At 01:47 AM 12/18/05, Peter Steyn wrote:
>"If standing at the rear of the car positioned over the rear bumper looking down at the gap between the bumper and the body, is the body (tail) curved or straight i.e. does the body form run parallel with the straight bumper?"

Click for larger image.

The bumper has a slight curvature, about 1/2 inch over the full length, not counting the last 6 inches at each end.

The main body cowling has a little more curvature, about 1 inch total over the width between the fender piping. The tail of the fenders then bulges rearward about 3/4 inch aft of the piping. Where the bumper curls at the ends it generally comes within 1 inch of the fenders. During late production of MGA MK-II model a pair of tube spacers were added to the bumper mount forgings to move the whole bumper assembly back a bit farther from the body.

>"I have seen equal numbers of both i.e. parallel and curving of body to bumper."

Neither one is perfectly straight. The body curves more than the bumper, which may give the illusion that the bumper appears straight when it is not.

>"I am leaning towards the body being parallel to the straight bumper, it just makes more sense that way."

Not once you figure in the bulge on the tail end of the fenders. With the bumper removed, a straight edge placed across the back end would just about touch in three places, at the two fenders and at the center of the body (but I think the body protrudes slightly more).

Also see BP-104 Mounting the Rear Bumper.