Australia and the MGA go way back. From 1957 to mid-1962 more than 2000 MGAs were assembled in factories at Enfield and Zetland in Sydney.
In a streetscape then dominated by chunky Holden sedans and blocky Bedford trucks, the British sports car was a sensation, turning heads like Ferraris or Lamborghinis do today.
Under its sheet metal this MG still had the separate chassis, lever-arm shocks, leaf-spring live rear axle and wooden floor of the vintage vibe TC, TD, and TF models that preceded it.
But it looked modern, with streamlined bodywork styled by MG’s chief designer Syd Enever that was inspired by the rebodied TD roadster he had created in 1951 for the Le Mans 24 Hour race.
Six decades later, the MGA is back – and this one’s going to turn heads, too. Developed in Britain by MG restoration and restomod specialist Frontline Cars, the new Frontline MGA looks like a carefully restored classic.
But under the skin is a modern powertrain, plus redesigned and upgraded suspension, brake, and steering hardware, that combine to make it a brilliantly beguiling sports car.
The Frontline MGA follows the formula established with the company’s long line of MGB restomods.
“The MGA was the natural next step for us,” explains Tim Fenna, founder and chief engineer of Frontline Cars. “It’s an icon of British motoring, but one that was always crying out for more performance and refinement.”
Australian market versions of the car will be manufactured, sold and serviced by Sydney-based Frontline Cars Australia, a subsidiary of Modern Classic Cars Foundation, which has built Frontline MGBs for the past 10 years.
Frontline Australia MGAs start with an Australian market donor car – a roadster, or the rarer coupe – that can either be sourced by Frontline or supplied by the customer.
The chassis is strengthened and fitted with a redesigned front suspension that features Nitron telescopic shocks and fabricated upper links in place of the vintage lever-arm shocks that were standard on the original MGA.
The original leaf-sprung banjo rear axle is swapped for a late model MGB unit that’s been modified to allow coil springs and Nitron shocks and is located by upper and lower trailing links and a Panhard rod.
Other chassis upgrades include disc brakes all round, the front rotors vented and clamped by four-piston calipers, and electronic rack and pinion steering. Customers can choose between traditional-style 15-inch wire wheels or 15-inch Dunlop alloys that look like the wheels fitted to Jaguar’s D-Type and Lightweight E-Type racers during the 1950s and 60s.
Customers can choose between two naturally aspirated Mazda engines, one a 2.0-litre unit that develops 168kW of power at 7200rpm and 241Nm of torque at 4500rpm, the other a 2.5-litre unit that develops 216kW at 7100rpm and 330Nm at 4200rpm. They drive the rear wheels through a Mazda five-speed manual transmission.
Each engine features a bespoke individual throttle body induction system, revised camshaft profiles, a new ECU, and a tuned stainless steel exhaust system. The 2.5-litre engine’s balance shaft has been removed to reduce frictional losses and improve throttle response.
All the mechanical hardware is topped with a body that retains its stock dimensions but has been carefully reworked to improve its structural rigidity, primarily by way of the addition of an aluminium honeycomb floor (British-built models have a steel floor) that now tightly ties together the bodysides.
Detail bodywork changes include the removal of the front indicators – they are now located within the modern LED headlight units – and the deletion of the octagonal MG badge from the boot lid. Look closely and you’ll also see discreet Frontline badging near the vents either side of the narrow bonnet, but otherwise the Frontline MGA looks just like a beautifully restored original car.
The cockpit is more luxuriously trimmed, in leather or Alcantara, than that of any original MGA, however. The dash features Frontline-branded Smiths dials, and there’s an audio system with two speakers, two tweeters, an amplifier, and a Bluetooth module all controlled by a discreetly hidden head unit.
The modern luxuries don’t stop there. Customers can specify heated versions of Frontline’s optional aluminium-framed bucket seats, and one-touch electric windows are available on the coupé.
Air-conditioning is also available as an option. Australian-spec cars get a host of minor detail changes – everything from ADR-approved seat belts to steel brake lines – that allow the Frontline MGA to be registered on Australian roads.
