From Dealer to Manufacturer

            What would possess a car dealer to begin manufacturing their own line of cars? In 1921, Cecil Kimber, the sales manager of Morris Garages started overseeing the production of customized versions of the Morris cars sold at the Oxford dealership. The first of these customized cars bore two names. One was the original manufacturer, Morris. The other was derived by Morris Garages owner William Morris who used a shorthand name of his shop and added the badge MG.

            While there is some dispute of when MG itself actually began as an independent car manufacturer, the company itself was believed to have been formed in 1924. There are records of a newspaper ad as early as 1923 though this could have just been an ad for the shop’s customized Morris autos.

            What isn’t in dispute is the fact that, almost from its inception, MG began making a name for itself as a builder of superior automobiles. Through much of the 1920s it created custom coachwork for Morris frames and engines. Eventually they broke away from that, either commissioning components or making them for themselves.

            By 1929 MG had begun making a small “midget” car based on the frame of the Morris Minor called the M-Type. With this car they started making noise in the international racing world. Though never a big player in this end of automotive manufacturing, they did well enough to garner a great deal of attention for their cars.

            During the late 1930s the company began making the highly successful T-Series Midgets, which, after production resumed following World War II, were successfully exported worldwide. This drew further attention to MG.

            In 1952 MG became part of the British Motor Corporation. Three years later the brand released a highly popular two seat roadster called the MGA. If that little sport about was successful, it was nothing compared to what was to come. Starting in 1962 the MGB began hitting the streets (see tomorrow’s blog). An MGC followed but, despite having a larger engine, was not as nimble as the MGB and production only lasted from 1967 until 1969.

            A year before the MGB was rolled out, MG began selling the MG Midget. This was essentially a slightly revamped Austin-Healey Sprite. This, unfortunately for the MG marque, started to become the norm under British Motor Company (and subsequently British Leyland which BMC became) as the MG badge was used strictly as a sales tool of other cars under that huge umbrella.

            Eventually the MG brand fell into disuse in North America. Though it still existed in some parts of the world, for all intents and purposes it had ceased to exist.  The Rover Group revived the MG name in 1992 with the MG RV8 and three years later with the MGF. Today the MG Rover Group is technically a stand-alone company but the brand that once made the most popular sports car roadster of all time has but been forgotten. Except, that is, by collectors who still thrill in owning and driving these wonderful cars.