Great Cars: MG

the classic mg Roasters brought the joy of driving a lightweight agile car to millions of people around the world it is a car that handled well felt like it was going fast and gave its drivers more fun for the dollar than anything else on the road mg s continued to deliver the promise of affordable fun you don't need to be wealthy to tackle the open road in an mg [Music] M G stands for Morris garages the Oxford distributor for Morris cars sessile Kimber became its general manager in 1922 and started modifying Morris Cowley's lowering the chasis and fitting them with more sporting bodywork the result was old number 1 the first mg sports car Morris garages outgrew its home three times before moving to Abington in 1929 it has renamed the mg car company [Music] cessful Kimber's little sports car was a hit it is exactly what the public wanted a small high-performance car that could be driven on the roads during the week and raced on Sundays but most importantly it was modest oh Christ these were the early days of the depression and most people couldn't afford a sporty Bentley or a Mercedes the MG was the perfect solution [Music] despite its low cost each mg was handmade by skilled craftsmen every car was tested hand-painted and prepared for delivery you didn't have to wait for the car to arrive at your local dealer mg welcomed buyers to pick up their cars from the factory [Music] many buyers drove straight to local rally events where the tough little car proved itself on the most extreme terrain [Music] the first really important racing success for mg came in 1930 at Brooklands built in 1908 Brooklands was the first bank to concrete racetrack in the world this two-day event was similar to the 24-hour race at lamorne in France [Music] on their first outing the tiny mg's beat the powerful Bentley's one of the banti drivers was hurt to say we've been invaded by fleas [Music] mg continued to dominate sports car racing throughout the early 1930s they won events like the Irish Grand Prix the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy and the Ulster TT they also took home victories in Italy Germany Czechoslovakia and Monaco mg's growing reputation on the track paid off with increased sales [Music] [Applause] [Music] racing enthusiasts would often stop by the factory to see their new cars being finished and have a word with the men who are building them if you are lucky you might have a chat with famous rally drivers like Ian Appleyard before they drove off to compete in an event the mg midgets began to develop a following in the United States thanks to the heirs to an advertising fortune the Collier brothers they started racing on their parents New York estate in the 1930s [Music] they built a road course and invited their friends over to race the brothers Baron jr. miles and Sam had read about European road racing and once they saw it they had to get involved [Music] mgs became an early favorite at their races because of Behrens wife she saw the little cars racing at Brooklands and bought an mg as a wedding present for her husband the Colliers and their friends have so much fun they formed at the Overlook Racing Club they spent many weekends racing around the estates they soon started to hold events on road courses they set up throughout New England [Music] they changed the name of their group to the automobile racing Club of America and started to drum up more interest in this uniquely European brand of racing their first event in Alexandria Bay New York attracted 10,000 spectators during this time the mg company began to focus on speed records they built a special car called the magic in December 1930 the magic hit 87 miles per hour breaking rival Austin's record of 84 miles per hour by 1932 driver George Easton was determined to break the 120 mile mark at Penn Dyne Sam's in Wales to Captain Easton describes his difficult record attempt we found when we got there that the face was strewn with razor shells and I had to get the assistance of the local school mistress to close her school get get the children out to collect all these razor shells and baskets and that was done every time the tide turned to come in Eastern hit 118 miles per hour but he was still determined to break the 120 mile mark to do this the e x12 7 was built it is a slimmed down version of the original magic so slimmed down in fact that Eastern could no longer fit in the car driver birth Denley took over and broke the record the car would eventually hit a hundred and forty on the German Autobahn before being acquired by mercedes-benz for study in 1935 mg dropped a bombshell on racing fans around England they were no longer sponsor a factory team they said that their quest for victory and speed had served its purpose enough advanced ideas have been developed that could be incorporated in their production cars for years besides there was no race competition left they hadn't won but before the axe fell the ex1 35 had been built it is mg s most advanced record-breaking car sporting a futuristic streamline design that would later be seen on cars from Mercedes and Audi Union for years it was campaigned by private owners before it finally fell into the hands of major goalie Gartner with a supercharged engines gardeners piloted the px 135 to a record-breaking speed of 206 miles per hour on the [Music] the factory at Abingdon was also getting ready for the future with the introduction of the mg ta the replacement for the series of cars [Music] unfortunately the TA wasn't received that well by the time the improved mg TB was unveiled the world was at war [Music] when the war started in 1939 the mg factory turned all this production to varmints one of the first assignments was repairing Matilda tanks in 1941 OMG won a contract to assemble Cochrane's for british bombers [Music] when the flames of war were finally extinguished England faced a difficult challenge how to rebuild prior to the outbreak of war mg had announced the TC the replacement for the TB despite the fact that the car was obviously dated both mechanically and in appearance the young war veterans who wanted to try their hand a rallying snatched up the cows [Music] mg was aware that the more cars they could export the more raw materials they will be allocated they began a worldwide sales effort in order to earn much-needed hard currency [Music] American GIs returning from Europe launched an mg phenomenon in the United States some of these young men had seen the MGS on their tours overseas and fell in love with the low-slung fun to drive cars the mg TC became very popular with drivers in the States for many Americans this was the first foreign car they'd ever seen [Music] in the days after the war there weren't many new cars available in America Detroit had stopped production in 1942 to focus on the war effort the cars that were available were large unwieldy family sedans [Music] the mg TC was the perfect antidote for the post-war blues it was a tiny jewel of a car that handled well got good gas mileage and was fun to drive the US market was very important to mg the post-war economic boom meant that Americans could easily afford the mg and more sales meant more resources to build new cars the plan worked in the car's four-year production run 10,000 TCS were built