Soon after two English automaking rivals joined military group to become the British Motor Corporation ( BMC ) in the other 1950s , the combine publish a new character of small sedan – the 1953 - 1958 Magnette . Its radiator badge tell MG , but its design and engine room had other influences , too .
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It did n’t look like an MG , somehow . In the other fifties , the British were used to T - Series sports car and sweet piddling Y - Type taphouse ( sedans ) . MGs were craggy and old - fashioned , with flap fender , headlamps that stuck out in the breeze , and break heavily enough to rattle your teeth .
But the new Magnette ZA of 1953 was n’t like that at all . It looked politic , it rode well , it went around corners without a omission , and it had comfortable space for four people . unknown .
But only until we learned who had design it . Not the traditionalist from Abingdon ( MG fanatics did n’t like sword roofs anyway ) , nor the Old Guard at Morris Motors , either . It was a Modern man , Gerald Palmer .
Having create the stylish 1947 Jowett Javelin saloon , complete with wind - cheating eubstance and flat - four locomotive engine , Palmer had been allure back to Morris as chief designer for the entire MG and Riley ranges . " All I had to do , " Palmer once said , " was to grow new cars . There was no intersection planning , nothing . All I had to do was to do up with ideas , which I hop would be accepted . fortunately they were . "
Though conceived at Morris , the ZA Magnette was one of the first cars introduced by BMC , born on March 31,1952 , with the long - debated " man and wife " of two longtime rivals .
On the one side was Austin Motors , base in 1906 at foresightful - span , near Birmingham in the British Midlands . Its founder was a farmer ’s boy , Herbert Austin , subsequently Sir Herbert and ( from 1936 ) Lord Austin in recognition of his contributions to British manufacture .
One of his company ’s biggest prewar successes was the small , spartan , inexpensive Austin Seven of 1922 . Boldly , Sir Herbert set up a factory in Pennsylvania to build up it as the American Austin , starting in 1929 , but sales were poor despite the deepening U.S. Depression , and production ended after five year .
The car was presently redesign to become the American Bantam , built by a reorganized fellowship that later submitted the pull ahead aim for the U.S. Army landrover .
For information on the developing of the 1953 - 1958 MG Magnette , continue on to the next varlet .
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1953-1958 MG Magnette Development
Gerald Palmer ’s work on the 1953 - 1958 MG Magnettes was a recollective and gruelling narration . Morris Motors , BMC ’s " other half , " was founded in Cowley , near Oxford , by William R. Morris .
He , too , was dub ( in 1929 ) and made a peer of the kingdom ( in 1934 ) , select the deed Lord Nuffield . By that degree , his go-ahead , subsequently retitled the Nuffield Organisation , encompassed not only the Morris and MG marques but also Riley and Wolseley , two of many companies Sir William picked up along the way .
Lord Nuffield was a distrustful sort who never liked Lord Austin , so it ’s ironic that the Austin - Morris " wedding " was mostly brokered by a man who had work for both . This was Leonard Percy Lord , production whiz and self - style car clothes designer .
Though Morris was Britain ’s dominant motor company as early as 1913 , Lord aid make it even big – only to be discharge by Lord Nuffield in 1936 in a dispute over net income share-out . consecrate revenge , Len Lord get himself charter at Austin some two years later and was heading the space by 1942 ( after Lord Austin ’s end the previous class ) .
By the other 1950s , he had built Austin into a near sales adequate for Morris , helped by newer , more innovative postwar auto . But Lord have a go at it that bowelless contest was hampering both ship’s company and had long favored a amalgamation with Morris . It take away him several long time , but distinctive of the man , he finally managed it .
Such was the backdrop for Gerald Palmer ’s work on the ZA Magnette . His first proposal , accepted with few resist voices , called for not just a new MG but also a new Wolseley saloon sharing the same canonical unitized building , running gear , and styling .
In a ploy suitable of General Motors , he distinguished the poser by having the Wolseley sit two inches higher , which he thought could be done with bonnie ease by modifying the fender , underbody sills , and temporary removal piece - up peak . At first , MG had little to do with this car , having no formal blueprint office at the time .
But MG ecumenical handler John Thornley insist on having final approval as to styling , utilization of the famed MG octagon badge , and other details . He also choose the name , recall MG ’s 1930s serial publication of fine six - piston chamber Magnette sports auto .
For information on the MG Magnette ZA , continue on to the next page .
1953 MG Magnette ZA
Gerald Palmer was accommodate to expend be engines , gear box , and axles for his new MG / Wolseley , which was also originally intended to have a separate Mrs. Henry Wood - couch physical structure than the MG Magnette . This thinking reflected a practiced deal of indecisiveness within the Nuffield mathematical group , as well as the British motor industry ’s cosmopolitan complacency of the 24-hour interval .
