Beschreibung
1958 was the last year of these Magnettes – this one therefore has the two-toned paintwork, the larger rear window and the better ‘higher geared’ rear diff.
This car was bought new from Bristol by an officer in the Royal Air Force (The original dealer sticker is still visible on the dashboard). The RAF officer kept the car, and it was garaged when he became too old to drive it. Apart from being rescued by a local mechanic the car essentially had one owner before me. I bought the car in 2009. The car should be steel and mineral blue, but at some point, the top was repainted in grey (I have a tin of the correct paint should a prospective owner wish to return it to the correct colour).
The car was very original when I took it on and the first job, I had done was to restore the bodywork – this included new sills, work to the front valence, wings and door bottoms and a respray of the bottom half of the car. Following this I redid the door seals, carpets and addressed the lighting so that the car would have clearly visible indicators. I also cleaned off the bottom of the car and painted it with POR Rust Preventative Paint system and injected the cavities with Dynax S50 (The Original owner had regularly poured oil into the box sections of the chassis)
Since then, I have steadily improved the car. Here are some of the bigger jobs that I have done:
• Proper seatbelts
• Stainless exhaust.
• The Head gasket and water pump
• Brakes were overhauled with new flexipipes
• Clutch Hydraulics replaced including Master cylinder.
• The Radiator was refurbished.
• Conversion to negative Earth including adding an Alternator.
• Hi-Gear supplied reconditioned Ford Sierra Type 9 Gearbox
• Discreet ‘behind dash’ Bluetooth Sound system
• Carburettors overhauled.
• Front Suspension rebuilt using Poly bushes (modern rubber doesn’t last!)
• Speedo repaired and geared to suit the new gearbox – still doesn’t blinking work though!
• Electronic ignition
• Isofix child car seat fittings added discreetly into the rear seat.
Virtually all parts are still available and reasonably prices (- details above)
The car won the Pride of Ownership at the MG International Show and Spares Day in 2011 which led on to the car being featured in MG Enthusiast Magazine in June 2011. The car lives is a Veloce Carcoon (This is the framed ‘drive in/ out’ type) inside my garage and the system also acts as a battery conditioner. The Car is not perfect and wouldn’t win a concours competition – There are a few jobs to give a new owner small easy projects continuing from where I have got to. An example would be that the car would benefit from having the quarterlight window seals changed and repairing some of the stitching on the driver's seat.
The car has Footman James agreed Valuation of £10, 000The car is owned by myself, and I have been a long-term member of the various MG Clubs and am currently Club Secretary to the 0716 Wessex MG Club. I bought this car because we had two young girls and with the birth of our second the family MGBGT was no longer going to work so I went Magnette shopping. I currently own several other MGs and as the children have grown up I have found that the Magnette is used less and less and so should now find a new home.
