The Story of the Lost Mid-Engine MG

this is an MGR V8 and is not the subject of this video, however it existed as a stop gap designed to draw attention to the mg Mark before the MGF came out in 1995. The point is that this is actually an MGB , a car that dates back to 1962 which meant there was a 33e gap between consecutive mg sports cars and to be so strong this sounds incredible so today at twin cam we are exploring the

lost

mg of 1970, the MGD GT 33 years is quite a long time, but If you've been in Twin Cam for a couple of years, you'll have realized that British Leland's world is quite complicated, although the more astute of you will have also noticed that, while we're all familiar with the MGA MGB and mgc we are missing D and E before meeting the MGF and to find out exactly why we must go back 70 years to 1952, when food was still rationed and Princess Elizabeth received a promotion, but they are Footnotes historical pages as trivial as they were irrelevant compared to what was happening in the motor industry. 1952 was the year that two of Britain's industrial giants, Austin and Morris, merged to form the British Motor Corporation.

The point of retelling this

story

is that Austin and Morris were former rivals. each working to surpass the advances made by the other now, back in the 1920s morris gave birth to mg and by the early 1950s the octagon was already a trademark of truly cool sports cars of course , Austin was missing out so with the help of Donald Healey they created Austin Healey, we'll ignore the fact that this happened in the year of the BMC merger and fast forward to 1962 by which time they had a full range of sports cars completely decent at their core, was the general term. for the badge designed siblings of the Austin Healey Sprite and MG, both with a 950cc series

engine

above these, was the newly launched 1800cc MGB with a B series

engine

and at the top was the big Healey, the six-cylinder Austin Healey with a cs-series engine. 3000 despite the badges on their noses, this is a perfectly sensible selection, but as the 1960s progressed, BMC looked to end their costly relationship with Healey and concentrate on the more established G.

This is our baseline for what was to come and at its center was the superlative. B, the MGB is undoubtedly one of Britain's greatest hits and remains today the best-selling sports car of all time, but in its time it was treated like any other car, meaning that as soon as it was launched, Abington's attention was gently drawn towards a replacement that might come as a surprise to many of you. I hear it for many of you, but what will really surprise you is the fact that BMC saw this as a priority since, despite being well revised and be very popular, they were not at all satisfied with the finesse of the new car, you see what made all these cars sporty.

Feasible cars were to rely on the parts bin from BMC's range of Austin and Morris sedans. The Sprid, for example, was born from the Austin A35 and the MGB took much of its components from the previous MGA and mid-range Finina saloons, which meant leverage. arm dampers, leaf springs and axles, all still borderline acceptable in 1962, but a certain Greek bloke was parading around Longbridge single-handedly setting fire to the rule book. The man in question is, of course, Sir Alec is Agones, who between 1959 and 1964 thanked us. with three of the most sophisticated and fabulously revised family cars the world has ever seen, the mini 1100 and 1800.

I have now driven all three of these dual cam cars so I won't bore you with the details, the generalized version is that . All three cars ended up with transverse engines, front-wheel drive, rack-and-pinion steering, double wishbone front suspension, and Dr. Alex Molt's phenomenally well-controlled hydraulic suspension. As a result, the 1800 was named European car of the year and the 1100 became Britain's best. I sold cars for a decade and the mini, well, it's the mini as a result of these three future mg. The concepts and prototypes would be very different animals, so the MGB was a very conservative car and that was fine for 1962, but it quickly started to look old.

Compared to BMC's other phenomenally modern passenger cars, that's what the MGD looked like to potentially become the world's most technologically advanced affordable sports car, potentially revolutionizing the genre. It's at this point that I really wanted us to take a step back and talk about the Sprite and the reason is that is aonis' philosophy was becoming even clearer when it came to small cars, but the Ado 34 and ad70 absolutely deserve a video of their own , so I'm simply here to make fun of all of you, thankfully, regardless of the first one. The prototype I want us to look at is known as ex 234, a project that was an MGB upgrade rather than a replacement and may well have ended up replacing both Sprig and B.

The year is 1964 and the smart people at Abington took The hard points of Then, an MGB fitted them with modified suspension components, creating a rear-drive sports car with hydrolastic double wishbone suspension and disc brakes at all four corners. It was then dressed in an incredibly delicate pinin forina bodywork, leaving us with a prototype that I think had all the makings of an icon, in fact it was tested by GR world champion John Certies and the consensus was that it drove brilliantly equipped with a series 1275 CCA tuned to Mini Cooper S specification. It's a shame that BMC can ex 234 simply because the production MGS were selling quite well and as finances tightened there was no money for new sports cars, the Sprite eventually It was axed in 1971, leaving us with just the MG at the bottom of the range, of course the MGB stayed exactly where the volume was. seller of the group, but at the top of the range, the old Austin Healey 3000 found an easy way out when it was replaced by a three-door version of the MGB, baptized mgc;

