The Motor Museum in Miniature

 The MG collection.

 MG History.

 William Morris and  Morris Garages  

    The first cars that could be attributed to Kimber and Morris garages were built in 1922 using the chassis and running gear from the Morris Cowley ‘Bullnose’ car and with special bodywork, they sold for about the same price as a more fully equipped Morris Oxford car. Kimber's scheme was to order standard Cowley chassis, lower the suspension and fit a ‘Chummy’ body of his own open two-plus-two type design. These were more ‘sporting’ than the Morris cars and sold extremely well known as Morris Garages Chummies.  

  In 1923 production was transferred to a mews workshop in Alfred Lane, Oxford, this also provided more space for the Morris Garages fitters to service Morris cars and prepare new vehicles for sale. Foreman, Cecil Cousins and two men worked 80 hours some weeks collecting chassis from the Morris works, modifying them at the new workshops, delivering the chassis to the coachbuilders, Carbodies, collecting them, and finishing them off back at Alfred Lane. Incredibly, production sometimes reached 20 cars a week!    

     Kimber headed a team that converted the 11.9 hp Morris ‘Cowley’ engine to a pushrod OHV unit running in a light and simple frame, also made from Morris components. This car was used experimentally and performed very well in endurance trials and winning a gold medal in the London-to-Lands End Trial.    

     Kimber exploited the sporting successes by ordering six two-seater bodies from Raworth of Oxford for fitting to modified Cowley chassis. These had a raked windscreen and yacht style scuttle ventilators; Boating was another Kimber interest. However, they cost twice the price of a Morris Cowley and sales were slow. These were the first cars to be known as M.G., the full Morris Garages name being thought too cumbersome by Kimber.   

   Cecil Kimber became managing director of the M.G. Car Company and it had been his choice to use the letters ‘M.G.’ within the octagonal boarder. It is thought to be in recognition of the part his employers, Morris garages, had played in the previous few years success and it seems reasonable to believe he would do so, especially as the first reference to M.G. within the octagon badge actually appears in an Oxford newspaper of November 1923. One should not forget though, that William Morris was the major shareholder in this new company and it would have been perhaps a little rude to come up with a new name and forget what had gone before.   

Old Number One.  

    The Hotchkiss OHV engine interested Kimber who acquired one in 1925 and fitted it to a Cowley chassis with a skimpy two-seater body. It was purely a competition special and gained him another Lands End Trial gold medal, before it was sold to a friend. That was the last the works saw of it - until it was found by an employee in a scrapyard in1932 and returned to Abingdon in 1933.

    Restored it was heralded as ‘The first M.G. built in 1923!’ Not only was the date wrong, but it was not the first M.G; nevertheless, it has been known ever since as ‘Old Number One’.  

M.G. on the move and at the Motor Show   

    In 1927 MG moved to a separate factory in Edmund Road, Cowley, near the main Morris factory, and for the first time a production line could be used.  

    In October 1928 the MG Car Company Limited made its first appearance at the London Motor Show. They displayed two of the new MG Midgets. Production of MG cars tripled with the MG ‘M’ type Midget accounting for more than half the company's production. 

    This required another move, this time to a new factory and works in Abingdon in 1930. Abingdon, in Oxfordshire, remained the home of MG cars until production ended there in 1980. 

   The first was the 18/80 model, entirely different from anything that had gone before. Only the engine remained Morris, and even this was a 2468cc six-cylinder ohcm design produced at Hotchkiss with MG in mind! It was also intended for use in Morris Light Six, Six and Isis models of the late 1920's, but these cars all suffered from a poor chassis and road holding and were perhaps not deserving of the new motor.

    For use in MG's, the Morris engine was tuned up and fitted with twin SU carburettors; while "Rudge-Whitworth" centre-lock wire wheels were used for the first time on a MG. There would be a total of 736 Mk. 1 & 2's manufactured up until 1933. But 1928 is perhaps better remembered as the year MG released the car that would instigate large scale production and ultimately ensure the success of the marque - the all-new "M-Type" Midget.)   

    The war years saw more disasters than the bombing and loss of skilled personnel. Cecil Kimber had been head of MG from 1922, but in 1941 he fell out with Lord Nuffield, over procuring wartime work. This led Kimber to review his position, a position that had seen him create a new niche in the motoring market, nurture a new brand and establish an image for that brand that would make it world renowned. His decision was to resign.    

