Projects 1958 MG Magnette build

You are doing a great job teaching through your pictures and captions. Not everyone here was born a mechanical genius and can learn from your detailed posts. Thanks!

 

I still think you need one of these.

http://www.mossmotors.com/graphics/products/instructions/150-059.pdf

 

Oh HELL yeah!

 

There is a beautiful Magnette that I see every so often in my town. Really an elegant little car. I was in British parts at several dealerships back in the early 70s and recall all of those MoWoG parts. Some customers were a riot. "I got an MG, but someone put a Mowog trans in it. Do you have any parts?" Like MoPar, it's an acronym. Morris Wolseley Garages.
Ahh, Lucas. Three position switches, off, dim and flicker. The push starter. Prince of Darkness. A gentleman does not motor about in the evening. Still miss my Healeys

 

Hmmm suppose a 20's something Brit with a few Quid in his pocket from the mill, in the late 60's came across this Magnette and wanted to build a bit of a hotted up street car to take his blokes to the pub on Saturday night, and his girl out punting on Sunday. ( the british version, not the urban slang version) Might just be a very traditional british car.

 

Time to go Pro with Photobucket like I had to.

 

yup lucas really is the prince of darkness. old joke was why do the English drink warm beer ? because lucas makes their refrigerators lol got an old triumph 650 and the wiring needs help but brittish stuff is still fun ,

 

I dont know what you guys have against Lucas.

They even have a part number for replacement smoke...

 

I can't understand the hate for Lucas.

I've owned a few cars with their wiring and never had trouble. The nice part is, they supplied most British manufacturers. The brown wire in the Jensen-Healy does the same thing as the brown wire in the Jaguar and MG.

It makes far more sense to have a standardised wiring system.

I've also owned Italian cars. Magnetti Marrelli makes Lucas look positively wonderful.

Shawn

 

I must have missed this until today. I had a '57 Magnette ZA back in '66 through '69; I really liked it. It was gray and black two-tone, had red leather seats, and real wood dashboard and other interior trim, and looked real classy, sort of like a miniature Mark II Jaguar sedan, or a Bentley, like a previous poster mentioned. It was a real nice car. In my life, I never would have thought anyone on the H.A.M.B. would do anything with one. Unfortunately, all of the pictures come through with a "Bandwidth Exceeded" message. For my part, I agree with the folks who say doing rust repair on a '50's sedan with the few performance mods IS H.A.M.B. friendly.

Also, it sounds like you are doing some outstanding work, which I would like to see, and not only for old times sake. Is there any chance of resurrecting the pictures on PhotoBucket?

 

Photobucket is a terrible, terrible place to post pictures!!! If you do not "buy" into their system and use only their free set-up, it does not take many picture views to get that damn "Bandwidth Exceeded" nonsense!!!

 

very inspiring work! in the British car world, they think themselves fortunate to have much more than an emblem to start off with....

"hmmm, what's that sticking out of the mud there? a nameplate off a Jaguar 3.4? i can restore that..."

and three years later, one rolls out of a shop in a basement under a 2 bedroom walkup.

it might not be one of our "traditional" cars, but it's damn pretty and you have my admiration.

 

Great thread; too bad the photos are gone, I wanted to study them some more, from the sill replacement to the transmission a-dapter kit. Is Lucas a stockholder in Photobucket?

You could always load them up direct from your computer.

 

At least I got to see the pix yesterday. That's why I just upload my pictures to an album on the HAMB then copy and paste.

 

This thread is usless without pics!

 

time to upgrade your photobucket Pleeeese!!

 

classic!!!

 

you ran out of bandwidth there!!

 

Sorry guys! All fixed now. The next batch of photos will be of the interior coming together. Typical of a British saloon, there was a lot of woodwork to repair.

It started here, faded, cracked, and water-stained:









We realized that some of the veneer was too damaged to save, so all of the mahogany sections were taken off with a heat gun. 2 of the walnut door rails were bad too so they got recovered as well.



Making patterns of all the new sections:

 

More patterns

 

After all the mahogany sections are glued to the plywood backing, final sanding can occur before moving onto the stain and polyurethane.

 

After a few coats, it will be sanded and re-coated 8-10 times before it is done.

 

The final rub was done with rottenstone and linseed oil. We're very happy with the results.

 

And woodworking too! wooden boat guys, look out. Beautiful.

 

Nice job on the dash. Looks awesome

 

Time to lay in the carpet! It took a 16' by 4' roll to do everything, with almost none left over. Basic insulation was put down first to try to keep it reasonably cool inside.

 

Someday soon I'm going to restore a canoe to put on the roof rack!

 

Hey,

Great project, and thanx for the repair on the photos!

Has anyone ever seen a DHC, FHC or an Estate done on a Magnette chassis? The cowl & sills look stout enough to support such! Coachbuilder Carbodies, in" blighty," did alot of non factory mods on many an odd chassis. The Model "Y'' that the Magnette replaced ,was built in DHC form, no?

" Meanwhyle, back aboard The Tainted Pork "

 

Here is a photo of the only one I'm aware of, it's in England:

 

Keep it coming I have a 59 Hillman Minx Convertible under rebuild mostly top of the motor ,brakes, front suspension I am also converting to disc & would like to put a rack in it.