1934 MG PA

“ Owned for 12 years, the seller has had the head gasket replaced, as well as a major clutch repair. ”
MG expert and amateur racer says "it is much more lively than others" [he has driven].

Background
Mention ‘MG Midget’ and most people will think of the post-war roadsters of 1961 to 1979, but these machines actually revived a pre-war name used on all manner of diminutive models, including what we have here, an MG PA Midget.

Launched in March 1934, the PA replaced the previous MG J2 – and it did so with considerable style, introducing swept wings and running boards, which hadn’t been a feature of previous Midgets.

It also featured a stronger three-bearing 847cc overhead-cam engine that was higher revving, smoother, and blessed with greater tuning potential. Together with a tougher transmission and better brakes, the cheap but thoroughly cheerful PA offered lovely handsome looks and superior performance given in its minuscule size and lack of overall power; it may only have had 36bhp, but with so little to it – the MG PA weighs just 711kgs – 75mph was easily attainable after passing 60mph in around 23 seconds.

The brochure claimed it came with ‘All the usual equipment that sportsmen demand’, and it cost between £220 and £290, depending on what version you went for.

The PA gently metamorphosed into the PB, which was pretty much the same car but with a bigger 939cc 43bhp engine and a slightly different design of grille, along with a new dashboard made of burr walnut, as the use of the PA’s American Sequoia redwood timber had been banned.

A total of 1973 PAs were built, although 27 were converted into PBs, of which a further 500 or so were constructed until February 1936. So even in their day, P-types were rare; now they’re even pretty much needle-in-a-haystack territory. Thus, an opportunity like this doesn’t come along every day…

Overview
This 1934 MG PA is fresh from a nigh-on four-figure bill from Ecurie Fusil to fettle the sort of niggle little jobs many of us would turn a blind eye to – and this built on earlier work from the same firm, which led to an even larger invoice in 2020.

‘TJ 5143’ has clearly not been run on a tight budget.

Paperwork on file shows it was first used as a demonstrator with Messrs. Woodburn & Spence Ltd of Prestwich before moving, in the same role, to the wonderfully-named J. Cockshoot & Co. Ltd of Manchester.

Little more is known until it made the trans-Atlantic move to Colorado in around 1983. It left the USA in 1989 and was restored by Robert Betteridge in the UK in 1990-91.

The DVLA eventually reissued it with its original registration number, which is a nice touch, and it’s had three former keepers since arriving back in Blighty.

It was the subject of more extensive work in the early noughties; its engine was rebuilt in 2001 and a further 92½ hours of fettling were recorded in 2003.

It’s been in the seller’s care since 2014, and he’s thoroughly enjoyed his time with it. He reminisced that it was his generation’s go-to sportscar, and he’s pleased to have been able to make his lifelong dream of owning one a reality.

One of the best things about it, he smiled, is that it makes people smile. Now, aged 81, he thinks it’s time to let the MG go to a new home.

Estimate: £15,000 - £18,000

View the current bidding price for this car HERE