In 1922, Cecil Kimber (1888-1945) was appointed to the post
of General Manager for Morris Garages, the sales division of
Morris cars. Kimber was a car enthusiast who had already worked
for several companies in the motor industry. He was particularly
keen on sports cars, and had considerable design flair, able to
produce eye catching body styles. He had also accumulated solid
experience in engineering, factory management, and the
commercial and business side of the motor trade.
It was Kimber’s idea to begin to produce a line of special bodied cars on
Morris chassis. He was later to state that he saw an opportunity in the market
for a car that was ten per cent better than the standard product, but which
would sell at a fifty per cent higher price. He took an ordinary Morris Cowley
chassis and had it fitted with a light open two-seater body of distinctly
sporting lines, and in 1924 he commissioned the Coventry firm Carbodies to
produce sports two- and four-seater bodies for the Morris chassis.
For the first time, these cars were sold as MGs and the famous octagonal
badge began to feature in advertisements. At £395 the four-seater with the 14hp
Morris Oxford engine was an elegant vehicle, with the body panels partly in
polished aluminium offset by wheel discs. At the time, a four seater standard
Morris Oxford cost £285 and the similarly bodied 12hp Cowley as little as £195!
Kimber’s MGs soon caught on. In early 1925, he had a far more special car
built for his own use. This used a much-modified Morris chassis with a special
overhead valve version of the side valve Morris engine, and a light racing type
body. He entered this car in the Land’s End Trial at Easter 1925 and won a gold
medal. Although soon sold for £300, the car was bought back by MG some years
later and has ever since become known as "Old Number One" – the first proper MG
sports car ever to be made.
The MG name was, as Kimber later pointed out, given as a compliment to Lord
Nuffield, taking the initials of his first business – Morris Garages - to form
the inspiration for this great automotive brand. Importantly the initials were
taken to form MG, not, as some naturally presume, to stand as an abbreviation
for it.
In 1926, the original Bullnose Morris models were replaced by the so-called
Flatnose types with a more conventional radiator, and the MGs followed suit. In
1927, for the first time the MG production was moved into a new purpose built
factory at Edmund Road, Cowley. In 1928, the MG Car Company was formally set up,
and the business began to separate from the original Morris Garages. Work had
also begun on two new MG models, which would both be introduced later that year.
The first of these was the MG 18/80, a six-cylinder car with a 2.5-litre
overhead camshaft engine from the most recent Morris model. Available with a
range of open and closed bodies, the 18/80 was an excellent touring sports car,
but comparatively expensive and never made in large numbers. The later Mark II
version featured a redesigned chassis and four speed gearbox and continued in
limited production until 1933. A special racing version, the Mark III 18/100 or
Tigress model was introduced in 1930. At no less than £895, it is not surprising
that only five were made.
Far more important of the new models in 1928 was the first MG Midget, the M
type. This was based on the recently introduced Morris Minor small car with an
847cc overhead camshaft engine, chassis and engine being little modified, but
the bodywork was a fabric-covered two-seater with a pointed tail. At £175 this
was truly an affordable sports car. "The Autocar" declared that "The MG Midget
will make sports car history".
The Midget went into full production in March 1929 and the success of the new
car soon made it clear that it was necessary for MG to move yet again to a
bigger factory. At the end of 1929, MG took over part of the Pavlova Leather
Company’s factory at Abingdon on Thames a few miles south of Oxford, destined to
be MG’s home for the next fifty years. The MG Car Company Limited was formally
established, with William Morris as the main shareholder and governing director,
while Kimber became managing director.
The period from 1930 to 1934 saw the development of the MG brand to become
one of the most famous sports cars in Britain and the world. In 1930, MG built a
special record car for George Eyston, with a Midget based engine in an all-new
chassis with streamlined bodywork. This car, the EX120, set MG on the path to a
career in record breaking, which would last until 1960.
The company also began to produce more specialised racing models, apart from
the Mark III there was the Double Twelve version of the Midget, which gained the
team prize in the 1930 Double Twelve race at Brooklands. This was the most
important award gained by MG yet but was only a foretaste of things to come.