    Sources closer to Lord Nuffield say that He had long wanted rid of Kimber. A man who was hugely Charismatic and, despite Lord Nuffield holding majority shares in MG and Morris motors, made MG “his” Marque. Nuffield was not exactly envious, just annoyed at repeatedly being ignored. When he saw that Kimber had taken on a contract to repair tanks without Lord Nuffield’s approval the opportunity to sack Kimber presented it self, and Lord Nuffield took it.   

    Cecil Kimber was pretty distraught after leaving MG and had great difficulty settling into new work, his reputation always preceded him, suggesting the later story to be true.

    Kimber took a position with an Engineering company in London in late 1942. In February 1945 He was required to go to Peterborough for a sales meeting. Not having enough petrol coupons to drive his MG he took the train, and died in a railway accident, never knowing the impact MG was about to have on the world.     

    Later in 1950 a MKII version was introduced (primarily with the export markets in mind) to run alongside the standard car. It featured a more highly tuned engine with an increased compression ratio of 8.0:1, this improved the power output to 57 bhp (43 kW) at 5500 rpm. Twin fuel pumps would also have helped even the fuel flow, while revised dampers and a higher rear-axle ratio helped the sporty feel of the car.

    Behind the scenes the formation of the British Motor Corporation, in 1952, was about to have an impact on the MG marque. BMC was the result of merging the Austin and Morris companies, inheriting other brands, such as MG, Riley and Wolseley, too. 

    The launch of the Austin-Healey 100 hit sales of the MG TD heavily but Leonard Lord, in his capacity as Chairman of BMC, decreed that MG should not introduce a new model in 1953. He reasoned that the newly formed BMC did not need two new sports cars.   

    In 1951 George Phillips Asked MG for a special streamlined body for his MGTD. The reason being an entry in the le Mans race for that year. MG TD EX172 was driven By George Phillips and Alan Rippon although engine failure led to their retirement, why mention this then? Well the body work inspired the look of the next range of MG sports cars.   

    In 1955 the MG A was launched and it was a large step away from the familiar look of MGs past. This car was up to date and belonged to the new era of car designs.    

    Badge engineering saw the introduction of Austin, Morris, Wolseley and Riley versions of the ‘1100’, in two and four door forms. The MG 1100 was launched in 2-door form as this was felt to better fit MG’s sporty image.   

    The 1100 was quite revolutionary being referred to in the promotional literature as "the most advanced MG of all time!". Badge engineering is seldom popular and diehard MG enthusiasts were not convinced, but it appears they were in the minority.   

    In 1962 MG replaced the MGA with the iconic MGB. A car that was intended to have a production life of seven or so years.     The first of the line rolled out the factory in June 1962 bearing chassis number G-HN3 101 and, apart from the introduction of black impact resistant bumpers from 1975 (mostly to suit American law changes), the cars looks changed very little. Given that the design shape had been tested and proven in a wind tunnel one supposes there was little need to spoil the smooth flowing lines that allowed a top speed of over 105mph, and looked equally good standing still.

    Another new idea in the MGB chassis was the introduction of controlled crumple zones, designed to protect the driver and passenger should an accident occur, wind up windows were a welcome improvement on the MGA's side screens.

    The turmoil that successively engulfed MG’s parent companies (originally produced by the British Motor Corporation, followed in 1966 by British Motor Holdings, finally by British Leyland Motor Corporation from 1968), meant that the ‘B’ was destined to remain in production for no less than 18 years with it’s manufacture ceasing in 1980.  

    As well as all the parent company transitions this had also been a time of political pressures on the motor industry, new safety and emissions requirements meant the factory at Abingdon kept adding parts until a car that in total weighed around 2,000 lbs. became a 2,800 lbs by the time of the last version in 1980.    

    But that was not the end of what had become Britain’s best loved sports car. Incredibly, in 1982 its spiritual successor, the limited edition MG RV8, appeared and went on sale for a further two years.      

    MG was in continuous production as a car manufacturer for 56 years after its inception (excepting the WWII hiatus).  The Marque survived BMC, who’s competition department, also based in Abingdon ,eventually forced the closure of  MG’s own factory in the autumn of 1980.  MG survived British Leyland, and the 1980’s badge engineering of the “sportier” versions of Austin Rover's Metro, Maestro and Montego ranges by the Rover group. 

    The MG RV8 kept the MG marque going, just, until 1994 saw the Rover group, along with  British aerospace bought  by BMW.  BMWs recovery plan for MG-Rover saw heartbreak for some and uncertainty for others, but it also resulted in the MGFs arrival in 1995 and it sold well. In fact it sold better than any two seat sports car since the 1970s.