However, the fortunes of BMC's family cars were becoming decidedly mixed as the Mini and 1100 flew into the stratosphere. The 1800, as we discussed a couple of years ago, was too powerful, too expensive and too ugly to compete against the Ford Cortina as expected, so BMC spent all the money they had left on the ad04a. new family car launched in 1969 as Austin Maxi again. We've done a full retrospective on the launch of this car's gestation and its eventual failure, but the quick version was that the Maxi was alak it's agon's last production car and, like its previous triplets, the Maxi was all-wheel drive. complete front with hydrolastic suspension where it differed from the old 1800 was that it was a little smaller, cheaper to build and featured the new eer engine and it is from here that we can finally meet the MGD from which the project known as Ado 21 emerged Due to what was now a much more pressing need to replace the 7-year-old MGB with something genuinely new rather than simply refurbished, the drawing board was blank, with Maxi being the obvious place to pull components from, but don't leave it alone.

This tricks you into thinking the new car was going to be front-wheel drive or feel like a pedestrian because the design team was so focused on making the ad21 look and feel absolutely cutting edge. In the years between mg's B and D, the glass ceiling of sports cars was totally shattered by the legendary Lamborghini mura, widely regarded as the world's first full-fledged Supersuper with a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout and a sock silhouette written by Marcelo Gandini. It may have only been 1966, but realistically this was the early '70s. when the entire motor industry adopted the wedge and mid-engined road cars became feasible for the first time, if hi

story

had taken a different course, ad21 could have been at the center of all this, since the Maxi's eer engine did not stay driving the front wheels nor did it turn 90° because the people at Abington decided that this new engine should remain transverse with its case of changes in the crankcase but position yourself behind the driver who drives the rear wheels.

This would not only make brilliant use of the existing components but would also give the The new mg had the purest mechanical design, but before we get too deep let's look at that engine because frankly it wasn't something BMC needed too much. You see, its predecessor, the B series engine was a perfectly good engine, sure it had a dumb 5 port cylinder head and was overhead valve, but it was tough and would continue to serve automobiles until the eventual death of the mgb in 1980, The E Series was created to modernize the range with an overhead camshaft and aluminum cylinder head, but when you look at how it was built, we find that modernization is a bit of a strange term to use as a carryover from the old power system of taxes from Great Britain.

British engines tended to be less square, meaning they had a small b and a long stroke giving them bright talking characteristics, but a The B series was designed in this style, but by 1969 the world had definitely moved towards squarer engines, those with a large bore and small stroke that allowed them to accelerate freely and create more power; therefore it should have been an over the square engine but it wasn't therefore it couldn't take full advantage of its C-axis overhead and was a low revving sugar like its predecessor now of course this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly wasn't fashionable.

One bad thing, however, is the simple fact that long-stroke dimensions, an overhead camshaft, and a sump-mounted gearbox all work together to make the eies exceptionally high. Have you ever wondered why the Austin allegro was too tall for its proportions? Well, you know that, but I digress. for our new sports car that wouldn't really have mattered what does matter, however, was dear old alak agon's love for a straight six, but combining a perfectly balanced engine with a transverse layout is a rare thing and to ensure that If possible the eer was designed as a modular engine with Siamese boss, the result was that the incredibly compact four-cylinder was found in cars such as the Maxi and Allegro, while a charming inline six-cylinder could be found in the later L-Crabs and Princess brought this to our future MG and we could have found ourselves not only replacing all existing MGS, but also the most varied range of any affordable sports car in the world.

The helm of the group would have been a 1500, followed by another four-legged brother, the 1750, which would pass to six. We would have found a 2200 and the top range to 2600 producing just over 120 brake horsepower, all with 5 speed gearboxes, sounds good to me and moving on to the suspension you won't be surprised to see it return to Dr. Alex Molt. Pretty wonderful hydrolastic system, although the ex 234 was found to drive quite well, the hydrolastic system would have given the ad21 a very sporty ride like the UNS. Quality hydrolastic cars are inherently buoyant, leading to many stories about sick kids in the car and cleaned vinyl seats, but don't let it be.

The current blandness and obsession with improving lap times clouds your vision. If you've been here for a while, you'll probably remember my explanation about how ride quality and handling ability can coexist very happily and that's just what you get with hydrolastic combined with the requirement. Dual Wishbone suspension, the ultimate in passenger car geometry, there's little I can really fault it for, however it seems the rear end of the MGD wasn't going to follow in the footsteps of either the former 234 or the Maxi; instead, the Ado 21 was scheduled to use a Deon. tube to connect your hydro to the road wheels for those of you unfamiliar, a Deon tube is a sophisticated form of non-independent rear suspension that was considered suitable enough for Aston Martin and Alf Romeo to use for many years In fact, Britain's own Rover P6 used one. to great effect and acts as a dead axle located behind the drive shafts and differential, ensuring low unsprung weight, brilliant traction and consistency between rear wheel lean angles.

