).
David DuBois

Dave, that was me when I got my MGA. I was tapping on the button with a mallet, assuming it was stuck. :(
Steve Simmons

Steve - I think all of us were there at one time, whether or not we will admit it. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

I was there and I'll admit it. I would press the e-brake button, pull the lever and release the button, just like on my modern daily driver, and I could not understand why the darn thing wouldn't set. Then I had the brains to actually READ the driver's handbook..."oh, so THAT'S how it works!"

M.D.
'57 Coupe
M. D.

David DuBois sez -

> PS about the only thing better for a laugh is to watch a
> uninitiated Yank try to release the hand brake on one of
> our cars (or even better trying to set it).

It's also fun to watch a non-old, and/or non-Yank try to put gas in a '56 Chevy, you know.
David Breneman

Now, you guys are mean. Gary, your metal bubble keeps the surface tension down so that your windows don't fly out.
David D,
The handbrake lever was just designed poorly and it's not the fault of newbies that it doesn't work the way that it should.
David B,
The best way to get gas into some of those old cars is to just pour it on the top of the car and let it soak into the pores.
:)
mike parker

Listen, thanks to the original way the MG (all Brit cars) "HAND BRAKE" worked was just what IT SAYS a HAND BRAKE!!! I drove my 1952 TD (back in 1956) for two weeks only using the hand brake and trany for slowing and stopping as the hydraulics were gone and I didn't have time to fix yet. Same thing happened on my 1958 MGA at about 28,000 mi back in 1959. When your working and going to nite school and your MG is your only transport your stuck. But you know what back then Detroit iron had such bad brakes that I had no problem in traffic. Biggest problem was that the jerks couldn't see me.
Greg & Grimm
PS I considered it a sad day when the Brits changed to suit the igno's!
G.J. Cenzer

Hi folks. If the windows are trapped inside the door, shouldn't someone let them out? How would you like it if YOUR windows were being held against their will? Cheers!
Glenn
Glenn

Trapped windows! What next? Someone selling an MGA and saying that the chrome is in excellent condition EXCEPT for the small hole in the center of the front bumper, that will have to be patched? lol. Come to think of it, I seem to remember a time when I was also that ignorant about the eccentricities of my newly purchased MGA basket case. I thought the hand crank was the handle for a scissors jack. Cheers! Glenn
Glenn

Glenn,
You can't just let trapped windows out. They may be held against their will, but somebody has to go against whatever dragons are there holding them. I know this because I saw it on Shrek.
mike parker

I sure hope this winter ends soon. Between this thread and Glenn's poems it's been too long already .... we all obviously need to get our cars back on the road !! Cheers Glenn !!

Mike
Michael Hosier

Glenn;;; With the wqindows beig held against their WILL , one question comes to mind, What part of an MGA's window is the WILL?
Long winters do that to one.
in Sunny Florida
taint the heat it's the humididitie
Sandy
conrad sanders

Hi Mike. Whaddya mean with my poems it's been too long a winter already????? LOL Yes, I also think we need to get our cars back on the road BIGTIME. Cheers backatcha, Glenn
Glenn

Sandy,
A sad story about an MGA droptop, I hear
The MGA windows being held against their will,
While some people think they hold tight to the window sill.
But an MGA has no will, and a droptop has no windows.
As a peek through the door opening clearly shows.
So should you find yourself floundering in the rain,
Raise the top, heedless of the pain.
Fasten the side-curtains tightly to the door,
And hope that there are no holes in the wooden floor,
But don't try to remove the trim to raise the window-
Or your heart will be sick with woe!
(apologies to all poets and also Michael Hosier. I just had to do it. ;) )
mike parker

We are gaining momentum - Another subscriber joins the MGA poetry club!

Steve
Steve Gyles

These poems are so bad that they remind me of my favourite limerick:

There was a young man from Hibernia
Who rhymed himself into a hernia
He became quite adept
At the practice except
For occasional anticlimaxes.

(credit to Tom Stoppard, "Travesties")
dominic clancy

And you guys bellyache about MY poems????? lol Have fun guys! Cheers Glenn
Glenn

More poems, I'll be glad when winter is over. Less need for those trapped windows then also. ;-)
Bill Young

LOL @ Dominic!
Steve Simmons

Carl

Thank you for sharing what will unquestionably become part of the MGA lore at every LBC meeting this summer.
But nobody out there has mentioned anything about the fun you can have asking a newby to just "open the door" and jump in. I have confounded even the most tried and true car nuts with that one.

They hang upside down with their head in the car and try to turn the sidescreen nob, they push the door down they lift it up and they tell me it must be keyless entry, some just do not ever get it and climb over the side.

All I can say is I am glad I had done some reading about the MGA before I went to see the first one (I had ever seen) up for sale. Parked and forlore for 30 years and being sold by a friend of the family I walked into the garage to find 4 guys (seller and 3 potential buyers) all standing about looking very wise and informed. I casually walked over to the car slid back the window and reached in , opened the door and sat down and was greeted with hoots of "how the hell did you do that" "we have been here for an hour trying to get the doors open"

From that moment I was a british car expert in thier eyes at least.
Ralph H .

This thread was discussed between 24/02/2005 and 05/03/2005

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