At 03:13 PM 8/11/96 -0800, you wrote:
<snip>
> I must admit, my MG-ego was miffed when they badged the Metro as an
>MG.
This practice of badge-engineering began in the 60's when MG was amalgamated
into the nationalised BMC, which became British Leyland. The Pininfarina
styled Magnette MkIII and MkIV, and the MG 1100/1300 were both
badge-engineered Wolseley's and Morris' respectively.
>At least the MGF was designed from the beginning to be an MG, albeit
>by a company with more marketing competance and better finances than
>Abingdon.
This inference that the men at MG in Abingdon were incompetence must be
countered! Witness the fact that with each new model upto and including the
B, MG managed to create a car that became more popular and outsold its
predecessor. Witness also the fact that unlike most other British cars, MG's
always enjoyed a reputation for being RELIABLE and WELL BUILT and made MGs
the world's best known and most popular sports cars! I would rate this as
evidence of pretty effective management and development!
It was after MG was amalgamated that the brakes were put on. I have seen it
written (but can't find my source) that the great Syd Enever (creator of the
B and many other models) did have proposals for a model to replace the B/C
but couldn't get the development money from BL. It was the bean-counters at
BMC/BL that caused the demise of MG and the same same incompetance that
regretably backed the strife-torn Solihull Triumph factory for the TR7 ahead
of MG's proposals (when they should have backed both - the TR7 as the V8 it
later became), and then ultimately killed the goose that lays the golden egg
when they disposed of Abingdon without the slightest regard for the MG staff
or the heritage of the marque.
I can't help but believe that if there had been no amalgamation we would
today still have the option of owning either or both a current
(real/Abingdon) MG and a TR. Blast big corporations!
Owen Michaels-Hardy, Sydney Australia
1980 TR7 FHC Sprint
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