30/08/2026
This MGA was built in 1960.
When it was new, South Africa still used pounds, shillings and pence. The country was still a year away from becoming a republic, and the world of motoring looked very different.
The MGA was MG’s bold move into a new era. Gone was the upright, traditional shape of the earlier MGs, replaced by a low-slung body, sweeping curves and proper open-top sports car proportions.
By 1960, the MGA 1600 was powered by a 1,588 cc B-Series four-cylinder engine producing around 80 bhp. That might sound modest today, but in a lightweight little roadster sitting this close to the ground, outright power was never really the point.
It was about simplicity. A four-speed gearbox (although this one is currently being converted to a five-speed), rear-wheel drive, a tiny windscreen and very little between you and the road.
And 66 years later, it’s still doing exactly what it was built to do.
Keeping Cape Town’s cars singing since ’88.