The EX120 led directly to the supercharged racing C type of 1931, while later
that year the first small six cylinder MG was introduced, the F type Magna with
a 1.3-litre engine derived from the engine of the contemporary Wolseley Hornet.
There was also the D type, a four seater Midget, but both this and the M type
were replaced in 1932 by the new J type Midgets, in two or four seater forms,
with additional supercharged racing models. With the J type, Kimber established
what became the typical MG look: the double humped scuttle and the fold-flat
windscreen, the deep elbow cut-outs in the doors, and the petrol tank and spare
wheel strapped to the back of the car. The J types originally had cycle type
wings but later versions had the long flowing wings, which also became part of
the MG look.
In early 1933 came a further new model, the K type Magnette with an even
smaller 1.1-litre six-cylinder engine. Long-wheelbase touring models could be
fitted with four door saloon bodies, but a short chassis supercharged racing
model, the K3, became the most famous Magnette, taking a class win and the team
prize in the Italian Mille Miglia road race on its debut outing, while in 1934 a
K3 was 4th overall in the Le Mans 24 hour race. MGs also won the Tourist Trophy
race twice, in 1933 with Tazio Nuvolari in a K3, and in 1934 with the NE model.
Meanwhile, a new record car, the EX127 or Magic Midget had been built for George
Eyston to take further records in the 750cc class. This car was later sold to
the German driver Kohlrausch and ended up in the experimental department of
Mercedes-Benz.
Further developments of the Midget, Magna and Magnette models followed – the
L type Magna of 1933, the P type Midget and N type Magnette of 1934, while the Q
type and R type Midgets were racing models. The R type of 1935 was MG’s first
single seater racing car and broke new ground with its all-independent
suspension with torsion bars. However, in 1935 the MG Company passed from the
private ownership of Lord Nuffield to that of the Morris Motors company. Almost
immediately afterwards, MG announced that it was going to stop building racing
cars, and effectively withdrew from the sport.
New MG models of the period 1935 to 1939 were more closely based on standard
components from the Morris Wolseley saloon car range. The SA model, introduced
at the 1935 Motor Show, was a comfortable six-cylinder sports saloon, and
drophead coupe, with a two-litre engine, soon enlarged to 2.3-litres, which for
elegance and performance was a close competitor of the contemporary Jaguar. It
was followed by a 1.5-litre four cylinder VA model and in 1938, by the 2.6-litre
WA, MG’s largest car to date, both similar to the SA in concept.
There was also a new Midget in 1936, the 1.3-litre TA, replaced just before
the war by the improved TB with a new and more robust short-stroke 1250cc
engine.
The new Midget MG became an active and successful participant in contemporary
trials. Record breaking was not forgotten: in 1938 MG built the EX135 for Goldie
Gardner, based on a K3 chassis with a new all-enveloping body. In 1939 this car
set new 1100cc and 1500cc class records at speeds over 200mph.
MG’s best pre-war year was 1937 with almost 3,000 cars built. Total
production from 1923 to 1939 amounted to some 22,500 cars, with the most popular
individual models such as the M type or the TA reaching just over 3,000 cars.
The Abingdon factory was quickly converted to war production but in 1941 MG’s
founder, Cecil Kimber, was dismissed by the Nuffield Organisation for failing to
fit into the wartime pattern of the company. In 1945, Kimber was tragically
killed in a railway accident.
The company therefore faced the post-war world without its original leader.
However, the men at Abingdon quickly got back into car production with the TC in
1945, a developed version of the 1939 TB. In 1947 this was followed by a new
small saloon, the Y type, using a similar 1250cc engine and MG’s first
independent front suspension, designed already before the war by a young Alec
Issigonis. The TC in particular became popular, and was the first MG to be
shipped in quantity to the USA where MG would become established as the most
popular sports car make. The TD model of 1950 combined the Y type chassis and
suspension with a TC like body. Where some 10,000 TCs had been made, the TD
reached almost 30,000 of which the vast majority were sold in North America.
