CAR OF THE MONTH

AUGUST, 2008

1936 MG VA SALOON
(Otherwise known as the One and a Half Litre).

OWNER - BILL

What a wonderful car this is .
When we saw this car, whilst on holiday in South Africa, our hearts stopped. To boot, we had the opportunity of going for a drive in it.    A lovely experience.

Now for a little bit of history......

"In 1935 I was just a youngster and my mother, brother (older than me) and myself went to England on the mail boat, the "Arundel Castle".   My brother went to see new machinery for our factory.  My father stayed and kept things
going at the factory. During our stay (6 months) we hired a Rover car and drove all over England and Scotland and that was where we first saw MG's.  My mother was very taken with them, they were the big 6 cylinder jobs as the VA was not on the road at that time.

On returning home my mum told my dad about these cars and went to McCarthy Rodways, the agents and they showed them the brochure of the VA which had become available. My dad ordered one and in January 1937 the car arrived and we were all delighted with it. My Dad drove the car for 21 years, six of those years were during the war and he only got 8 gallons of petrol per month, as a result the car only did 85000 in that period. It was in 1958 that McCarthy's approached my dad to let them put the VA on display in their showroom and they gave my dad at cost a new MG Magnette. Unfortunately, dad only drove the Magnette once and then he died. I took over the car and on 7th July 2008 I had driven the car for 50 years and it is still looking good.

My dad was one of the founder members of the MG Car Club in Durban and it was founded in March 1939 and is the oldest MG Car Club outside the U.K. When McCarthy's returned the VA to me I put it on blocks in my warehouse where it remained for 46 years before I had it restored to its former glory. "

During its lifetime the latches for the rear ventilators were removed. Bill has been searching high and low for another pair and has not yet had any luck. If, perchance, you happen to have a pair, or know where he can obtain them, please email the webmaster

(Brochure drawing of a latch on the rear ventilator)

   
Interior Upholstery has since been redone

   
The tool box in the boot lid.   Most of the tools have unfortunately found new homes.
(It sure would be nice to 'restock' this box)

ThThe MG VA Brochure was an amazing piece of work. They did not use photographs, but rather it was 'a work of art' done with charcoal and coloured chalk sketches.
(All photos shown were taken of the original -well worn- brochure)

Click here for Slide Show of the original Brochure
( To return to this page again, please click the back arrow)