We had the chance to get behind the wheel of the first Frontline MGA built, a British-spec car fitted with the 2.0-litre engine, and a relatively tall 3.07 diff rather than the 3.4 or 3.7 ratios typically used in the Frontline MGBs because the owner wanted the car to feel relaxed while cruising. And relaxed it is: At 80km/h in fifth gear the Mazda engine, which will rev enthusiastically to 7750rpm, is turning just 2000rpm.
The engine sounds properly rorty-snorty when you take it through the gears, like an old-school British performance four-cylinder engine. And though the Mazda four has much more top-end bite than any of those old Brit engines, it has a similarly solid swathe of mid-range torque you can exploit with the transmission’s tightly packed ratios.
The Mazda powertrain weighs 60kg less than the vintage MG hardware, which takes weight off the front axle and means the Frontline MGA tips the scales at about 900kg. So, despite its tall diff ratio, the little MG felt marvelously alive on British B-roads, easily scooting to 130km/h or 145km/h between the corners.
The ride is tightly controlled, but it’s not harsh, thanks to the way the Nitron shocks deal with sharp inputs and the absorptive quality of the generously sidewalled 185/65 R15 Bridgestone Turanza tyres. The electronic power steering assists up to about 50km/h, then drops away.
Feel and feedback through the steering wheel rim is terrific. You can have manual steering if you want. Don’t bother. It’ll only make you sweat muscling the woodrim steering wheel at low speeds.
Like all old-school rear drive sports cars, the Frontline MGA likes to be braked in a straight line, then turned into a late apex as you get on the throttle. Get too ambitious with your right foot, though, and the abundant traction from the standard Quaife limited-slip differential will push the nose wide.
Brake feel is very good, and the well-placed pedals, combined with the beautifully crisp throttle response and the short throws of the transmission, make heel-and-toe downshifts a cinch.
What stands out about the Frontline MGA, however, is how taut and tight it feels. There’s no scuttle shake – none – and no vibration back through the steering. Suspension noise and impact harshness are very well suppressed.
Though it’s very light, and with a live rear axle, the car feels astonishingly planted and composed, even on indifferent roads. In terms of the way it drives the Frontline MGA is a truly stunning piece of work.
Indeed, there are modern sports cars that don’t feel as coherent as this reworked MG. For sheer fun and driver engagement the modern sports car that comes closest to the Frontline MGA is – ironically, given its powertrain – Mazda’s MX-5 roadster, a car that is 47mm shorter, with an 80mm shorter wheelbase, but 262mm wider and at least 170kg heavier.
There’s something else in the MX-5 comparison, too: The idea that less is more. Tim Fenna says the 2.0-litre Frontline MGA takes about 5.0 seconds to sprint from 0 to 100km/h (the 135kW MX-5 takes at least 6.0 seconds). The 2.0-litre Frontline car is thus just 0.7 seconds slower to 100km/h than the 2.5-litre model, and both versions have a top speed of 250km/h.
Increased cost of the bigger engine aside, we suspect its extra power and torque could make the Frontline MGA, which has neither traction control nor ABS, a bit of a handful, especially on a wet road. The 2.0-litre model feels the sweet-spot car.
The original MGA was a relatively affordable sports car. The Frontline MGA is not, with prices starting at about $290,000 plus taxes and shipping and the cost of a donor car, according to Frontline Australia CEO David Dyer.
“The major reason for building the car in Australia is the customer can get involved,” Dyer says.
It also means access to a reasonable stock of relatively rust-free right-hand drive donor cars – 81,000 of the 101,000 MGAs built between 1955 and 1962 were exported to the US, and fewer than 1900 right-hand drive cars are believed to exist in the UK. What’s more, the Australian-built Frontline MGA doesn’t attract the imported vehicle luxury car tax.
CarExpert’s Take
Yes, the Frontline MGA is expensive. But for the money you get a genuinely bespoke, joyously analogue driver’s car that’s thoroughly engaging at real-world speeds on real-world roads.
And it will turn more heads than any run-of-the-mill modern Ferrari or Lamborghini.
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