Then BMC was abide with Leonard Lord in charge . He require a new family of engines phased in as shortly as potential , so Palmer ’s assumptions had to change .
The upshot of all this was that the unexampled Wolseley , foretell 4/44 , was launched as schedule in autumn 1952 , using the old MG powertrain as first envisioned . But the Magnette , which had been set to look first , was delayed a full year so it could be the first gondola using BMC ’s novel B - serial locomotive engine and transmittance .
The building block body / chassis was contracted to the Pressed Steel Company , an main bodymaking concern whose factory was just across the route from BMC ’s grown Cowley plant , where the railcar would be paint .
But for some reason , it was decided to assemble the Magnette at Abingdon ( just south of Oxford ) , while the 4/44 would be made at Cowley alongside other Wolseleys ( and Rileys ) . garbled ? possibly , but such thinking would prove all too typical of BMC .
The new models ' appearance was another thing : certainly outstandingly busty and attractive , compared to previous atomic number 12 .
" I had been to several Continental [ auto ] shows , " Palmer posit , " and had realize that some Italian styles were really wonderful . British styling , by comparison , was just pathetic . As with the Javelin , so with this new railcar , the styling was all mine . This time I require to . . . approach Italian subject . [ So ] I had to get the roof and the floor - pan right hand down , which part explains the social unit grammatical construction . Another thing was that Pressed Steel were doing [ much of ] the trunk engineering , and it all made loudness - applied science sense . "
The Magnette powertrain was also for the most part organise elsewhere , yet it ’s noteworthy that the master labor team comprise only Palmer and 10 engineers . Nowadays , of course , with the aid of computers , it would take at least 100 people merely to decide a car was n’t worth doing .
The Magnette ZA was release in October 1953 , but apart from a handful of motor - show vehicles , only eight were progress by the last of the year , chiefly because product of the brand - raw B - Series powertrain took time to crank up .
serial production did n’t get down in solemn until February 1954 and reached about 80 cars per calendar week by year ’s end . In 1955 , however , the rate soar to more than 180 a week , which meant that the ZA was the fastest - selling MG saloon ever .
hear more about the MG Magnette B - series on the next Thomas Nelson Page .
1953 MG Magnette ZB
By 1950s standards , the MG Magnette was a beautiful little car , and Italian influence were everywhere to be seen . ( Look at modern-day Lancias if you desire proof . ) So what if the automobile trunk was small-scale and there was n’t much space in the rear ?
It was a lot roomier than the erstwhile Y - Series , and a traditional MG radiator proudly front one of the most - modern saloon figure to occur out of Britain for some clip ( the latest Jaguars excepted ) .
But the ZA Magnette looks small – and it was , being only 167.5 inches long on a 102 - column inch wheelbase , and slim across the hips . It did n’t have much power , either .
Though the 1489 - cc version of the newfangled B - Series four - cylinder eventually reached 72 horsepower ( in 1956 - model MGA two - seaters ) , it produced only 60 horsepower in initial Magnette melodic line .
But that was a muckle more than the honest-to-goodness YB ’s 46 horses , and the Magnette had a slick new four - on - the - flooring gear case to help exploit it . The latter would also show up in the MGA , and no one ever complained about that .
Though the ZB was made for just two years,
its production totals exceeded those of the ZA.
The Magnette ’s B - Series ohv four - piston chamber locomotive engine was a much - change version of the powerplant present with Austin ’s new 1947 A40 Devon , a small car that sold jolly well in the U.S. Though never very refined , the tough B - Series would power legion BMC models for nearly two ten .
There were two initial displacements , 1200 and 1489cc , but size of it gradually fawn up , first to 1588cc ( MGA 1600 ) , then 1622 ( MGA 1600 Mk II ) , and finally the 1798cc version that powered MGBs through the last of their kind in 1980 .
The B - Series was also used in various BMC / British Leyland light truck into the 1980s , and hold up until 1997 in India ’s Hindustan Ambassador sedan chair ground on the mid-1950s Morris Oxford Mark II .
Check out the next discussion section for details on MG Magnette public presentation and styling .
1953-1958 MG Magnette Performance and Styling
The MG Magnette address unco well . acme flowed when the British weekly , The Autocar , tested one in November 1954 : " Wet road or wry make little difference to its performance . . . [ A ] fragile controllable trend in the O.K. fashion , and a very little heeling over , were the only indications of eminent amphetamine . On the road , then , the standard of its cornering is very gamy . "
Of course , with only 60 horsepower to move intimately 2,500 lbf. , the ZA was not a fast car even by British standards , but it did appeal for its looks , character , and furnishings .
Like the smaller , recently present Morris Minor ( same design stable , unlike trainers ) , the unexampled Magnette bid heavy roadholding and inch - accurate rack - and - pinion steering .
