Morris Garages I’M Certain I’M Not the Only One on This Forum Who Owned an MG Or Two
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MG: Morris Garages I’m certain I’m not the only one on this forum who owned an MG or two. They were the epitome of “English sports car” – good looking but understated, with a wonderful exhaust note. They were fun to drive, and so very, very English. Maybe they were a bit narrower than some cars, but that just meant she had to sit closer to you. I set out to write this discussion thinking I pretty much knew the history of the company and the cars that it built. I didn’t know that by half – the pre-WWII half, which is arguably the most fun. What a fascinating story!!!! So in two parts –today and next week – a really cool story . To many Americans “MG” was synonymous with “sports car.” They were cars that MG’s founder described as “cheap and cheerful,” but many of them were quite fast, and in the 1930s, MG had a nearly unrivaled competition racing record. © Lee Willis 2016 A Murky Beginning I haven’t found any two sources of information that completely agree on how MG got its start. All agree on the big points, and so I’ve pieced together the story as it likely happened. MG was founded around 1923-1924, in Oxford, England, by an employee of William Morris, later Sir William Morris, and later still Viscount Nuffield. Morris owned two companies, Morris Motors, which made cars, and Morris Garages, a chain of automobile dealership-repair garages with its central store in Oxford. Cecil Kimber, an engineer who had a penchant for marketing and sales, worked for Morris and ran Morris Garages. Morris Motors made solid cars with very good mechanical design and motors, but they were, well, ugly. Kimber ordered a number of bare but complete chassis and had custom-make, sleek (for the time) bodies put on them. He sold them only through his Morris Garage dealerships at a premium, and was soon producing more. selling several hundred a year. Soon he was putting an “MG” emblem on (left) and them (left). Apparently the letters stood for Morris Garages, although he never confirmed or denied that. Officially it did not matter. The company was registered in 1924 as two-letters –“MG” – that was its legal name. The 1920s: Big Fast Cars MG cars in the early ‘20s were large, but despite their size rather fast for their time. The company had two models. The 14/40 was a mid-upper range 1.8 liter four-cylinder car. It had around 40 horsepower and could go perhaps 60-65 mph. The 18/80 was a much more powerful 2.5 liter six-cylinder car which had about 60 HP. It could accelerate from a standing start to 60 mph in a bit over half a minute, which was outstanding in an era when many cars could not reach 60 mph no matter how much time they were given. And the 18/80 was guaranteed to go 80 miles per hour. Further, for a few extra pounds any new-car buyer could even have a race car driver run his 18/80 at speed around a race track before it was delivered, and receive a notarized certificate attesting to its actual top speed when he picked up the car. These MGs were expensive and were not sold in large MG 18/80 4-seat roadster. numbers. Only about 150 to The hood and fenders were metal, 200 of each model were made but the body was wood covered with stretched and painted canvas, each year, but people who like some airplanes made at the time. bought them loved them. By initialdave (167 - MG 18-80 Six) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons The Engine that Made MG FamousOld Fashioning 101 In 1927 Morris Motors bought Wolseley Motors. Wolseley had been part of Vickers, which This one is deliberately the quickest modification I could figure out might work out. Here, I arguably had the best engineering resources in England (it made, among other things, large used red paint and only ten minutes (I had to three different reds I had before I found one that battleships – about the most complicated things built at that time). Wolseley had been the matches well enough). I painted over the headlight areas leaving only a round, traditional largest auto manufacturer in England only a decade earlier, but had fallen on hard times since headlight, and over the lower eight inches of the windshield, making it smaller and older the deaths of the Vickers brothers. Morris Motors continued the Wolseley brand but cross- looking, and then I painted the balck screw head in the front bumper red, too. pollinated engines, patents and designs between the Wolseley and its own Morris brand. