1934 MG PA: Catch a Bird, Drop an Engine

I guess it had to happen, my turn to own a car.

          My eldest brother was already famous for his old-car antics. He spent one afternoon, for example, lying in the backseat of his aging Citroen Traction Avant kicking out the roof where it had collapsed from carrying a piano. On another occasion, he returned home in his 1940s Rover with grass caught in the door hinges: He had careered up a roadside bank while rounding a particularly tight corner (he remembers looking up through the sunroof at the hedge flashing past). Another time, he abandoned a car on a main road in impenetrable fog, only to hear a car approaching from the opposite direction. As he ran for dear life, he heard the most almighty crash as the two cars met--and were wiped out.

          The year was 1963 when I was 17, so what to buy? It had to be old, as it had to be cheap--but it also had to be sporty and good for “pulling the birds.” Also, I wanted to live up to my brother's reputation. My luck was in: I found a 1934 MG PA (a revered British sports car marque) for a mere £65 ($110). It had its imperfections. The fuel gauge was an old stick which I poked into the tank and pulled out to see how far up it was wetted. The engine should have been an 850cc overhead cam (pretty advanced for 1934), but in fact it was a very tired 1142cc Ford Popular side valve engine that had been installed haphazardly, in a very amateurish way.

          But, most importantly, the bird attractant was still operative. I courted my wife in the car (actually we are still married!), and so it brings back many happy memories, though also some nervous ones. The front engine mount involved a lip of metal resting on a beam and held in place by a ¼-inch bolt. One day I drove over a drastic bump, causing the front of the engine to jump off its mount and literally hit the road. I had to get out and jack the engine up off the pavement. The MG's road holding was non-existent, its cable-operated brakes a joke. Yet, it was a great first car, enabling me to capture a prize bird and causing enough scary moments to surpass even my brother's antics.

          I sold the car a couple of years later for £120 to a US Marine stationed in the UK who planned to take it home with him. I still wonder what happened to it.--Colin Masterson, Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, UK.