Its front coil bounce and wishbones were proper for the job , and the beam rear axle ( hung on semielliptic foliage springtime ) was cautiously control by a inflexible torque arm running from the axle housing to the bodywork .
Even so , first thoughts were not correct thoughts , for an special front suspension tie-in - bar had to be added , and the torque arm was blue-pencil before the first cars were turn in ( but after the public launching ) , as engineer found that it only did not work very well .
The ZA also made a good picture at bottom . Here was a four - seater with no " I ’m bigger than that " pretensions , which meant freestanding front seats , a proper gear - lever tumbler and central parking brake on the floor , but also genuine leather upholstery and carpeting instead of rubber mats .
The instrument panel looked to be adorned with woods , but faithful examination showed a rather low - rent combining of wood , paint metal , and Bakelite credit card . There were only four body colors at first , and wanted few option , but there always seemed to be a waiting line to grease one’s palms .
Although not quite the " quality car " BMC had hope for – there was no bring forth away from the dashboard " wood " – the Magnette see neat enough . And with an all - in U.S. price of $ 2,475 ( POE East Coast ) , it was a fair modern impersonation of the traditional upmarket British car .
con about update made to the 1953 - 1958 MG Magnette in our final discussion section .
1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958 MG Magnette
A few changes were made early on on , including the addition of swivel front - doorway vent windows in March 1954 and the availability of more nonmetallic colouring material . Meanwhile , the slow output soma - up had magazine editor in chief fighting to put out test ( most had to look until model - twelvemonth 1955 ) . A number actually buy their own cars for the purpose .
BMC neutralize no time send Magnettes to the remunerative U.S. market , doubtlessly hoping to capitalize on the loyal followers built up there by MG ’s sportswoman cars . figure are hard to come by , but we know that 312 Magnettes live to the States in 1954 , and it ’s likely more than 300 were export the following twelvemonth , when the fascia was covered entirely in attractive polished wood .
The MG Magnette was further refreshen up for 1957 , when the ZA became the ZB . This involve minor trim changes , including unlike decoration on the flanks , plus four more H.P. ( via increase compression and duple valve natural spring ) and higher overall gearing . The big intelligence , however , was a unearthly new transmission pick call in Manumatic and an available " Varitone " body style .
develop by Automotive Products / Lockheed , Manumatic was fundamentally a clutchless manual transmission not unlike Volkswagen ’s later " Automatic StickShift . " It bank on a concoction of electrics and hydraulics that disengage the clasp plate when the number one wood put pressure in any way on the geared wheel - lever tumbler knob ; take - up from rest was bring home the bacon by a motor clutch .
Manumatic worked well so long as everything was in perfect allowance , but that was rare . And because it be an excess ( about $ 140 ) , it was not popular . Only 496 such cars were sold ( about 110 export to North America ) before the option was restfully dropped in 1958 .
The Varitone body choice was more successful , partially because it include a turgid rearward windowpane that was enwrap around slightly , American stylus . It also sported smart duotone paintwork , with the second gloss running from hood to roof to trunklid and down the side to follow an upper - body crease line .
Varitone Magnettes look good , but BMC made a repast of the consistency , hauling standard " little - windowpane " casing across the route from Pressed Steel to Morris Motors , where the aperture was enlarged by hand .
There was a price for this workplace : In Britain , a Varitone cost 8 versus 1 for a little - window mono - color Zbit . ( At then - current rally rate , those digit translated to $ 3,018 and $ 2,915 , respectively . ) But the choice test democratic . Of the 18,525 Magnettes build in 1957 - 1958 , Varitones accounted for 7,803 assemblies , about 42 percent of the totality .
Overall sale also improve as sentence went on . No fewer than 9,438 ZB were build in 1958 , the last calendar year for this Magnette genesis – peanuts by Detroit standards , maybe , but it sure as shooting made Abingdon ’s planners proud .
Though too heavy to be a successful competition car , the final Magnettes had a top focal ratio of 86 miles per hour , very refreshing for such a small - engine British saloon . And the MG was still regarded as one of the best - handling fun saloons of its day .
By this time , Gerald Palmer had long since moved on to work with GM ’s Vaux - hall subsidiary in Luton , leaving behind an uninspiring group of engineer work mainly out of BMC ’s other main manufacturing plant , the one - time Austin plant at Longbridge . They did n’t appear potential to come in up with a better Magnette .
Sure enough , the new Mark III of 1959 was a abominable thing for which the British press never had a good news , being simply a hotted - up version of a lumpy fresh - propagation Austin Cambridge . At least it was never gather at Abingdon , where John Thornley and his colleagues were much glad edifice MGAs , Austin - Healey Sprites , and , presently , MGBs and Healey 3000s .
