Frontline MGA review

It might be British B road perfection. Only 70 years in the making.

Welcome to the MGA, lovingly restored and reworked by Frontline Cars of Oxfordshire. Nestled down a sleepy lane in a building that was once a paperwork repository for the old Great Western Railway (which runs right alongside the body shop), it couldn’t be any more quintessentially English if the workshop taps ran hot and cold with clotted cream and Earl Grey.

Who is Frontline?

Frontline’s been making old MGs new again for thirty-four years – long before the ‘Singerisation’ craze for restomodded classics annexed the internet’s fantasy garage. After its founder and budding racer Tim Fenna broke five MG Midget gearboxes during a year and half of hillclimb sprints, he began to wonder if there wasn’t a more fundamental issue at play than his rapid-fire shifts.

As an experiment, he converted a Toyota gearbox to fit the car. Result? No more breakdowns. And the genesis of a business that’s happily thriving.

Today, Frontline considers everything from servicing original MGs to complete rebodies and rebuilds. They’ll source a new shell, tune a fresh engine, hand-make a roof that doesn’t leak and make sure your old car gets along with your new iPhone. It’s also had a go at creating standalone models, with splendid results.

There was the LE50 we drove (and loved) back in 2012, based on the MGB GT. 215bhp and 995kg – delicious. But not enough for some, so Frontline dreamt up the LE60 in 2023: an MGB brandishing a 375bhp Rover V8, and all the usual refinements. There was also a brief dalliance with all-electric conversions – but that’s now on ice. The demand in this market is for burbles ’n’ bangs, not batteries.

Which brings you to…

The Frontline MGA as you see it here. Pretty, isn’t it? Classically correct in its proportions, free from modern styling fripperies, but sitting low on its all-new suspension, wearing subtly wider tyres. Something about that stance tells you this isn’t a twee old-timer.

Actually, almost everything you’re looking at is brand new. The newly fabricated body weighs in a massive 85kg less than an original one. So, it doesn’t need a lot of power. But Frontline makes sure it gets it anyway, by subbing in a tuned 2.0-litre Mazda MX-5 engine good for 225bhp. That’s in the car we tested – there’s also a Ford Duratec engine offering a dizzying 290bhp on the menu.

Because we’re dealing with a 150bhp lift from an original MGA 1500, the re-do becomes very comprehensive. Frontline adds an MX-5’s snickety manual gearbox, and adjustable Nitron suspension in place of the saggy old leaf springs. There’s electric power steering and hugely upgraded brakes at all four corners. Just about the only mechanical component left alone is the classic fly-off handbrake.

I imagine this doesn’t come cheap?

Here’s the thing. If you’re supplying a new body, reinforced chassis, tuned modern engine, transmission, running gear and then wrapping it up in tailored paintwork and upholstery, there’s an awful lot of craftsperson’s hours going into one of these things. Which is why what was once a cheap ’n’ cheerful runabout for wistful servicemen who fell in love with British roadsters after WWII is now… Porsche 911 GTS money.

For the full Frontline works, you’re looking at £140,000, plus a donor car. And local taxes. Said donor doesn’t have to be a runner – Tim says they prefer working on dilapidated no-hopers because so little of the original is carried over – mainly the bulkheads and floor. For a bespoke, hand-built, low-volume sports car lavished in attention to detail, this is a reasonable price. But there’ll be more than a few of you thinking ‘how much? For a pretty MX-5?’

Not that it’s putting off Frontline’s faithful. They aren’t struggling at all to maintain a manageable waiting list, and the company reckons that as the MGA’s original fans start to pass away, new generations will develop a fresh appreciation for the car. 

Cousin, business is a’boomin’.

A real Goldilocks car, then: just-right amounts of power and grip, dependable reliability and no-one watching on will be any the wiser it’s actually running Japanese power and 21st century suspension.

There’s no escaping that what goes hand-in-hand with the exquisite quality of Frontline’s work is a price out of reach for most fair-weather car enthusiasts. This isn’t a plucky underdog British roadster any more: it’s an extremely desirable dream garage machine for connoisseurs of 1950s classics – and their grandchildren.

If the price does leave you wincing, it’s gratifying to know Frontline can also weave as much of this magic into an MGB GT as your budget allows for. You don’t need to chuck a lottery win at the problem.

Still, MG built over 100,000 MGAs – each and every one of them would be very lucky indeed to undergo this level of glow-up.