MG MILESTONES

1924 – Cecil Kimber, Morris Garages General Manager, establishes a marketing niche for modified Morris cars that were sportier and faster.  In a short time MG would come to stand for ‘affordable performance’ to a growing motoring world.

May 1924 – thought to be the date that the MG Octagon was first placed on the Super Sports Morris.

The telephone number – Abingdon 251 – provided the starting point for most MG’s chassis VINs (Vehicle Identification Numbers).

MG’s competition success in the 30s was characterised by a class win with the K3 at the 1933 Mille Miglia road race – the first time a non-Italian team had won.

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The most famous TC customer was the Duke of Edinburgh, who bought the MG in August 1947.

Longbridge designed and manufactured the A- and B-Series engines, 50 years ago in 1952, for the MG Midget and Z Series Magnette, MGA and MGB.

Production TF and Magnette ZAs use a *501 VIN start, from BMC’s Birmingham headquarters telephone number.

Wednesday, 16 May 1956 – 100,000th MG was an LHD MGA 1500.

The 500,000th MG was produced in 1963.

The most famous MGC customer was HRH Prince Charles, who took delivery of his GT in 1969 (SGY 766F), which he recently passed down to Prince William.

The 1,000,000th was built in October 1975 – a unique LHD MGB roadster finished in Brooklands Green, with Jubilee GT livery and wheels.

March 1962 – 100,000th metallic Gold MGA displayed at New York Motor Show.

Thursday, 27 May 1971 – an MGB GT is the 250,000th MGB and given away in USA sweepstake.

The first Longbridge built MG was the MG 1100/1300 family in 1962.

Tuesday, 9 May 2000 – MG and Rover brands returned to British ownership, with Production, Engineering, Sales and Marketing centred at Longbridge and shares held by
MG Rover Group employees and its franchised dealers.

Production of the new TF commenced with a *101 VIN after the company’s Longbridge telephone number (0121 475 2101) tradition.

Tuesday, 16 April 2002 – the 1.5 Millionth MG is a new MG TF 160 roadster (VIN 604127).  The TF is icon of the current MG range, which includes the ZR, ZS and ZT.

MG PRODUCTION TOTAL – 1.5 MILLION CARS IN 78 YEARS

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