Great Britain’s best-loved sports car brand is celebrating its centenary this year, marking 100 years since founder Cecil Kimber—then general manager of The Morris Garages—began “tuning” standard Morris Motors cars by upgrading their engines, improving their suspensions and brakes, and fitting distinctive, sporty new coachwork. Those special models were called “M.G. Super Sport Morrises” in honor of William Morris (later Lord Nuffield) and his Morris Garages business. MG would soon design and build its own special automobiles whose motorsports pedigree originated with Kimber’s Morris Cowley-based, Land’s End Trial-winning “Old Number One” of 1925. Regular production began around 1927, and the M.G. Car Company Ltd. was formally registered in July 1930.
10 MG Legends from the Last 100 Years
By the middle of that decade, this fast-growing marque offered an impressive range of sports and touring cars. Even as it came under greater control of its parent company, MG continued to expand its popularity at home and abroad. In the years after World War II, America would be its largest market, where MG became virtually synonymous with sports cars. The original, Abingdon-based MG firm was closed in autumn 1980, but the brand name lived on, applied to sporty Austin-Rover models; there was a renaissance of MG sports car production through the 1990s. That the now-Chinese-owned brand enjoys increasing sales of affordable electric cars today underlines the enduring fondness for the “sacred octagon.” We’re celebrating some of the most important and influential MG cars to honor this anniversary; write us and share your own favorite MG memories.
1929-’32 8/33 M Type Midget
The first production MG sports car was the M Type Midget, whose soon-to-be-famous name came from its diminutive dimensions. The boat-tail two-seater and occasional four roadsters, plus the enclosed Sportsman’s Coupé, shared an advanced SOHC, 847-cc (51.7-cu.in.) four-cylinder making 20, or later, 27 horsepower; their performance was competitive in hillclimbs, reliability trials, and international endurance races. Edsel Ford was said to have privately imported one of the first new MGs—a 1930 M Type—to America, and his son, Henry Ford II, would acquire the last—a 1980 MGB Limited Edition— earmarked for the U.S. According to the Triple-M Register (triple-mregister.org), just 3,235 M Types were built alongside MG’s racing C and D Types before the larger, more powerful four-cylinder J Type Midget variants took over MG’s cheap-and-cheerful sports car duties. When surviving M Types change hands these days, they bring between $30,000 for a standard Midget and $110,000 for a genuine Double-Twelve with period racing provenance.
1935-’39 SA / 1937-’39 VA / 1938-’39 WA
While affordable sports cars were the early MG Car Company’s bread and butter, this firm also built larger, pricier models like the SS Jaguar-rivaling SA, VA, and WA. These impressive cars, designed after MG was brought under the Morris Motors corporate umbrella, combined sporty design cues with luxurious trimmings and ample room. Their motivation came from Morris-derived OHV engines: inline-sixes powered the 2.2/2.3-liter, 75/78-hp SA and 2.6-liter, 100-hp WA, while the slightly smaller VA used a 54-hp 1.5-liter four. Each came as a four-door Saloon, four-passenger open Tourer, or Tickford Drophead Coupé with three-position top; bare SA/VA chassis were available for coachbuilt-body fitment. The SVW Register (svwregister.co.uk) reports 2,745 SA’s, 2,407 VA’s, and 358 WA’s were produced. Convertible variants are most valuable today, with recent auction results indicating $150,000-plus sales of open SA’s (less than half that for a Saloon), around $40,000 for VA’s, and about $107,000 for the sole WA that’s crossed the block.
