The MGA With An Attitude
CKD MGA Assembled in Southern Rhodesia - CKD-108
New in August 26 2022, Bruce Dixon in Zaire reported on CKD cars having been assembled in Southern Rhodesia. He has a very unique MGA Twin Cam turned Deluxe, which is a separate tale to be reported later in the Twin Cam tech section. He wrote:
"I did a lot of research in 2015, and we
came across a story of where a black Twin Cam had an engine fail and the
engine of the white car still in the show room was
transplanted as a replacement. We actually came across the elderly chap in
Cape Town who owned the car. ... Had a brass plate under the bonnet put there by Indola Motors".
Okay, this was an interesting bit of research. Ignoring the early history of the country, in 1923 it became Southern Rhodesia as a self-governing British Colony. In 1965 it became independent (and White governed) and renamed Rhodesia. After civil war it gained sovereignty as Zimbabwe in April 1980 and still is today). So if MGA cars were assembled there in the late 50's, they were built in Southern Rhodesia, as Rhodesia (as a country name) didn't exist yet.
Interesting to think there may have been at least one factory built (CKD) 1500 Deluxe, as that configuration has previously been only a rumor with no evidence at all.
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