MG | Avenue Art Motorcar Gallery

Cecil Kimber was the General Manager of Morris Garages owned by William Morris. In 1924, he started building a modified Morris car known as the 14/28 Super Sports model, the first car fitted with the octagonal MG logo. It wasn’t until 1928 that business became significant enough to create a separate entity called the M.G. Car Company Limited. In 1929, the company started producing cars in Abingdon and continued until the last MGB rolled out the door in 1980.

In 1933, established a name for itself in racing when an MG K3 became the first non-Italian car to win its class in the Mille Miglia.

In 1935, the company was sold to Morris Motors that later was known as the Nuffield Organisation. In 1952, MG became part of The British Motor Corporation Limited. It was during this time that MG was successfully marketed in the United States. Although other badge-engineered models carried the MG name most Americans were only interested in their sports cars. BMC became British Motor Holdings and then joined to Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968 to form British Leyland Motor Corporation which in 1975 became British Leyland or BL.

When the Abingdon plant closed the MG marque was dropped until 1982 when the Austin Rover Group brought it back to use on some of its higher performance models. The MG name was transferred to British Aerospace in 1988 then on to BMW in 1994 which in 2000 went to MG Rover Group. In 2005 Nanjing Automobile Group obtained the MG brand and formed MG Motor. However no cars carrying the MG logo have been sold in the U.S. since MGB production ended at Abingdon.