The images you are seeing here are the underside of a rather crisp GTV 6 alpha. A safe bet is that if it weren't for the coil springs, the mg's Theon tube would have been positioned fairly similarly, but note that the Alpha's rear-mounted drive system not only allows for stability and flexibility, but It also compensates the axle, which allows that engine to sit more in front, the curious thing is that the MGD was an MGF, but a quarter of a century earlier it could also have ended up surpassing the fex119 on the market, making it the first truly affordable mid-engine sports car.

He also shares a lot. philosophically with the MGF being a mid-mounted engine and subframes from an existing Rover passenger car along with a fluid suspension, although this time the hydrogas Rover was quite open about using the Toyota mrr2 as a design reference point of the MGF, but its heritage was entirely its own, I think the Therefore, the question that remains is whether it would have worked if the D had repeated the success of the B and if its reputation for producing truly innovative cars had not only been maintained but even reinforced long before returning to the story we still have to talk about.

Styling I mentioned it in passing before and anyone still watching will know that this element wiped out many of their cars before someone drove them up and took them from this back room. Vista I think it's a world beater, we have to remember this is 19 70 so ad21 predates cars like the 19 fex1, the Ferrari 308 and the Lotus from spre, but in different ways this sucks at all three looking cars fantastic, assuming your accounts or engineering teams didn't screw it up somehow, this new mg would. They have been completely radical in adopting the sharp edges that would characterize the decade, making it desirable and eye-catching.

However, I think at this stage the front and side views are less successful. Clearly the bones are there, but it's a little too long and a little too pointy. It needs more sharpness in the lines approaching the nose helping to avoid the slab seen later on the Lotus but it provides the delicacy of fat but the clear problem of course is the angle of the nose and overhang are simple and something that I have no doubt it would have been fixed before production simply for the sake of pedestrian safety. I love it, especially if that rear panel had been blacked out on the production models, it's infinitely more exotic than the MGB. or MG and I would have played on the fact that your mother wouldn't like the slogan they used in the early 70s, but we have to get back to reality because we've come this far without mentioning it, but BMC ceased to exist in 1968 and they merged . with Leland Motor Company to form the infamous British Leland and with it brought mg, another internal competitor that entered the 1970s.

Triumph would go head to head with mg seeking the favor of their overlords, the former would emerge victorious, You see, BL. didn't have the money to produce two different cars, so a team of executives crossed the pond and headed to the largest sports car market in the United States, tasked with brainstorming a theme for the new corporate sports car and its response was devastating, although mg sold in larger quantities. numbers the Triumph name was held in high esteem so any new car would wear a crown instead of an octagon the team's second Discovery was the death knell for ad21's belief that simplicity and economy were vital to attracting American buyers its solution was the Triumph TR7 launched in 1974, but going back to the MGD and what the sophistication of this car has ruined its chances, the TR7 was a generally well reviewed car and its problems had nothing to do with the capability it was aimed at.

This was the case, but if we turn around and look at the The hydrolastic suspension on the market was found in some of Britain's best-selling cars, so I can't imagine a European buyer running away for fear of an existing technology. As for the Americans, I'm less convinced, but it surely wouldn't have been a deal breaker after all. The mid-engine layout, despite being more difficult to maintain, was adopted by the Fatex One9 and later by the Toyota Mrr2. . Therefore, it seems to me that BL was afraid of failure thanks to his dangerous finances. We can't say whether the Ad21 would have been good to drive, but despite its impeccable design, I have to express my reservations about the power unit, as I mentioned earlier, the eer was not exactly a sports engine and thanks to its Siamese balls, The 1754 and 266 were created increasing the race and further destroying its capacity. at revs and under its crankshaft was essentially the same gearbox and linkage as seen in the Austin Maxi, that means five speeds which was great, but the Maxi is well known for having terrible shift quality and with its cable system extended even further.

I'm not convinced this would have been a pure driving machine, but this is all irrelevant as despite the simplicity of the TR7, it became known for Dreadful Bill quality and reliability, this is what the MGD would have had to do. avoid and, as would have been built at Abington Bale. The best plant for labor relations. I think it would have been much better received. The elephant in the room. However, its name is that the MGD GT is a coupe, not a convertible, meaning that it would of course have received its share of the TR 7's eventual criticism.

This was done to make Ralph Nat happy, but frankly , BL should have made it a T-top and other than that, I love this concept, I love its spaciousness, the statement in The Styling and of course the fluid suspension is its biggest problem, therefore. it was the British Leland themselves because even if it was launched and was sure of the thought built correctly, I don't think it would have helped a candle for the MGB due to Leen's horribly botched image, in the end mg would have to wait until 1985 to see another one. The sports car emerges, the mg exe concept car, followed a decade later by the production MGF, some 33 years after the last one, so that's the story of the Lost mg.

It's a fascinating project that would have undoubtedly changed the face of the sports car market, with mg being one of the most popular sports car brands in the world in the early 70s, but in the end it became just another corpse in the floor of The Cutting Room in British Leland and on that note, thank you very much for watching if you enjoyed the video. Please like and subscribe to Twin Cam as well. I will always be indebted to my wonderful Patreon supporters, so if you want to support me in that way, follow the link in the description and I will have more videos in the future. soon