Introduced in Autumn1955, the MGA married a proven chassis design derived from its TD/TF predecessors (independent coil-and-wishbone front suspension plus a well-located ‘live’ rear axle) to the new B-series four-cylinder, pushrod-ohv engine first seen in the Magnette saloon.

Borrowing cues from the Abingdon factory's successful EX182 prototype racers (5 th - and 6 th -in-class at that year's Le Mans) its wonderfully elegant styling ensured strong sales in the all-important American market.

Continually updated, the MGA range was joined by Coupe and 'Twin Cam' variants in 1956 and 1958 respectively.

Equipped with a 1489cc engine, four-speed manual gearbox, rack and pinion steering and four-wheel drum brakes, the '1500' was reputedly capable of almost 100mph.

MG A ‘1500’ Coupe production ended in 1959 by which time a mere 828 had been supplied to the home market.

According to its accompanying original buff logbook, this particular example was first registered as ‘5372 WB’ to Heeley ...