Meet MG’s earliest survivors

By Simon Hucknall

| 1 Oct 2025

Classic & Sports Car – MG’s most significant survivors: Abingdon’s foundations

Were it not for Morris Garages’ need for a swift riposte to the launch of Morris Motors’ Occasional Four model at the 1924 London Motor Show, the company soon to be known as MG might have become known for well-appointed saloons rather than sporting fare.

Morris Motors Ltd had taken over car production from William Morris’ WRM Motors in 1919, leaving his earlier firm, Morris Garages, to focus on sales and servicing in the Oxford area.

Since the factory decreed that dealers could only sell within their region, Morris Garages – driven by the entrepreneurial spirit of its general manager, Cecil Kimber – began developing its own Morris-based models, neatly circumventing the restriction.

The MG 14/28 Super Sports Bullnose Salonette wears the Morris badge

The Chummy was an early example of this.

Using a Cowley chassis, with Morris Garages’ own two-seater body, it had (just about) room for an adult passenger or three small children, broadening its appeal while giving Kimber independence from the Morris factory.

Sales were buoyant enough to necessitate a move from its Longwall Street premises to a larger mews garage in Alfred Lane, but the arrival of Morris’ cheaper, four-seat Occasional Four forced the fledgling firm down a different path, one that would ultimately define its future.

Kimber had already produced a sporting version of the Chummy, inspired by a modified car in which he’d clinched a Gold Medal at the 1923 Land’s End Trial.

The sporty and stylish MG 14/28 Super Sports Bullnose Salonette offered something different to motorists

Six cars, now often seen as the first MGs, had two-seater coachwork by Oxford firm Charles Raworth, with raked ’screens and boat-style vents on their scuttle panels.

But at £350 they were costly, especially when underpinned by near-standard Morris chassis and drivetrains.

A thorough makeover of the factory hardware was needed to give Morris Garages products a more sporting edge to differentiate them – dynamically, as well as aesthetically – from their humble brethren.

The two cars with us today are the earliest survivors of Kimber’s mission to achieve true separation from the Morris factory.

The now-famous MG octagon wasn’t common on cars until 1927

By far the best-known is ‘Old Number One’, the first MG purpose-built for motorsport and the car that Kimber famously campaigned at the Motor Cycling Club’s Land’s End Trial in April 1925, in which he secured another Gold Medal.

The distinctive boat-tailed saloon, a 1925 MG 14/28 Super Sports Bullnose Salonette, is the earliest MG production car in the world to survive in a complete and unmolested state (an earlier bare chassis was unearthed more recently, but its restoration required replica bodywork and non-original mechanicals).

Both the racer, built in March 1925, and the Salonette from two months later represented ground zero in terms of MG’s future direction.

It was another two years before the famous octagonal crest appeared on one of its cars, but the brand’s transformation had begun in earnest.

MG ‘Old Number One’ has a curved scuttle, which gives limited protection from the elements

Morris Garages had been producing what was advertised (but not badged) as an ‘MG Saloon’, based on a 14/28 Oxford chassis, since March 1924.

The chassis was a simple frame, curved only at the front dumb-irons and with semi-elliptic springs all round, the rears attached to three-quarter-elliptics at the ends of the longerons.

The back axle was in-unit with a torque tube containing the propshaft, which took its drive from an unrefined but durable Morris three-speed ’box.

But it wasn’t until late that year that Kimber and his team started to make improvements to the chassis ready for production in 1925 of the rebranded ‘MG Super Sports’.

The MG 14/28 Super Sports Bullnose Salonette’s neat boat-tail style gives a sporting look

The brake and throttle positions were switched to rid the car of its centre throttle (soon to become unfashionable among all makers), the steering box was moved to allow the column to be lower, and a different wheel replaced the Morris original.

The rear springs were flattened and the dampers improved to provide a firmer, better-controlled ride, while Ace discs covered the Oxford’s standard artillery wheels.

With these upgrades made, the rolling chassis would have been driven in its naked form the 60-odd miles to Carbodies in Coventry for coachwork and trim.

The new model was available as a two-seater tourer (or four-seater if specified with the 6in-longer, 9ft-wheelbase chassis) or a two-door Salonette, priced from £350 to £475.

The MG 14/28 Salonette’s chic trim was a cut above the stock Morris fare

Customers could specify the colour of their choice for the aluminium-over-ash body, as well an interior trimmed in Bedford cord or leather.

The result was a model so far removed, both visually and technically, from its Morris origins that Morris Garages felt justified in advertising it as the MG Super Sports, rather than a Morris, even though the Oxford’s 14hp motor still powered it.

