I like ribbed cast aluminum rocker covers. I'm not sure what it is, but to me, they seem to add a little gravitas to an engine bay. I don't, however, like the silver color that much. It's just a little too much shine or something. -- So the middle ground for me is a painted cover with just a little shine. This is the route I took on both my TR6 and GT6 cars. And as a small personal touch they both have a series of radiating arcs cut into the fins. -- I decided to continue the tradition on the MGA, though the shorter dimension doesn't let the arc pattern develop quite as much.

The cover was roughly polished from the factory, but not very well. Crannies weren't touched by the wheels, but did collect deposits of polishing compound that had to be cleaned out before painting. Then a nice blast for tooth:

Rather than the sedate black I used for the other cars, I opted to go with the more fun red of the engine. Then bared the fins and logo feature, giving them a subtle polish in the process. I'm pretty certain I'm not the first one to do this.
The cover came with the rubber seals for the fastening bolts, but not the bolts themselves. I had to dig out the originals. They were sad. I mulled other options for these fasteners, mainly knob-like gizmos that wouldn't require a wrench, but in the end, I decided to try to fix up the originals. With some work, I got all of the rust and pitting cleaned up, and got them pretty smooth. I was setting up to zinc plate them, but had a change of heart at the last minute, and went with nickel instead. Nickel looks very similar to chrome, and is more durable than zinc.

I wanted to use a silicone gasket, and decided to bond it (semi)permanently to the cover, which makes installing the cover way easier. Silicone RTV bonds well to silicone rubber and metal if they are clean. The tape was just a guide for alignment. Some weight overnight finished the job. -- Just the right amount of bling to my eye.

I love simple, low-risk projects like this one. It took a couple of pleasant afternoons in the shop, and cost around $120 for the cover and gasket.