By 1953 MG had a new general manager, John Thornley (1909-1994). Together
with his chief designer Syd Enever, Thornley wanted an all-new sports car to
appeal to the vital American market. MG was now part of the BMC group and
Thornley was initially rebuffed by BMC’s boss Leonard Lord, who had recently
agreed to produce the new Austin Healey sports car. A face lifted TD was however
put on the market in 1953 as the TF model, together with an all new Magnette
saloon, featuring unitary construction bodywork and BMC’s new 1.5-litre B series
engine.
Leonard Lord eventually relented and gave the green light for the new car
that was introduced as the MGA in 1955, with a new chassis, all enveloping
bodywork in contrast to MG’s traditional style, and the 1.5-litre engine from
the saloon model. This became MG’s biggest success story to date, as more than
100,000 MGAs were made until 1962, including just over 2,000 of the advanced
Twin Cam model with two overhead camshafts and four wheel disc brakes. With the
MGA, MG also returned to motor sport.
At Le Mans in 1955, three prototype MGA cars had taken part, and later models
also ran in the 12-hour race at Sebring in the USA. A new MG record car, the
EX179 of 1954 built for George Eyston had been based on a prototype MGA chassis.
The last and most impressive MG record car was EX181 of 1957, with a
supercharged Twin Cam engine behind the driver in a teardrop shaped body.
This was driven by Stirling Moss and later Phil Hill, and set 1500cc and
2000cc class records at speeds over 250mph.
In 1959 a new MG Magnette saloon was a badge engineered version of BMC’s new
Farina styled 1.5-litre saloon, and further new models reflected a similar
philosophy: the MG Midget of 1961 was based on the existing Austin Healey Sprite
small sports car, while the MG 1100 saloon of 1962 was a tuned version of the
Issigonis designed Morris 1100 front wheel drive car. However in 1962 the MGA
was replaced by the MGB, a unitary construction sports car with a 1.8 litre
version of the BMC B series engine.
In 1965 this also became available with the GT body, a hatchback style coupe.
While the Magnette saloon was discontinued in 1968 and the 1100 derived 1300 in
1973, the MGB and Midget sports cars went on to set new production records. Both
were also used in motor sports, in particular the MGB with good results in long
distance sports car races such as Le Mans, Sebring, and the 84-hour Marathon de
la Route at the Nurburgring which an MGB won in 1966.
An MGB derivative was the short lived six-cylinder MGC of 1967-69, with only
9000 made, although MG’s last competition car before BL pulled out of
competitions was the spectacular and very fast lightweight derivative of the MGC
GT. After the BMC-Leyland merger of 1968 there was comparative quiet on the MG
front until 1973 when another MGB based model was introduced, the MGB GT V8 with
the 3.5-litre Rover V8 engine, again destined only for a short career with just
under 2600 cars being made over a three year period.
In 1974, all MG models were face lifted with new impact resistant rubber
bumpers to meet new US legislation, and the Midget became the 1500 model fitted
with a Triumph engine. The Midget bowed out in 1979 after a total production run
of 225,000 – not counting the similar Austin Healey Sprite models – while the
MGB lasted a year longer, and reached a record production of over 513,000. As
the MGB went out of production, the Abingdon factory was closed and the MG brand
disappeared from the North American market.
After a period when MG was in abeyance and several different proposals for
the future of the brand had been discussed, in 1982 the name came back on a
sporting version of the parent company’s Metro small car. Over the next few
years MG versions also appeared on the Maestro and Montego models, and all-three
MG saloons eventually became available in turbocharged versions as well.
Particularly well liked was the MG Maestro 2.0 EFi model with a fuel injection
2-litre engine, an effective competitor in the "hot hatch" market of the 1980’s,
typified by the VW Golf GTi. Most popular were the Metro and Metro Turbo models,
which reached a combined production total of 142,000 cars.
