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Park Ward MG TA Drophead Coupe

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Park Ward MG TA Drophead Coupe

Mister Charles Ward had this special one-off aluminium coachwork created on the MG TA chassis on his own initiative. Charles was 31 years of age and worked in the factory of his father. For his daily use he wanted to have his own car and of course with Park Ward coachwork. In those days a rolling chassis of Rolls Royce was, for a 31 year old employee, unpayable, so it had to be a small economic and payable rolling chassis that could meet the latest state of the technique but strong enough to carry the Park Ward coachwork. The MG TA could meet this profile, however the engine had to be tuned and the chassis had to be strengthened. Because Charles wanted to show his skills he had designed and built Symphony by himself (of course with the help and all the facilities of Park Ward Coachbuilders).

Park Ward was used to build luxury cars like Rolls-Royce and Bentley and therefore he fitted this MG with almost as much luxury items like, electrically operated and tinted windows, adjustable hydraulic dampers and a leather interior. This car formed a source of inspiration for the later Bentleys by Park Ward and was sometimes used to experiment on.

The car was found as a wreck in 1985 and has been fully restored during the following seven years. The restoration took about 4000 hours and now the car is in concours condition.

The black and white pictures in this album were made by Charles Ward himself during the build of Symphony. The car had been built in one year minus one week.

Charles Ward: "An idea, a years hard work and a life's ambition made."

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