Up until about fifteen years ago, I had no idea that MG had actually built a four-door sedan, such as this 1955 Magnette. A dear, departed friend of mine was a consummate car-guy and British sports car enthusiast. And back around 2010, he bought a ’58 Magnette. Move forward a few years, and I was visiting him at his garage in Maryland. As he opened one of the garage doors, there it was, the Magnette sedan in British Racing Green. I think I exclaimed something to the effect of “Wazzthat?” I was so surprised simply because I had never seen one and knew nothing of the existence of an MG four-door sedan. Curvette found this Portland, Oregon, domiciled Brit for us, and I’m very thankful he did. Here on craigslist is where you’ll find this one of 18K Magnette ZAs, and it’s available for $16,000. RSK, this one’s for you!
The Magnette is not as rare or unusual as I may have initially believed. Offered between model years ’54 and ’68, a total of 68K four-door sedans rolled off the Abington, Oxfordshire assembly line over those fifteen years. Four different series comprised the Magnette’s run: the ZA (our subject car ’54-56), the ZB (’56-’58), the Mark III (’59-’61), and the Mark IV (’61-’68). These are nicely styled cars, well-balanced from front to rear, with an oh-so-British bearing about themselves. Not surprisingly, a prominent grille is one of the more characteristic aspects of the Magnette’s exterior – and in this case, that grille appears to be unkissed. The seller states, “Excellent condition, body work supreme,” and it certainly looks it! The finish has beautiful depth with an excellent luster. Ditto the stainless and chrome-plated bits – they show as new!
The interior cabin is notable for its right-hand-drive steering position, and the seller tells us that the front seats were just reupholstered. The “old-world” wood trim is artful and lends a lot of class to this small sedan (169″ in length, a 102″ wheelbase, and a 2,465 lbs. curb weight). The environment doesn’t exactly possess an “English smoking room” vibe, but there’s no mistaking this car’s ethnicity.
For power, this edition of the Magnette employed a 60 HP, 1.5-liter in-line four-cylinder engine, driving the rear wheels via a four-speed manual transmission. There’s no word provided as to how this 66 K-mile example runs and drives, though the seller does mention that regular oil changes are part of this car’s maintenance routine.
Other than my friend’s ’58 version and this listing, I’ve not encountered another MG Magnette. My friend led me to believe that some parts are hard to source. For example, when I was visiting, he told me that he’d found an extra rear windscreen and he was going to pick it up and put it away for a rainy day – he said they rarely turn up. This is a really neat little car, and so different from what my mind conjures when the subject of a fifties MG arises. So tell me, has anyone ever owned one of these non-typical MGs, and if so, how was it?
It’s a poor man’s Jag and I love it! It’s a stick, RHD and has a solid A series engine! It’s a great car for tooling around and Sunday morning coffee meets! It would bring much attention. Great lines!!!
B series engine
A 1950’s sports sedan! 60hp isn’t much but a later 1.8 with the appropriate mods can wake it up nicely-maybe a Rivergate 5-speed and disc brakes and it would do anything a10-15 year younger BMW 2002 can do while retaining that 1950’s English charm-or you could just drive this rare beauty as is and be perfectly content!
The MG Magnette fitted with any mod to the original motor that you like, would NEVER compete with a BMW 2002. I have owned both a 1969 BMW and an MG ZB (the rear window is slightly bigger than the ZA) and the MG would never get near it as it wasn’t designed as a “boy racer” but as a gentleman’s saloon car to carry the wife and kids. Nice cars but no comparison to the BMW.
It’s a B series engine, not A. If you really need, the MGB engine fits right in. But then why is everybody in such a hurry? For me, the fun is to drive a historic car the way it was driven back in the day and enjoy the experience. No need to prove anything….
Sure, it’s a B series engine but I was alluding to it’s series description with the larger rear window not it’s engine.
One of our British Car Club members has one. So seeing this is normal occurrence to me. His is black with the red interior. And Solosolo UK is correct. It would never in a million years keep up with the BMW no matter what British lump/engine you would stuff in it. It is just a very nice sedate cruiser.
A decent and distinctive British antique that you can drive and show (locally, anyway). A good choice for someone who wants to get into the hobby for less than a ton of money.
Before this model, MG had the YA series, also a four door sedan.
Also a 2 door roadster which a friend of mine has had for many years.
YA (not called YA until release of YB) then YB, then ZA.
Y type convertible had twin carbies, 2 doors; sedan had one carby, 4 doors.
Other B series motors will fit, but need original sump.
I hope that nobody drives this Magnette like I drove my YA (very vigorously!)
MG made 4 doors sedans pre-war.
“Gentleman’s saloon.” Well stated Solosolo. You have described my automotive tastes perfectly.