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Morris_Minor_OHC_Engine_1932_%2814108998472%29.jpg Perhaps the most intriguing thing Morris acquired with Wolseley was a brand new four-cylinder 847 cc overhead cam engine: at the time a super-advanced design only used in pure racing cars. Overhead valves were considered advanced: an overhead cam in addition was unheard of in a road car. With just a fourth the displacement of Ford’s contemporary Model A engine, the new Wolseley engine could nonetheless By Lars-Göran Lindgren Sweden (Own work) - via Wikimedia Commons. reliably produce 27 HP - 2/3 as much. Morris Motors de-tuned it to 20 HP before The Wolseley/Morris 847 cc overhead cam engine in a 1928 Morris Minor. The cam is run off a geared vertical shaft from the crankshaft, that also putting it in the Morris Minor (left) its best- spins the magneto (other side, to the right). Eventually, MG’s version of this selling model, because it was “far too engine was fitted with a nice, cast-iron “long tube header” type exhaust manifold not included here, and tuned to make 27 – 30 HP @ 4,500 RPM. powerful” for a small family sedan. Midgets, Midgets Everywhere Old Fashioning 101 ThisEven one before is deliberately he could get the his quickest hands onmodification a new Morris I could Minor figure with out this might small work OHC out. engine, Here, Cecil I usedKimber red was paint planning and only an ten MG minutes model based(I had onto threeit. Within different a year, reds MG I had was before buying I foundbare Morris one that matchesMinor chassis well enough). and had itsI painted 847 cc overoverhead the headlight cam “M -areastype Midget” leaving onlyon the a round, market. traditional headlight,The Midget and was over a tiny the twolower-seat eight car inches with a ofsparse the windshield, metal and canvasmaking-over it smaller-wood and boat older-tailed looking,body mounted and then on I painteda lowered the Morris balck Minorscrew headchassis. in the The front first bumpermodels usedred, too.the detuned (20 HP) stock version of the Morris Minor OHC engine and three speed transmission. But they had a sporty long-hood/short tail look, cycle fenders, a stylish split and angled windscreen, and a a deep and loud exhaust note. What’s more, the Midget weighed only 1,100 lbs., so it was a very good performer by the standards of the time, and with a low center of gravity, it handled well. It was a blast to drive. It was faster than most of the cars on English roads. And it was cheap: in the 7-HP taxable category (as low as it got), capable of 40 mpg, and with a price not even a third more than a bottom An early (it has a fabric and wood rear body) MG Midget. MGs were rung Morris Minor or Austin Seven. done in a two-tone paint scheme with the body one color (the fabric and metal here have the same color but a different patina) and the MG sold eight times as many Midgets fenders another, as is this car which is dark blue with black fenders. as all its other cars put together. Photo by Lars-Göran Lindgren Sweden (Own work) - via Wikimedia Commons. 1928 MG M-Type Midget Drawing by Lee Willis Specifications Drivetrain 70 2-passenger roadster Engine: four-cylinder overhead cam, cast iron block and head S.S. ¼ mile 25 sec @ 52 60 Model years: 1928 Bore & stroke – 2.24 x 3.27 in mph Displacement: 51.6 cubic inches Made in: Abingdon, Berkshire, 50 England Compression ratio: 5.6:1 Carburetor – one SU side-draft Chassis – steel tube and 40 channel ladder frame Rated horsepower – 27 @ 4,500 rpm st Body – steel, wood, canvas Transmission: Three-speed : 1 17:1, 30 Wheelbase – 78 in. nd rd 2 9:1, 3 1:1 Miles Per Hour Per Miles Track – 45 in. Final drive ratio: 4.89:1 20 Length – 9 ft 2 in Suspension: semi-elliptic leaf springs Width – 4 ft 2 inch with friction dampers 10 Weight 1,120 lbs without Brakes; four-wheel, 8 inch drum fluids 0 List price: £ 185 Tires: Dunlop 20x3 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Number made: 3,235 Braking: 60 – 0 mph: 220 feet Seconds “Cheap and Cheerful” Old Fashioning 101 MG had found its niche. Midgets were, as Cecil Kimber dubbed them, “Cheap and Cheerful,” This one is deliberately the quickest modification I could figure out might work out. Here, I and by providing a good mixture of both qualities, sales were very good. Keep in mind that used red paint and only ten minutes (I had to three different reds I had before I found one that “very good sales” for a mostly hand-built sport cars (below left) meant only about fifteen or matches well enough).