Australia and the MGA go approach again. From 1957 to mid-1962 greater than 2000 MGAs had been assembled in factories at Enfield and Zetland in Sydney.
In a streetscape then dominated by chunky Holden sedans and blocky Bedford vehicles, the British sports activities automotive was a sensation, turning heads like Ferraris or Lamborghinis do at this time.
Beneath its sheet steel this MG nonetheless had the separate chassis, lever-arm shocks, leaf-spring dwell rear axle and wood flooring of the classic vibe TC, TD, and TF fashions that preceded it.
Nevertheless it regarded trendy, with streamlined bodywork styled by MG’s chief designer Syd Enever that was impressed by the rebodied TD roadster he had created in 1951 for the Le Mans 24 Hour race.
Six a long time later, the MGA is again – and this one’s going to show heads, too. Developed in Britain by MG restoration and restomod specialist Frontline Automobiles, the brand new Frontline MGA seems like a rigorously restored traditional.
However below the pores and skin is a contemporary powertrain, plus redesigned and upgraded suspension, brake, and steering {hardware}, that mix to make it a brilliantly beguiling sports activities automotive.
The Frontline MGA follows the system established with the corporate’s lengthy line of MGB restomods.
“The MGA was the pure subsequent step for us,” explains Tim Fenna, founder and chief engineer of Frontline Automobiles. “It’s an icon of British motoring, however one which was all the time crying out for extra efficiency and refinement.”
Australian market variations of the automotive will probably be manufactured, bought and serviced by Sydney-based Frontline Automobiles Australia, a subsidiary of Fashionable Traditional Automobiles Basis, which has constructed Frontline MGBs for the previous 10 years.
Frontline Australia MGAs begin with an Australian market donor automotive – a roadster, or the rarer coupe – that may both be sourced by Frontline or provided by the shopper.
The chassis is strengthened and fitted with a redesigned entrance suspension that options Nitron telescopic shocks and fabricated higher hyperlinks rather than the classic lever-arm shocks that had been commonplace on the unique MGA.
The unique leaf-sprung banjo rear axle is swapped for a late mannequin MGB unit that’s been modified to permit coil springs and Nitron shocks and is situated by higher and decrease trailing hyperlinks and a Panhard rod.
Different chassis upgrades embody disc brakes all spherical, the entrance rotors vented and clamped by four-piston calipers, and digital rack and pinion steering. Clients can select between traditional-style 15-inch wire wheels or 15-inch Dunlop alloys that appear like the wheels fitted to Jaguar’s D-Kind and Light-weight E-Kind racers in the course of the Fifties and 60s.
Clients can select between two naturally aspirated Mazda engines, one a 2.0-litre unit that develops 168kW of energy at 7200rpm and 241Nm of torque at 4500rpm, the opposite a 2.5-litre unit that develops 216kW at 7100rpm and 330Nm at 4200rpm. They drive the rear wheels by way of a Mazda five-speed handbook transmission.
Every engine incorporates a bespoke particular person throttle physique induction system, revised camshaft profiles, a brand new ECU, and a tuned stainless-steel exhaust system. The two.5-litre engine’s steadiness shaft has been eliminated to scale back frictional losses and enhance throttle response.
All of the mechanical {hardware} is topped with a physique that retains its inventory dimensions however has been rigorously reworked to enhance its structural rigidity, primarily by the use of the addition of an aluminium honeycomb flooring (British-built fashions have a metal flooring) that now tightly ties collectively the bodysides.
Element bodywork adjustments embody the removing of the entrance indicators – they’re now situated throughout the trendy LED headlight items – and the deletion of the octagonal MG badge from the boot lid. Look intently and also you’ll additionally see discreet Frontline badging close to the vents both facet of the slender bonnet, however in any other case the Frontline MGA seems identical to a superbly restored authentic automotive.
The cockpit is extra luxuriously trimmed, in leather-based or Alcantara, than that of any authentic MGA, nonetheless. The sprint options Frontline-branded Smiths dials, and there’s an audio system with two audio system, two tweeters, an amplifier, and a Bluetooth module all managed by a discreetly hidden head unit.
The trendy luxuries don’t cease there. Clients can specify heated variations of Frontline’s non-compulsory aluminium-framed bucket seats, and one-touch electrical home windows can be found on the coupé.
Air-conditioning can be obtainable as an choice. Australian-spec vehicles get a bunch of minor element adjustments – the whole lot from ADR-approved seat belts to metal brake strains – that enable the Frontline MGA to be registered on Australian roads.