Mike Dacre’s superbly presented and highly original 14/28 started life on 8 May 1925, when its rolling chassis, 90553, was despatched from Morris Motors – with a stock 1802cc sidevalve ‘four’ – to Morris Garages for modification to Super Sports specification.

The MG 14/28 Super Sports Bullnose Salonette has room for four

Carbodies then received the order for a Salonette body, number 3888 (still recorded on the underside of the driver’s footwell), releasing the finished car in June.

Yet this early MG wasn’t registered until six months later, on 9 December, when it gained the Berkshire number MO 6709.

Today it is the sole surviving Salonette of six cars built in 1925, and one of only eight to exist from a total production of 21 up to 1926.

MO’s early history is a little sketchy, although it’s thought that one of the first owners lived in Wiltshire. It received a new engine (to correct Oxford spec) in 1928, which is still fitted today.

The MG 14/28 Salonette’s sidevalve ‘four’ was sourced from the Morris Oxford and remained in standard form

By the early ’70s it was in Rettendon, Essex, but in 1975 this rare Super Sports joined the Sharpe family car collection and was put on display in Ramsgate Motor Museum.

There it lived for 30 years, before being sold at auction in 2005.

Having been a museum car, MO presented very well, reflected in the £42,300 it achieved.

Nonetheless, marque specialist Fred Body was commissioned to undertake a sympathetic restoration, carefully stripping the bodyshell, removing and rebuilding the engine, and repainting the car in a similar colour to that in which it had left Carbodies 80 years earlier.

The MG 14/28 Super Sports Bullnose Salonette has handy storage for tools

MO’s cabin was fully retrimmed, though all the original instruments and fittings were retained.

Mike acquired the car in 2021 and has been passionate about raising awareness of its significance.

A second place (behind the famed Le Mans Bentley, ‘Old Number One’) at the Concours of Elegance in 2023 illustrates how much love there is for such an untypical MG, as did a Best in Class at The Quail last year.

And untypical of the marque this Super Sports certainly is. Were it not for its distinctive ‘bullnose’ radiator, you wouldn’t immediately associate it with a regular Morris.

The MG 14/28 Salonette’s warning triangle alerts those behind of its powerful anchors

There’s a hint of the gothic in its split ’screen, topped by a gently rising roofline incorporating the world’s smallest sunroof.

MO’s subtle dark red over black suits its discreet looks, set off by its Ace wheel covers.

But it’s the Super Sports’ rear styling that sets it apart from other mid-market British vintage-era saloons.

The tapered stern extends beyond the chassis and mudguards, and continues the marine theme that starts with the twin intakes atop the scuttle.

‘There’s a hint of the gothic in its split ’screen, topped by a gently rising roofline incorporating the world’s smallest sunroof’

It’s highly practical, boasting a huge boot area, albeit accessed through a smallish lid.

What looks like a petrol tank below is actually a further stowage space for tools, attached to which is a ‘FOUR WHEEL BRAKES’ warning triangle, should following drivers assume that the Super Sports’ rate of retardation be at all leisurely.

Enter the car, with a twist of an elegantly crafted brass loop, and there’s no doubt the quality of the trim and fittings would have surpassed that of any of Lord Nuffield’s stock Morris offerings, with wood inlays around the window frames, smart veneers across the well-stocked dash, and door cards trimmed with burgundy fabric and leather.

There’s plenty of stowage and ample room for even adults in the rear, though the seat squab is quite shallow.

‘The Super Sports was only part of Kimber’s armoury for carving out an enthusiast image for MG: competition success would be key’

The Morris ‘four’ starts easily and settles to a dull rumble.

By Mike’s own admission, MO is “not a driver”, but engage first in its central dog-leg gate and the Salonette is a willing enough performer, yet it’s the suspension and steering that would have defined how it drove compared to a regular Oxford.

When most cars in this era were tourers – including the more popular Super Sports variant – it would have been a novelty to drive a saloon with sporting pretensions.

While we’re hardly doorhandling MO today, it does corner neatly, steering into bends accurately and safely.

You’d never be in fear of outbraking the car behind, though: the four-wheel stoppers lack any real bite, a trait afflicting many cars with this early technology.

Morris Garages in Oxford went from a sales and servicing firm to a successful marque in itself

But the Super Sports was only part of Cecil Kimber’s armoury for carving out MG’s more enthusiast image.

Competition success was key, and to achieve that with the Morris-based chassis meant looking at alternative engines.