more than half of those ended up in the United States [Music] the success of the mg sparked a British car avalanche in the United States Jaguar unveiled their new XK 120 a production sports car that could hit a hundred and twenty miles per hour for the budget-conscious there was the triumph TR - for the more affluent enthusiast Aston Martin offered the most luxurious sexy sports car money could buy the db2 wallabies cars have been developed after the war and had a decidedly modern look compared to the MGS mg continued to build the T series offering up minor updates like independent front suspension with the TD and some slight cosmetic changes on the TF [Music] but by 1953 the MGS looked like relics it was time to bring some excitement back to the mark [Music] once again mg set its sights on speed records this time at the Bonneville Salt Flats outside Wendover Utah the mg e X 179 resembled the pre-war record-breaking car of major Goldie Gardner but it had a larger more efficient engine the hopes were to break a series of class-f records of the first day the car with Ken miles and Johnny locket broke the 12-hour world speed record clocking 140 1.81 miles per hour the next day the team went after the class f sprint record officiating the event with the United States Auto Club with Kent miles behind the wheel the retuned ex1 79 reached a record-breaking 170 point one five miles per hour almost 10 miles an hour faster than the old record in just two days the mg broke 16 international and 47 American national records [Music] mg was also experimenting with a new streamlined design for their next generation of sports cars the mga s these sexy new cars were rolled out for the first time in the 1955 L'Amour these aluminum bodied prototypes finished fifth and sixth in their class and heralded a new era for mg [Applause] [Music] the MGAs found their way onto the rally circuit the mainstay of Mg racing here they proved that they were competent successors to the T series the public couldn't wait to get their hands on this new car revitalized by the success of the mga the company launched the ex1 81 in 1957 it was the most advanced record-breaking car they'd ever produced with racing legend at Stirling Moss at the wheel this all British team set its sights on exceeding two hundred and forty miles per hour designed by mg engineer Sid anniver the ex1 81 was unlike any mg before it never was the man responsible for the mga and his experience with streamlining helped create a bullet like a car that promised to be the fastest mg ever built [Music] the team returned at the Bonneville Salt Flats where Moss piloted the car to an astounding 245 miles per hour a record mg was back on top their mga was a hot seller in 1958 they beefed up the power with a twin cam version of the car designed for the weekend enthusiast it could hit a top speed of 115 miles per hour what the car lacked however was a comfortable interior this will be remedied with mg's next new model the MGB the MGB had better performance thanks to a new 1789 cc engine and far greater comfort while it was shorter than the mga the designers had managed to make the cockpit roomier which allowed for larger more comfortable seats the press and public loved the car it's top speed exceeded a hundred miles per hour and it could hug the road like the mg rally cars of the past [Music] it was the most successful mg ever finished selling five times more cars than the mga but in 1970 the sports car market would change forever that year Nissan unveiled at the Datsun 240z it hit the streets all over the world here was a true modern sports car fast stylish inexpensive and something mgs never were reliable the cars at sold faster than Nissan could make them this would be a death sentence for mg production continued until 1980 when the factory was closed it was the end of a glorious era but the mg name would not die in the hearts of its many fans around the world above anything else mgs had character diehard fans loved the plucky little cars news of mgs demise sparked a huge outcry around the world the parent company British Leyland which also owned a triumph didn't expect this realising the hexagonal badge of the ng still meant something the company made a half-hearted effort to exploit the brand [Music] the result was the Metro series launched in 1981 these front-wheel drive cars had little in common with the previous line of mg's they were more mini than mg still they proved to be popular enough [Music] the Metro series mopped a return to factory racing for the mg brand the Metro 6r4 was able to produce 400 brake horsepower it competed successfully in the unlimited B group class for several years after series of tragic accidents attributed to the speed of these cars group being rally racing was banned in 1987 [Music] the metro series continued to sell well but true mg fans were waiting for another open-topped roadster to win their hearts [Music] unfortunately that roaster wouldn't be an mg it was Mazdas retro convertible the mx-5 or Miata the Miata was everything that the mg roadsters had been with one exception they always started and didn't trip oil the master reminded everyone how much fun to drive were the classic two-seat sports cars of the 1950s and 60s the Miata single-handedly revived the modern sports car movement [Music] Jaguar weighed in with an updated XK convertible reminiscent at the classic XKE Porsche hit the road with the Boxster [Music] with this renewed interest in small sporty convertibles the rover group which now owned the mg name began work on an all-new open-topped roadster the MGF the new car boasted a mid-engine and rear-wheel drive the British designed at 1789 CC motor delivered a lively 118 brake horsepower Rover claimed a top speed of 120 miles per hour and a 0 to 60 time of H of 0.5 seconds [Music] the MGF was what British sports car fans had been waiting for it had the latest technological advances while maintaining that classic mg charm [Music] while there were few amenities other than electric windows a six-cd order changer and air conditioning were available options another nice feature was the large trunk which could accommodate two golf bags white had yet to be released in the US the MGF became Britain's number one selling sports car mg was back and in 2008 broadened the lineup with three new sports sedans the mg zr z s and the z team these cars gave buyers needing a backseat the same kind of driving thrill as the popular mg f the company was never known for building a wide variety of cars mg finally had a model for everyone while Rover was sold then resold it looked as though mg would go on forever [Music] mg has run the gamut from perky sports cars that charmed the world two races that set world records it's a car that's always been about the feeling of going fast there may be more advanced sports cars in the world but there isn't one that is more fun to drive it's all about the romance of the road [Music]

Channel: King Rose Archives

Views: 88,307

Rating: 4.8699188 out of 5

Keywords: Sports cars, Morris Garage, British Leyland, Longbridge plant, Cecil Kimber, Lord Nuffield, MGB, MGA, Goldie Gardner, Captain George Eyston, MG Midgets

Id: MLVVIasW7to

Length: 25min 4sec (1504 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 26 2017