You know the world's gone a little crazy when British icon, MG, is owned by Chinese interests. The bottom line is if the Chinese hadn't picked up the name, then it would more than likely be yet another car company sent to the big garage in the sky.
The history of MG has been one of turmoil.
Yet, despite the disarray the company managed to bring out cars that caught the imagination of sports car drivers the world over. MG, which stands for Morris Garage, was a private British company founded in 1924 by William Morris and Cecil Kimber. Morris Garage was the sales division of Morris cars. Kimber had the idea to produce sports cars on Morris sedan platforms. Morris cars were a fairly staid stable, conservative in appearance and performance.
A sort of automobile version of, `No Sex Please, We're British.' Morris Garage made a variety of cars, but they are best known for two seater sports soft tops. The first MG offering was the 14/18 and comprised a sporty body fitted to a Morris Oxford. Then they started to get serious and were about to introduce its new TB Midget roadster when Hitler decided to start a war.
The TB was a replacement for the TA, itself a replacement for the MG PB. With the factory geared up for war production, the MG sports line up went into a holding pattern until hostilities ended. Soon after the war ended in 1945, MG introduced the MG TC Midget, a lovable little open two seater.
Just the wheels for a returning soldier and his bride to be. In reality it was a TB with some small modifications. It still had a 1250 cc four cylinder engine borrowed from the Morris 10, and sported a four speed synchromesh gear shift.
This is the car that cemented the MG name in Australia ... and many other markets around the world. Post-war there was little money or petrol about. Cars were about practicality. The little MG flew in the face of everything and those tired of tough times loved it. There had to be some reward for years of war and cars like the TC added the ingredient of fun back into people's lives. In Easter 2007 the MG car club of Australia held its National Concours on the Gold Coast.
For MG fans it was a magic weekend with all the T's represented, the TC, TD and TF models that came to dominate the affordable sports car market in the post-war period. Baby boomers will be more familiar with the MG's that followed this era, the MGA and the ubiquitous MGB. In 1995 MG sought to continue the T series when it released the MG TF. About 10,000 MG TC cars were produced between 1945 and 1949, many of them exported.
TD resembled the TC, but was vastly upgraded with a new chassis and was a more sturdy car. It is easy to identify the two models: The one with bumper bars is a TD. The TD ran from 1949 to 1953 when the TF was introduced, complete with a new 1466 cc engine, replacing the 1250 cc motor. By 1955 the TF was looking dated. It still resembled pre-war cars with bits seemingly added on here and there. If you're looking for parallels it's like comparing the XK 120, 140 and 150 Jaguars with the XKE, or E-Type.
So the MG brand was brought into the modern era with the curvaceous and streamlined MGA. MGA had a lot to live up to. The heritage was of a series of open top cars that were essentially selfish, mechanically simple, reasonably reliable and a hoot to drive. The `A' was followed by the `B' which is the car the baby boomers bought and are still seen routinely on our roads today.
MG's history was as rocky as the Australian roads they were expected to survive. In 1952 Austin Motor Corporation merged with Morris Motors to form British Motor Corporation Ltd. In 1968 it was merged into British Leyland and later became MG Rover Group and part of BMW. BMW divested its interest in the group --- keeping another British icon, Mini --- and a few months later in 2005 MG Rover went into liquidation. Soon after the MG name was purchased by Chinese interests, Nanjing Automobile Group, for 53 million pounds.
In late 2007 SAIC took over Nanjing. Last year the MG range was relaunched in Britain. This may all seem rather strange. But let's not forget those other British symbols, Jaguar and Land Rover are now owned by Indian interests. And a Saudi purchases a Chevrolet made in Australia by Holden. Yep, the world's a little crazy.
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