Must be a (relatively) recent import into the US as it was taxed in the UK until May 2024…
The British Transportation Museum in Dayton Ohio has a 4 Dr MG 1100 on display. I was there recently…very interesting. The BTM is not an “eat off the floor museum”….more like a group of guys who have their projects under one roof. There are some interesting vehicles and related items on display.
Currently the proud steward of a 1955 ZA Magnette. Couple things: Both the ZA and the later ZB had the same size “small” rear window. A larger “wraparound” window was introduced on some ZB models, and was deemed the ZBV (ZB Varitone), which usually used a dual tone colour scheme. Amongst Magnette enthusiasts, common upgrades are using an 1800 engine, typically from an MGB. An early 3 main 1800 is pretty much a drop-in proposition. The later 5 main requires an adapter plate and more fettling about. Five speed trannies are also popular, and make a big difference. An 80s Nissan ZX 5 speed is a popular choice, with readily available adapter kits. Front disc brakes and 3.9 diffs are other popular improvements. This car looks solid and “all there”, and is reasonably priced, IMO.
Being probably the most emotional one here, I’m sorry to hear about your friend, a bridge we all cross all too soon.
In Beer City this was unheard of. The only “MG” was the spindly T series, or Midget/MGB, you mean they made a sedan too? Rubbish, and cared not, they were of little concern. This is just beautiful, us Yanks had Buick V8 tanks on our minds, and never even thought what the British were driving. Britain was back alleys and roundabouts. To us, it was Morris, MG/Triumph, Jag/Rolls, nothing more. Boy, were we bamboozled. Cars like these, Riley, Sunbeam, Wolseley, “Auntie Rover”, outstanding cars,,,never saw them.
And the best part of these posts, it includes our British cousins, so tell me, mates, who drove a Magnette ZA? Mr. Gafferman, while the peons that worked for him drove a Morris?
Howzit Howard? My father drove an Austin 7 Ruby, Hillman Wizard, Standard Flying 20 and finally, before we emigrated to Rhodesia in 1954, a 1949 Ford V8 Pilot, and the moment he arrived there he bought a 1959 Ford V8 Pilot followed by a 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air.
The may 2005 issue of Classic Motorsports may clear up some of the confusion! I’ve always dreamed of owning a restomodded version.
I like it, it’s cool, but how do you
keep it running? I understand that parts are almost impossible to get here in the states. It’s been like that since I was a young man.
Oh, we had an Austin dealership in our town– but not for long. The two guys that owned it skipped out of town leaving those
that bought the Austin America
in a real pickle 🥒 when it came to parts or service. They had to wait months to get basic tune up
parts and the metric tools to install them. That’s why when I got an early Jaguar sedan given to me, I put a 350 V-8 with a T 350 tranny from a smacked Impala sedan into it so that I could enjoy the car WITHOUT having to wait months or years to
get OEM parts for it. And after the Austin America debacle, a lot
of banks refused to finance British built cars for fear that they
would be holding the bag on a car
that couldn’t be repaired or resold. Might still be true here in Florida but I dunno. Haven’t seen
an English built car here in over
30 years.
I had a 77 Jaguar XJ12L with a Chev 350. As boring as I think the engine is, it was a good swap and not uncommon. Kits are made for that very purpose and they’ve been available for at least a couple of decades. I also owned a Jaguar XJ6C that was stock and it was very dependable. The only issue I had was caused by driver error, flooding the engine when trying to start it.
Ken, have you not seen any BMW-owned MINI since 2001? The standard hatchback ones are all British built, in Oxford.
Metric on an old British car? Witworth maybe. But metric?
Regarding parts, these cars preceded the MGA. Hence, the engine and virtually the entire drive train are all MGA. MGA (and MGB) parts are easily sourced, and well supported. For the remaining parts, largely trim, interior and body parts, there is an incredible enthusiast group, the Z Magnette Group of North America. Members of this Group share parts in a most friendly way–actual money rarely changing hands. “Pay for shipping” is the norm.
Just wish they had those kits back in ’71 (?) when I did my swap. We used the motor mounts from the Impala but can’t
remember what we used for the
tranny crossmember. Built my car based on an article in Rod &
Custom Magazine when they showed you how to put an SBC
into an XKE coupe. My sedan was in near perfect shape from the front fenders on back. It had been in a wire fire that took out
everything from the cowl forward.
Seems like English built are prone
to electrical fires due to the poor
quality of the Lucas electronics
they use over there. And side draft carbs, don’t like ’em based on their tendency to leak gas onto the exhaust manifold. Saw
one of those car reality shows on
TRU TV where the team was working on an MG TD when a leaking carb caused the csr to explode on set seriously injuring
the hosts to the point the show was cancelled. Scary proposition
to be sure.
It has been decades since I worked on MGs of this vintage. The 3 main Bearing 1800 engine should be a drop-in proposition (Sump change??). The 5 MB engine MGB engine is a good conversion, but I suggest you also use the MGB transmission, otherwise, I believe you will need to swap the input shaft of the Magnette gearbox.