There was also the short lived MG 6R4 rally car of 1984 with a centre mounted
V6 engine and four-wheel drive, built in small numbers but never fully developed
before rally regulations were changed to exclude such specialised machines.
Nevertheless, MG enthusiasts understandably longed for the day when the MG
sports car would return. In fact behind the scenes, Rover Group was planning to
do just that. A foretaste of things to come was the stunning MG EX-E concept car
revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1985, based on the mechanical package of
the MG Metro 6R4 rally car. Under the ownership of British Aerospace from 1988,
plans for a new MG sports car were accelerated. The MG saloon range was
discontinued in 1991, and in the following year the MG RV8 was introduced. This
featured a re-styled version of the classic MGB roadster bodyshell, and was
fitted with the 3.9-litre V8 engine from the Range Rover. It was only ever
intended as a limited production model, and of the 2,000 cars made many were
exported, in particular to Japan.
Several different proposals were now under consideration for an all-new MG
sports car. Rover Group eventually decided in favour of project PR3, a mid
engined two-seater which in many ways was a break with MG’s traditions, yet as
an affordable roadster using some saloon car components it also followed in the
footsteps of most of the popular MG’s of the past. The engine was a developed
1.8-litre version of the K series, with an advanced form of Variable Valve
Control in the higher performance model, while the suspension was based on the
Hydragas system, but interconnected front-to-rear.
Much of the development work was completed before Rover Group was taken over
by BMW in 1994 but the launch of the new model only occurred a year after the
merger, at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1995. Named the MGF, the new
model went into series production at the Longbridge factory in August 1995, and
quickly became enormously successful in the home market as well as many export
markets. Indeed the MGF became the UK’s best selling sports car from
launch.
The new millennium brought about a fundamental re-organisation in BMW’s plans
culminated in the company being split apart. On 9 May 2000 the Phoenix
Consortium acquired the Rover Group business that comprised both MG and Rover
brands. For the first time in many years the company found itself independent,
British owned and debt free. The future focus was on the MG and Rover brands as
the MG Rover Group, itself operated by Phoenix Venture Holdings and now free to
develop without constraint of partnership or ownership restrictions.
The new business strategy was product development led and the first evidence
of this were new model introductions to a revised MGF range. A new
1.6-litre entry model and race-inspired Trophy SE, itself producing 160Ps, were
launched in January with 2001, with MG sales peaking in the models final year.
January 2001 started with the announcement of a new range of MG Saloon models
and followed by a whirlwind of activity. An assault at the Le Mans 24-hour race
in June with the MG Lola LMP675 ran in torrential wet weather setting an
impressive pace. An announcement to acquire the Qvale Automotive business for a
future MG supercar preceded the launch in July of the MG saloons - the ZR, ZS
and ZT models, which won widespread acclaim. The ZS was entered British Touring
Car Championship for the remaining season and managed to take both a pole
position and a win, in only its third outing.
Another quick start in 2002 saw the early launch of the successor to the MGF
– up until then the best selling sports car in the UK over six years - the new
MG TF. The TF carried new styling and suspension improvements and
a competent four-model range. In a matter of months the MG product range had
been refreshed and grow four-fold.
A number of product derivatives were introduced during the year, including
diesel variants of the ZS and ZT and new turbo-charged engine for the 1.8T ZT.
In October, the Birmingham Motor Show saw the debut of MG’s most powerful, and
expensive car yet - the MG XPower SV which boasted a potential 965hp and a price
of c£75,000.
More derivative models were introduced in 2003 in the form of lower priced
ZS 110 and ZT 120 models, but the introduction of the 4.6-litre ZT 260 V8 really
captured the public’s imagination. Driven by the rear wheels the practical
muscle car was a masterpiece of understatement and aural excitement. It was fast
too.
2004 is the 80th anniversary of MG. The virtues of the brand have
long stood for sports car motoring, combining affordability and sheer driving
pleasure. This continues at all levels in the range of cars that proudly
continue to wear the Octagon badge.
