1933 MG L2

Having been in the vendor’s ownership for fifty years, this MG L2 is extraordinarily well-sorted; a half-century’s shakedown has left it in superb usable condition.  

The vintage car scene is alive and kicking in the UK and there is no shortage of people out there to help keep your pre-war MG alive, as this car testifies. Whether it’s competitive driving via the VSCC, or pootling around the country lanes with your local car club on something like the Dales Run, this example provides the ideal introduction to vintage motoring and touring.

Andy King, the renowned pre-war MG specialist, carried out extensive work on the vehicle in 2007 at a cost of around £25,000. The work comprised repairs to the bodywork and cockpit, replacing the wooden frame together with a number of other smaller jobs like repairs to the radiator and re-chroming of the windscreen.

The bodywork retains its original running boards, having escaped the indignity of being converted to cycle wings like so many of its contemporaries. The two-tone paintwork (which is not authentic, the original owner having decided against paying the extra £10 it would have cost when he ordered it!) is still looking fresh.

The car has been fitted with a new hood and side-screens.

Simple, but beautifully trimmed, the interior features octagonal MG instruments set an engine-turned dashboard and a huge, four-spoke steering wheel is ideally placed to wrestle your way up an Alpine pass. 

The original bench seat has been converted into twin bucket seats (but is available if the new owner wants to restore it), and are trimmed in brown leather, complemented by matching carpets. 

The car has been sympathetically upgraded over the years in the same way as an enthusiastic owner might have done when it was new. As an example, the original engine suffered a catastrophic failure of the crankshaft when the current owner first bought the car, which gave him an excuse to fit a later 1271cc N-type engine, a change that brought a useful increase in both power and capacity over the 1086cc and 41bhp of the standard engine. This engine has now seen regular use and would benefit from an overhaul at some point in the future.

However, originality buffs will be pleased to hear that the original L-type engine was retained and is included with the sale of the car. Currently dismantled, this would provide a perfect opportunity for the new owner to return the car to its original specification if he/she so wished.

Other non-standard parts include N-type sidelights fitted with twin filament bulbs, an electric fan, and a MGB overdrive unit fitted to the original gearbox which operates on all 4 gears (although the overdrive on 3rd gear isn’t currently engaging). All of these are very sensible updates in our opinion, and make the car much more usable in modern traffic.

The steering box has been recently overhauled by Mike Dowley of Sports and Vintage Motors at a cost of £670. The car will also come with a plethora of spare parts, some of which, like the distributor, are becoming exceptionally hard to find.

As well as a thick sheaf of old invoices and a photocopy of the owners’ manual and original sales brochure, the car comes with a number of period photographs of the car, including one in which it looks to have been hillclimbed in the 1930s. 

More recently, the car featured in in the BBC documentary Bomber Boys in which it was driven by Colin and Ewan McGregor, which might help you gain approval with your wife...

Oh, and in six years’ worth of test reports, the MOT testers couldn’t find a single thing to comment on. Reassuring, isn’t it?

The owner describes the car as “not concours”, and while he might be being scrupulously accurate, we think he’s being unduly modest because this MG is actually much, much more interesting than any 100-point trailer queen and he has a wall full of 'Pride of Ownership' rosettes to prove it. Having been owned and driven by the same man for almost fifty years, this is a much-loved member of the family that has seen proper use over the intervening decades. As a result, it is fantastically reliable and ready to join its new owner for another lifetime’s-worth of adventures.

As a genuine example of a desired sporting model with a 6 cylinder engine, this L2 represents great value when compared to many of the 4 cylinder 'specials' with no historical provenance costing the same. The fact that it comes with a comprehensive spares package including the original engine is the icing on what is an already very appealing cake.

The car can be viewed with us at our premises in Abingdon, to arrange please use the 'Contact Seller' button at the top of the listing.

£75,000