Adil Kurji’s 1958 MGA

August 12, 2010

I’ve thought about this for a while now and from what I’ve seen, I think everyone deserves to see something special today.

Now, I’m not saying the cars featured before aren’t; so far, we have been blessed with cars exquisitely personalized, slammed to their hearts content, and can hit mind-boggling speeds.

This car is neither of those; it has been kept stock and on paper, it’s not considered ‘fast’ in today’s standards. If you want ‘fast’, check out Ryan’s MR2 or this GT3.

Despite all this, there’s just something about it that just made me… Speechless.

If you do not enjoy this car, then you’re not a true petrolhead. I will take that quote with me to the grave.

I present to you the 1958 MG MGA. It is the type of car that started the roadster niche and spawned to create the booming British automobile history consisting the likes of Triumph, Lotus, Austin Healey, etc. The roadster can also be held responsible for the inception of the Mazda Miata.

This 1958 MGA only had 3 owners in its lifespan. The second owner had it since 1967 till my friend, Adil Kurji, took it off his hands in late 2009.

When I first saw her, I was flabbergasted; here was a car as old as my dad and it still looks immaculate. I’m sure that if she could talk, she would tell me countless stories. For one, this car has seen majority of Canada as the second owner drove it from Ontario to Calgary after graduating in high school.

Exterior wise, it’s absolutely pretty. It has soft curves which hugs your line of view and its small ride height shows what ‘slammed’ is before ‘slammed’ was cool. It warms your heart with every glance.

Granted, it has battle scars of yesteryear accumulated throughout its lifetime; the right quarter panel has scratches from the second owner crashing through barbed wire while autocrossing backwards. Blindfolded. True story.

Now this is not the twin cam version which apparently destroys itself from the inside out. This is the 1489cc engine, which is enough to move this lightweight around corners but will struggle in the highway, especially with its 4 speed manual tranny. This is a cruiser, meant to enjoy the sun and to appreciate how lucky you are to drive this special gem.

When Adil took me out for a test drive, it was a special moment for me; for the first time in my life I was in car, grinning from ear to ear, giggling like a schoolgirl.

The moment I heard that rumble, goosebumps just went all over my body. It was pure heaven. If I punched a bear square in the face and lived to tell about it, it’s half of what I felt that night. Now I know how those rally drivers felt back then. Driving around downtown was a thrill of its own as I enjoyed the endless skies with the roof down. The radio was barely audible through its mono speaker as I became one with the car.

Now this MGA is not practical as it has limited space for another person and maybe, weekend luggage in the trunk. Whatever.

If you wanted to be sensible, you would have bought a normal car. End of story. People buy these roadsters because they are eccentric and fun.

It didn’t matter that the fuel gauge twitches when you hit the throttle down; you didn’t care that to use the speedometer, you had to take the average out between the highest and the lowest recorded speed because it floated. Hell, you wouldn’t even notice that it was in mph.

All these quirks, things that quintessentially defines British automobiles, is what made people fall in love with it.

Now the MGA is not the quickest nor the most agile car around. The faster version hates itself and this MGA also has worn out weather stripping so it leaks when it rains.

And I wouldn’t care. I would buy one of these in a heartbeat and smile at the sunset forever.