1934-’36 P Type Midget
The prewar P Types would hold the distinction of being the last MG Midgets designed in-house before that duty was transferred to Morris’s engineers. They were also the final Midgets to use MG’s advanced SOHC engine architecture in upgraded three-main-bearing, 35-hp 847-cc and 43-hp 939-cc forms. The first P Type Midget, which would retroactively be dubbed PA with the late-1935 introduction of the PB, popularized the flowing-fender, cut-down door, slab-tank look that MG sports cars would maintain until the MGA arrived. The PA’s wire mesh grille inserts were traded for the PB’s vertical slats. Complementing the two- and four-seat open variants was the streamlined two-seat Airline Coupé: 42 of the 2,500 total P Types were so bodied, and 21 are known to remain. Restored standard roadsters trade hands in the $30-50,000 range, while in September 2022, RM Sotheby’s sold a PB Airline for $121,000; this same firm auctioned a genuine works-team “Dancing Daughters” 1934 PA/PB that contested Le Mans in 1935, bringing $246,000 in 2019.
1945-’49 TC / 1950-’53 TD / 1953-’55 TF
Fondly remembered as the postwar British sports car Americans loved first, the T-Series cars were firmly rooted in the past, dating back to the successful TA of 1936. Developed under the eye of MG founder Cecil Kimber, the TA offered 80-mph performance at a reasonable price. The return to peacetime production in 1945 brought the development of the TC, with a wider body and a more potent, 1,250-cc OHV four to go with its spidery 19-inch wire wheels. MG’s decision to market the car in the United States was a game-changer, and it was the tastes of Americans that shaped its successor, the TD of 1950. Independent front suspension, rack-and-pinion steering, standard-equipment bumpers, and sturdy steel wheels updated the car for the U.S. market. More than 21,000 of the 29,664 TDs made found American buyers. When the last of the Ts, the TF, arrived in 1953, it was considered antiquated in comparison with its Triumph TR2 and Austin-Healey 100 competitors. An increase in displacement partway through production, to 1,466 cc, didn’t help much, and only 9,600 would be built before the MGA came to the rescue. Today, a presentable TC has a market value starting around $40,000, while prices for TDs and TFs range around $25,000 to $30,000.
1954-’58 Magnette
If you believe the myth that the modern sports sedan was invented in the ’70s, or even the ’60s, then the MG Magnette would like a word. The first MG to employ the BMC B-series OHV four, which would also power the MGA and MGB sports cars, the Magnette boasted a floor-mounted shifter for its four-speed gearbox, a sports-tuned suspension, upgraded brakes, and optional radial tires. It proved itself in international rallies and won over an initially skeptical buying public, ending its run with total sales of around 36,600. The original Magnette, the ZA series, was succeeded at the end of 1956 by the ZB, which would use higher compression and bigger carburetors to push the B-series to 68 hp, eight more than the ZA. A Varitone model was introduced, with a larger back window and available two-tone paint. In its sales brochures, MG appealed to driving enthusiasts who could not be limited to a two-seater. The same applies today. They’re not common, but persistent hunting should turn up some candidates in the $25,000-$30,000 price range.
1955-’62 MGA
No car was more crucial in MG’s long history than the MGA, the company’s first modern post-war sports car. Its job was to ensure MG’s future by winning the hearts of those enthusiasts who had first fallen in love with the company’s traditional T-Series cars. It would become the world’s best-selling sports car, with more than 100,000 produced. The svelte, wasp-waisted roadster—a coupe was added one year later—inherited little from its predecessor, the TF, aside from its coil-spring front suspension. The engine was a 1,489-cc version of BMC’s B-series four, connected to a four-speed gearbox shared with the MG Magnette. A Twin-Cam model was offered in 1958, but reliability issues with its 1,588-cc B-series engine led to a halt in production after just 2,111 examples had been produced. By that time, the standard MGA had become the MGA 1600, its displacement raised to 1,588 cc and front disc brakes made standard. In 1961, displacement was bumped up once more, to 1,622 cc, creating the Mk II 1600. Today, you can enjoy MGA ownership for as little as $20,000, though coupes, Twin-Cams and other special versions will generally set you back much more.
