{"id":28778,"date":"2024-02-21T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T08:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/?p=28778"},"modified":"2024-02-20T10:07:35","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T10:07:35","slug":"safety-fast-100-years-of-mg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/safety-fast-100-years-of-mg\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety Fast – 100 Years of MG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy 100th birthday MG! The quintessential British sports car legend that has given us a ton of fun and a whole host of marvellous motors. By rights, perhaps the initials should have been CK after the car maker\u2019s founder, Cecil Kimber, rather than Morris Garages where these souped-up sports Morris models were churned out. Whatever, the smell of old leather, musty interiors, hot engine oil and Plastic Padding body filler will always be part of our classic car heritage because MG remains the byword for serious, yet affordable British sports car (and saloon) motoring \u2013 the sort your dad or grandad would have gladly owned and driven with pride back in their days.<\/p>\n

\"automotive,<\/p>\n

Cecil Kimber behind the wheel of ‘Old Number One’ in 1925.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kimber was a sales manager at car maker Morris but who also designed and built sports variants of its \u2018Bullnose\u2019 tourers, the first of significance being the 14\/28 and then what was affectionately known as \u2018Old Number One\u2019. That said, arguably the first ‘real MG’ was the \u201926 14\/40 which not only featured the now famous MG grille and badge but was also registered as an MG rather than Morris. A keen motorsports participant, Kimber saw the immense publicity of MGs competing with the more established manufacturers and humbling them.<\/p>\n

\"automotive,<\/p>\n

Once settled in at MG\u2019s new home at Abingdon in 1929, the \u201830s became a boon time for Kimber\u2019s classics where the Midget, Magnette and the advanced-for-its-day six-cylinder overhead camshaft Magna sports roadsters were in demand, mostly on the back of their track success. And MGs became a name in land speed attempts scooping a surprising number of records, achieving no less than 202.02mph on the American Bonneville flats in 1934, for instance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, around this time Kimber also built some majestic saloons and grand tourers such as the SA, YA and WA, where the trio enjoyed SS Jaguar-type performance coupled with a Bentley-like aura but at much less cost. And no self-respecting raffish-looking Dambuster RAF pilot during WW2 wouldn\u2019t be seen without the keys to a T-Type sports car. Nor an officer with the Y-type saloon derivative for that matter.<\/p>\n

Given the success of MG, you\u2019d think that all was well at the Oxford factory but alas, that wasn’t the case. Kimber\u2019s boss, Lord Nuffield, sold Morris Garages along with MG and Wolseley to Morris Motors in 1932 and the new MD, Leonard Lord, wasn\u2019t so charmed with Kimber and his excesses which ultimately led to him being demoted and then dismissed from the marque that he\u2019d so carefully cultivated. Four years later in 1945 Kimber was killed in a bizarre train accident in London.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

MG, however, not only lived on but thrived, even after the 1952 merger of Austin and Morris to create the British Motor Corporation (BMC), and what\u2019s more, on a shoe-string, produced its best models during the decade \u2013 the Magnette saloon and the MGA sports car. Although the former was loosely based on the four-door Wolseley 4\/44, the ZA Magnette enjoyed a character of its very own and has been frequently regarded since as a poor man’s Jaguar 2.4 with a similar plush interior, less go but better handling.<\/p>\n

\"automotive,<\/p>\n

The MGA is still widely reckoned as MG\u2019s best ever sports car even though it was little more than a re-clothed, rehashed TF, complete with its agricultural pre-war chassis. However this super sleek sportster benefited from Le Mans development which meant that it drove as good as it certainly looked. And never more so than once equipped with the race-bred twin cam engine that, in 290bhp supercharged tune, powered the EX181 teardrop-shaped land speed record holder. Driven by the legendary Stirling Moss it reached an incredible 245mph.<\/p>\n

Sadly as a road engine the \u2018unblown\u2019 but extremely handsome 108bhp 1588 B-Series engine was pretty hopeless durability-wise and so was withdrawn from service in 1960 after an all too short two year production run. But at least it beat Colin Chapman\u2019s not too dissimilar Lotus-Ford icon to the table by four years and was the fastest ever production MG until the BGT V8 came along decades later.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If nothing else the 1950s showed that Abingdon was still full of ideas – if only BMC had the cash and guts to back the engineers. In fact, before the Mini was even launched, MG had a trim-looking Pininfarina-styled roadster based upon the forthcoming Minivan which showed promise until the project was shelved. Instead it signified the start of a slow protraction for poor old MG; the \u2019new\u2019 Farina Magnette was little more than a jazzed-up costlier Morris Oxford costing \u00a3200 more (and the press weren\u2019t afraid to say so) and the new Midget sports car was just a re-badged Austin-Healey Sprite once its distinctive funny-faced frog-eye look was junked.<\/p>\n

Much was hoped with the MGB<\/a> as rumours spread about a modern suspension layout and Vee engines to go with its monocoque build. Yet when launched in 1962 the roadster was almost retro relying on carry over parts from the war-time TD \u2013 small wonder rally legend Roger Clark was fond of calling the MGB a two-seater Morris Oxford!<\/p>\n

\"automotive,<\/p>\n

The good news was that at least the trusty B-Series engine was stretched to 1.8-litre and 95bhp for decent poke, something MGAs always lacked. Nevertheless and despite positive road tests, in the face of the growing popularity of civilised sports saloons such Ford\u2019s Cortina and not to say BMC\u2019s own Mini Cooper or MG\u2019s twin carb take on the perky and pleasing 1100\/1300 saloons, cries for a B with more sting came thick and fast. Yet with the legendary hairy-chested Big Healey about to be pensioned off, in 1967 a penniless MG could only stuff in a lazy lorry-like six pot which had been forced on Abingdon for the MGB. A ponderous poor handler, totally alien to Kimber’s principles, the MGC lasted only two years in production.<\/p>\n