The classic Imported Mg Mgf Sports Car

There is something memorable and unforgettable about Mg and especially the Mgf series sports cars many automakers and manufacturers have tried to copy imported Mg automobiles. Yet a copy is seldom if ever as good as the original. What is the history and how was did this automotive legend come to evolve?

Transmission

After the Mgb died away in 1980, British Leyland and its successors kept the Mg badge alive in a series of lack luster, hotted up Austin hatchbacks. Yet for many years in the 1980s' and 1990s' it looked as if no new sports cars were ever developed. Then came the period when the Rover Group was owned by Bmw, who invested heavily in their new acquisition, saw the great merits of Mg and commissioned a new two-seater, the Mgf. It was of policy too late to make this new car at Abingdon (which had been flattened when Mgb was killed off), so it was artificial at Longbridge, alongside the Morris and Metros.

Its basic layout - it was a steel monocoque-shelled two seater, with a transversely mounted four-cylinder engine positioned immediately behind the seats - the Mgf followed other successful cars as the Fiat X/19 and the Toyota Mr2. However it must be stated and undoubtedly driven home that the Mgf was distinctive and its own animal with many unique, innovative touches and innovative features. Practically as expected, the chassis borrowed heavily from Rover 100 (as the Austin Metro had been renamed) and Rover 200 models.

In an keen industrial deal, Mayflower of Coventry agreed to design the body shells, take the industrial risk in producing tools, but also take an enhanced proportion of the profits. Rover engineers then slotted in an enlarged version of the modern K-series 16 valve engine - which boasted 1,796 cc and a selection of 118 barrel horse power bhp ( 143 hp), all mated to a 5-speed transmission from the 200 (The same engine / transmission package, incidentally would also be adopted by the Lotus Élan).

Independent suspension at front and rear was the wishbones, with spring by interconnected Hydragas units, as previously used on cars like the Metro/100 and before that, on the Austin Allegro and Princess 18/22 ranges. Rack-and-pinion steering was approved and there were disc brakes on all corners.

The style, stubby but rounded was of a pure two-seater, with space for storage ahead of the toe-board (but not much) and was also behind the transverse engine. Wind-up windows door glasses were standard, there was a vast, steeply sloping windscreen and the cabin, was well furnished with inviting-looking seats. A movable hardtop soon became optional.

The new car, in other words was no more pure-bred than the old Mgb or the Mg Midget, had ever been, but the engineers somehow melded the whole into an keen package, and the use of the original Mg octagon badge was all-important. Even though it had a rear-based weight distribution, the new car proved to cope well (if a minuscule biased toward safe but not exotic under steer) and even lower-power (118 bhp) guise it was allinclusive a most brisk performer.

The 143 bhp version, perfect with its high-revving variable valve timing feature, was capable of fully 130 miles per hour, which was one extreme, while the 118 bhp type, with the optional Steptronic transmission which was added later, was the other. Five years after its launch, with up to 15,000 Mgfs' being produced every year, the companies' gamble in reintroduced the Mg sports car undoubtedly paid off and bore fruit.

It all goes to show you that on the road to excellent car renown that the Mg and in this case the Mgf everyone likes a winner and it is Practically impossible to copy such a winning, excellent automobile.