1963-’71 1100/1300 Sports Sedan
MC’s ADO16 range would be sold around the world with a variety of badges on its nose, including the MG octagon. Lest you think they weren’t really trying, BMC went beyond adding the marque’s traditional vertical-bar grille, giving the MG 1100 Sports Sedan a twin-carburetor, 55-hp version of the 1,098-cc A-series OHV four, as well as front disc brakes and a four-speed, floor-shifted gearbox. Like its siblings, the MG boasted front-wheel drive, as well as BMC’s clever “Hydrolastic” fluid suspension, which yielded excellent handling and a compliant ride on a wheelbase of 93.5 inches. A Mk II version of the ADO16 cars was launched in 1967, with a mild facelift and the option of the 1,275-cc version of the A-series, rated at 58 hp. The new 1300 cars were offered alongside the 1100s. Though the American motoring press loved it, the MG 1100/1300 did not sell well here, which means you’ll have your work cut out for you if you hope to put one in your garage. Expect to pay somewhere between $8,000 and $15,000.
1962-’79 Midget
You might say that the Midget was the entry-level sports car MG never knew it needed. Based on the second generation of the Austin-Healey Sprite, the little two-seater joined the MG family in 1961. The Midget sums up the evolution of British sports cars in the ’60s and ’70s, starting out with side curtains, no external door handles, and a 948-cc BMC A-series four (later raised to 1,098 cc) in Mk I form, and ending up with a 1,493-cc inline-four from rival Triumph and molded plastic bumpers by its 1979 demise as the 1500. In between came the Mk II, with roll-up windows; and the Mk III, which boasted a 65-hp version of the 1,275-cc A series. Overall, Midget production totaled more than 224,000, with nearly three in four cars exported to the United States. All Midgets remain an affordable way to enjoy British sports car ownership. No matter the version, a budget of $10,000 should be enough to bag a nice, drivable example.
1967-’69 MGC / 1973-’76 MGB GT V8 / 1993-’95 RV8
MGB production reached 512,243 cars over 18 years, earning it the honor of Britain’s best-selling sports car. The B’s recipe for success was equal parts strong, timelessly styled monocoque body; reasonably powerful and durable 1,798-cc four-cylinder; comfortable accommodations; and benign manners equally suited to daily motoring and the racetrack. The convertible gained a Pininfarina-influenced MGB/GT sibling in late 1965. Just 8,999 MGCs and MGC/ GTs, with 145-hp Austin inline-sixes under their bulging bonnets, were built in 1967-’69, and even scarcer was the U.K.-only, 137-hp Rover V-8-powered 1973-’76 MGB GT V8 at 2,591 units. The enduring popularity of this last Abingdon MG meant its body shells re-entered production in the late 1980s, leading to the reintroduction of MG via the 1993-’95 RV8; named for its fuel-injected 190-hp Rover V-8, that would be the rarest of all at 1,982 built. MGB sale prices average roughly $13,500, while a nice MGC can be had for less than $25,000, and $30,000 can buy you a factory GT V8 or RV8.
1995-’02 MGF / 2002-’11 TF
Excitement over the return of MG as a sports car maker in the early 1990s complemented a growing global appreciation for open two-seaters kicked off by the MX-5. Rover engineers developed an innovative mid-engine convertible using many off-the-shelf parts including their well-regarded 1.8-liter K series four-cylinder and fully independent Hydragas suspension, cloaked it in sleek styling that recalled the late MGB and ’85 EX-E show car, and dubbed it the MGF. Output ranged from 112 to 160 hp, and an F could achieve up to 137 mph. This MG, built in both right- and left-hand drive, got a major refresh in 2002 that brought a historic new name: TF. Along with sharpened styling, the TF got a new suspension with conventional steel springs and tube shocks, and it continued offering 1.6- and 1.8-liter engines. MG Rover went bankrupt in 2005, but the Chinese automakers that purchased the company continued to build the TF in small numbers. Early MGFs can be purchased for less than $5,000 and are now eligible for importation to the U.S.
MGB tips mods and maintenance 