We had the possibility to get behind the wheel of the primary Frontline MGA constructed, a British-spec automotive fitted with the two.0-litre engine, and a comparatively tall 3.07 diff reasonably than the three.4 or 3.7 ratios sometimes used within the Frontline MGBs as a result of the proprietor wished the automotive to really feel relaxed whereas cruising. And relaxed it’s: At 80km/h in fifth gear the Mazda engine, which can rev enthusiastically to 7750rpm, is popping simply 2000rpm.
The engine sounds correctly rorty-snorty once you take it by way of the gears, like an old-school British efficiency four-cylinder engine. And although the Mazda 4 has far more top-end chunk than any of these previous Brit engines, it has a equally stable swathe of mid-range torque you may exploit with the transmission’s tightly packed ratios.
The Mazda powertrain weighs 60kg lower than the classic MG {hardware}, which takes weight off the entrance axle and means the Frontline MGA suggestions the scales at about 900kg. So, regardless of its tall diff ratio, the little MG felt marvelously alive on British B-roads, simply scooting to 130km/h or 145km/h between the corners.
The trip is tightly managed, nevertheless it’s not harsh, due to the best way the Nitron shocks take care of sharp inputs and the absorptive high quality of the generously sidewalled 185/65 R15 Bridgestone Turanza tyres. The digital energy steering assists as much as about 50km/h, then drops away.
Really feel and suggestions by way of the steering wheel rim is terrific. You possibly can have handbook steering if you need. Don’t trouble. It’ll solely make you sweat muscling the woodrim steering wheel at low speeds.
Like all old-school rear drive sports activities vehicles, the Frontline MGA likes to be braked in a straight line, then was a late apex as you get on the throttle. Get too formidable together with your proper foot, although, and the ample traction from the usual Quaife limited-slip differential will push the nostril large.
Brake really feel is superb, and the well-placed pedals, mixed with the superbly crisp throttle response and the brief throws of the transmission, make heel-and-toe downshifts a cinch.
What stands out in regards to the Frontline MGA, nonetheless, is how taut and tight it feels. There’s no scuttle shake – none – and no vibration again by way of the steering. Suspension noise and influence harshness are very nicely suppressed.
Although it’s very gentle, and with a dwell rear axle, the automotive feels astonishingly planted and composed, even on detached roads. When it comes to the best way it drives the Frontline MGA is a very beautiful piece of labor.
Certainly, there are trendy sports activities vehicles that don’t really feel as coherent as this reworked MG. For sheer enjoyable and driver engagement the trendy sports activities automotive that comes closest to the Frontline MGA is – paradoxically, given its powertrain – Mazda’s MX-5 roadster, a automotive that’s 47mm shorter, with an 80mm shorter wheelbase, however 262mm wider and a minimum of 170kg heavier.
There’s one thing else within the MX-5 comparability, too: The concept that much less is extra. Tim Fenna says the two.0-litre Frontline MGA takes about 5.0 seconds to dash from 0 to 100km/h (the 135kW MX-5 takes a minimum of 6.0 seconds). The two.0-litre Frontline automotive is thus simply 0.7 seconds slower to 100km/h than the two.5-litre mannequin, and each variations have a prime pace of 250km/h.
Elevated price of the larger engine apart, we suspect its additional energy and torque might make the Frontline MGA, which has neither traction management nor ABS, a little bit of a handful, particularly on a moist highway. The two.0-litre mannequin feels the sweet-spot automotive.
The unique MGA was a comparatively inexpensive sports activities automotive. The Frontline MGA shouldn’t be, with costs beginning at about $290,000 plus taxes and delivery and the price of a donor automotive, based on Frontline Australia CEO David Dyer.
“The main motive for constructing the automotive in Australia is the shopper can get entangled,” Dyer says.
It additionally means entry to an affordable inventory of comparatively rust-free right-hand drive donor vehicles – 81,000 of the 101,000 MGAs constructed between 1955 and 1962 had been exported to the US, and fewer than 1900 right-hand drive vehicles are believed to exist within the UK. What’s extra, the Australian-built Frontline MGA doesn’t appeal to the imported car luxurious automotive tax.
CarExpert’s Take
Sure, the Frontline MGA is dear. However for the cash you get a genuinely bespoke, joyously analogue driver’s automotive that’s totally partaking at real-world speeds on real-world roads.
And it’ll flip extra heads than any run-of-the-mill trendy Ferrari or Lamborghini.
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