MGA EX182/38 – LBL 301

One of the most significant MGAs to emerge in recent years is EX 182/38.

This car has its origins in one of the team cars entered for the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours race. However, it should be noted that the present car is not the original Ex 182/38, but an evolution of the experimental programme that continued after 1955. Although the car does have some components from the Le Mans car, both the chassis and body were subsequently replaced. The four-wheel disc brakes were part of the development of the MGA Twin Cam, though they never entered production in that form.

The Fitzwilliam racing team borrowed the car for the 1957 season, which included an entry in the Mille Miglia. EX182/38 was returned to the works at the end of the 1957 season. In 1958 the car was ‘loaned’ to, and subsequently purchased by, Wilson Southam who used it for club racing for the 1959 season. At this time the car was fitted with a new steel body (Body number 61277) by the MG Works. Southam was a Canadian citizen studying at Oxford. On the completion of his studies he returned to Canada, taking the car with him.

Wilson Southam later traded in the car in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1974 Gord Whatley bought it from Louis Gehring with the car number Ex 182/38 and its Ontario license number was J 74659. It had not then been road licensed since 1971. Gord Whatley is a retired teacher, an MG enthusiast and restorer. In 1981 he sold the car to Gerry Goguen who displayed it in his museum in New Hampshire. After his death his widow, Doris, sold the car in 2005 to Jon Savage of Rhode Island. The car was then shipped to the UK for a total restoration by the renowned MGA specialist, Bob West. The restoration was completed in 2008 and is now, once again, resplendent in the Fitzwilliam livery.

The accompanying photographs show the car as the featured MGA at this year’s MG Car Club ‘MG Live’ Weekend. This annual show has now been staged at the famous Northamptonshire circuit for 60 consecutive years