The sidevalve Oxford ‘four’ had been developed from an American design by Hotchkiss in its English factory.

An overhead-valve unit had been tested but never used, and discarded at the Morris engine works in Coventry, where Kimber found it.

MG Old Number One’s (closest) unique, experimental overhead-valve ‘four’ gives it a livelier edge, aided by the skimpy, lightweight body

The 1548cc unit had its camshaft mounted low in the block, operating in-line valves with double springs via a system of tappets, pushrods and rockers.

Carburetion was originally by a single SU (it now has a more modern 1¼in item), with fuel pressurised by hand from the cockpit.

The ‘new’ engine was mated to the standard, but tough, Morris three-speed ’box.

Kimber’s plan was to install this drivetrain in a one-off competition car, based on a bullnose Cowley chassis, and enter it in the 1925 Land’s End Trial.

MG Old Number One has four-wheel brakes

Carbodies designed and manufactured a lightweight body and the chassis was modified, with the rear frame cut off and replaced by new rails that curved over the rear axle to locate splayed rear springs.

The front semi-elliptic springs were retained, while those at the rear were simply mounted to the chassis, without supporting three-quarter elliptics.

Standard three-stud hubs were used, to which tall wire wheels with 7.1-90 tyres were fitted.

Braking was by stock Morris drums and, as with the Super Sports, the steering column was lowered.

MG Old Number One’s snug cockpit is fronted by a handsome, engine-turned dashboard

Reportedly costing just £279 to build, Old Number One repaid MG’s investment many times over.

After winning a Gold Medal in the Light Car Class at Land’s End, Kimber sold the car to a friend for £300.

Soon after it was seen towing a pig-food trailer, then almost ended its days in a Manchester scrapyard.

Had it not been spotted by an MG employee in 1932 and bought for £15, this historic car might have been lost.

After returning to Abingdon, it was rebuilt and its original primer-grey coachwork was painted red.

MG Old Number One’s 1.5-litre motor likes to rev

Given the ‘Old Number One’ moniker, it was used for promotional purposes, with a further restoration taking place in 1950.

Today the car is a proud exhibit at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire.

We’re with Old Number One just a week after its return from recreating Kimber’s run up ‘Old Blue Hills Mine’.

Like the Super Sports, the racer is boat-tailed, but there the similarities end.

Daintily proportioned, with tiny, angular mudguards, its bullnose grille is the only visual link with its modified Morris underpinnings.

Old Number One is probably the best-known early MG

You sit low on slim leather chairs, the riding mechanic mounted a few inches back from the driver.

There’s no windscreen, with the scuttle curved up to deflect wind and flies; Kimber and his man have their faces partially obscured by it in a photograph from the trial, and the same goes for me as I peer over the lip to get a better view.

MG added extra dials across the engine-turned dash, including a tachometer, and pressure gauges for oil and fuel.

You find yourself close to a medium-sized three-spoke wheel and, like in the Super Sports, the pedal positions are conventional, with the wand-like gearlever centrally positioned. Old Number One is a joy to drive.

MG Old Number One’s elegantly tapering tail

The exhaust sounds unbaffled, rewarding with a crisp and urgent timbre from the experimental ‘four’.

The controls are light, with the single-plate cork clutch surprisingly progressive as you pull away.

The steering feels 50% quicker than the Super Sports’, which, combined with restricted vision, means corner apices are a hit-and-miss affair to start with.

Body control is tight and secure, and the little car thrives on revs, to the point where I’m changing up early to prevent any damage.

A glitch with the brakes means slowing requires more effort than I’m told it usually does, but it doesn’t spoil the enjoyment of what was clearly a talented standard-bearer for the freshly minted MG brand.

I’m not sure how Kimber would have viewed the Chinese-built creations that now wear the octagon, but I hope today’s company realises that there was life before the MGB.

Images: Max Edleston

Thanks to: British Motor Museum

Factfiles

MG ‘Old Number One’

Constructed/number built 1924/one
Construction pressed steel chassis, aluminium bodywork
Engine all-iron, ohv 1548cc Hotchkiss ‘four’, single SU carburettor, air-pressure fuel feed
Max power 11.9hp (RAC rating)
Max torque n/a
Transmission three-speed manual, RWD
Suspension semi-elliptic leaf springs f/r; Gabriel Snubbers dampers front, Hartford dampers rear
Steering Marles steering box
Brakes drums
Length/Width/Height n/a
Wheelbase 8ft 6in (2591mm)
Weight n/a
0-60mph 20 secs
Top speed 80mph
Mpg n/a
Price new/now n/a