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MG MGA - MGA Radiator brass tag plate

The MGA radiator has a small brass plate on the top tank, rear left, which reads manufactured by Morris Motors Ltd. Radiator Branch, Osberton Works, Oxford,and below a box enclosing the radiator part number. Does anyone have a radiator out on the bench and can read the part number for the MGA 1600? for me please. Thanks
John Lambie .
John Lambie

I'm not 100% sure but I think the radiator part # is: ARH 120
David Werblow

Here is mine, it appears to read :- ARH 120(B) 2360. The brackets around the B are to suggest that it is a half line down. There is no Morris Radiator plate possibly indicating that is is a factory replacement radiator,
Tony

A M Leyva

Thanks David and Tony.
Tony the picture of the tag is an after market replacement. Unfortunately radiator repairers often threw away the original tag.
I can make out ARH0061..?..01354 on my original tag but the middle numbers are indistinct. Maybe some others can add to the discussion.

cheers John
John Lambie

Hi John
Here is an image of mine (1600 MkII).
André

André M Kunz

Hi John,

Good to see you on the BBS.
I have 20+ examples of the twin cam brass plates but I doubt they will help you.

Cheers
Mark
Mark Hester

Hi John,
Actually both Tony and Andre's radiator plates are originals not after market.
My very original MGA Coupe has the same style plate stamped ARH 120 2760, and is attached to the horizontal rear bracket on the radiator as per Andre's photo. The ARH 120 is the part number and the 2760 is the 27th week in the year 1960. The 27th week is actually the second week of July and my car started down the assembly line on 9th August 1960.
The Morris Motors Ltd. Radiator Branch plate to which you refer was fitted to earlier cars and was changed to the much simpler type at some stage, obviously prior to mid 1960.
When the MGA1500 was first released the part number for the radiator was ARH 61 and changed to ARH 120 at some point unknown to me. Why the part number changed is also unknown to me, maybe somebody out there reading this knows the answer.
Garry
Garry Kemm

Thanks Guys. The mystery continues. My MGA service parts list issue 1 (green book) lists the radiator part number as ARG 61, but my MGA 1500 book (issue 2- February 1960-yellow cover) lists the part number as ARG 120. My 1600 and 1600 mk2(service parts list issue 4) also list as ARG120. So maybe my 1600 Coupe had a early 1500 radiator fitted at some time. I just assumed that the plate was correct. I checked with my Brother whose 1600 Coupe was made in the same week, but alas he does not have any plate on his radiator? I looked at a Twin Cam Coupe on the weekend (late one with 1600 tail lamp pods) and it has the brass Morris Motors Radiators Branch plate. Hi Mark- If you have a loose plate perhaps you could put a picture of it up on the site so people can see what we are talking about. why the radiator part number was changed some time during the 1500 production run is not explained anywhere as far as I know.

hi Is not trivia fun!!

Cheers John
John Lambie

My 1958 MGA's plate is different again:-

W.Watson & Co (L'pool)
Radiator Department

Rep No (illegible)

I assume it is an early non factory replacement fitted in the 1960s or 70s. There again perhaps the factory fitted it origianlly from an independent supplier.

Paul



P M Dean

Hi Paul, Watson's in Liverpool was just a standard BMC dealer.My brother-in-law was an apprentice there in the 1970s before he was made redundant when they closed down.
They will have repaired an original radiator and stuck their own tag on.
Cam Cunningham

This one is from a Magnette 1500. No use for the number but it is probably the same plate?

Willem vd Veer

Hi John,
Just resurrecting this thread having just been in the garage taking the A on a short winter run out in the afternoon sunshine ( ice had melted and salt is more or less washed away). I managed to get out my spare radiator which I obtained from ebay some years ago to take a photo - so no idea what MGA it is off, but the numbers are all very clear which may answer your original question.
If anyone has any ideas what year car it is off I would be pleased to hear.
(My own MGA has no tags on it at all so it has obviously been repaired sometime in the past.)
cheers Cam

Cam Cunningham

Is there a way to get the tag off the radiator without damaging it? I tried to gently pull it off the radiator I am replacing, and it did not want to come off. Thanks
Tom Going

It's soldered on Tom. Fill the rad with water and then heat the tag with a blow torch - it will then fall off, but you will probably lose the black part of the embossing on the tag.
Cam Cunningham

Does anyone know if you can get new copy tags anywhere? I did see some on ebay a few years ago and then they disappeared.
John Francis

I bought one of those off ebay to put on my rad which is missing an original. It is close to the original in style but has no numbers stamped in it. I don't think that I have seen any for sale recently either.
Cam Cunningham

This thread was discussed between 05/11/2012 and 05/12/2012

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