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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MGF |
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Everybody thought that the MG badge had died in October 1980
when the last MGB's rolled off the production line. British
Leyland had not quite lost touch with the marque however for just two years
later, in March 1982, the MG Metro hit the streets closely followed by the
Maestro and Montego. Often regarded as "not real MG's" they
were , in fact, true to the MG name in producing high performance sports
saloons but for some purists this was hard to accept and accused BL of
"badge engineering". They were not the most powerful of
vehicles however and they were made as a bit of a last ditch effort to
spice up the BL range and they were miles away from the traditional open top sports cars
we love of MG . The MG
metro was laid to rest in 1990 and the Maestro and Montego in 1991. MG EX-E concept car There were still MG aficionados on the Rover board and thankfully a new project was commissioned to produce a new purpose built sports car. Five different projects were considered under the codes PR1 to 5. There were actually 3 running prototypes by 1990. The good money was on the PR5 project which was a large front engined roadster possibly based on the "supercar" EX-E project - however this soon turned into a development of the Rover 800 with a chopped off roof and two doors - the PX1 and 2 aimed at the US market. Rover Special Projects took over research and development and continued with the PX projects along with sidelines such as variations on the mini and Rover saloons. They also took over the research on PR 1,2 and 3. PR4 was never built. These were known as "Pocket Rockets" . PR1 was a front engined , front wheel drive steel bodied roadster and PR 2 a front engined, rear drive, plastic bodied roadster. PR3 , however, was a mid engined, rear wheel drive roadster with a steel body - sound familiar ? In the meantime , though, the MG image was beginning to fade so as a boost a seperate project inspired by a Heritage MGB V8 roadster conversion was researched. This was code named the "Adder" project and resulted in the MGR V8 in 1992 to try and plug the hole in the sports car market and keep the MG marque alive. Built on the British Motor Heritage revived MGB body shell it was a fine car with it's 3946cc V8 engine and leather upholstery but it was still dated in style. There were less than 2000 built. The Rover 800 (or Sterling) project (PX1 &2) came to a sticky end when there were reliability problems with the Rover Sterling in the US and the bottom consequently fell out of the US market. A decision was therefore taken to ditch this project and the US market. PR1 & 2 were also disregarded and research then concentrated on the PR3 option for a UK based sports car. The project was led by Gordon Sked and Gerry Mcgovern, he of the long flowing locks !. He had previously been responsible for the fantastic MG EX-E concept car (without which the MGF would never have appeared ) and the Coupe Concept Vehicle both of 1986.
Rover Coupe Concept Vehicle Sadly the EX-E did not see a production run due to doubts within the still privatised company that a "supercar" would not sit well with other Rover cars in the showrooms and , of course, cost. There was also worry that the Tory government would see the car as "frivolous" and withdraw any support. Following the cancellation of EX-E Mcgovern worked ona new concept car based on the EX-E but on a more manageable scale - Inspired by aircraft technology the new car was named the F-16. Again none were actually built. It can easily be seen though how influential this concept was to be.
MG F-16 McGovern then joined the PR3 programme in 1991. The project was based around Metro components in an attempt to keep costs down. Early test vehicles, known as "Mules" included a Metro "Pizza Delivery" van with a mid mounted engine and Toyota MR2 sports cars . Mcgovern made a conscious decision to link the new designs back to the MGB with touches such as the recessed rounded headlamps and grill badge on a central plinth. At that time there was still no major funding for the "phoenix" project as it was then becoming known and there was a struggle to find the financial backing required. Nick Fell took over as project director and the car was on course for a launch in 1995. As the PR3 project developed various engines were tried out, initially the 1.6 litre K series engine was used and then the1.4 litre K series metro engine. Finally the 1.8 litre K series was placed mid way in the vehicle. It was a re sleeved engine producing 118ps in the standard version and 145ps in the VVC.
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Late drawings for the prototype MGF Testing was a problem and they could no longer use old Metros (although Toyota MR2's were used at one stage with the MGF engine amidships). Eventually special fibre glass "disguises" were made by Mcgovern to clip to the cars bodywork and hide it from prying eyes. There was some doubt that the car would be built when BMW took over Rover in 1994 as they had a similar vehicle in the Z3 already. However when they realised that the MG was not aiming for the US market they relented and PR3 continued.
This is the 1st MGF 1.8i off the production line pictured at Gaydon The finished MGF was unveiled on March 5th 1995 at the Geneva Motor Show. The first all new MG sports car for 33 years ! Having survived the turmoil at Rover in 2000, when BMW disposed of the company, the marque is now going from strength to strength as the flagship for the new MG Car Company. The range was revised in 1999 with some styling changes and engine improvements making a distincitve Mark 2 version known as the 2000MY edition , of which my MGF is an example.
Interior trim of MY2000 MGF In early 2001 the range was further extended to included a starter 1.6i model with "basic" trim - ie - no radio, black wing mirrors, no door inserts and so on aimed as a response to the MX5 market. Whilst at the other end of the scale came the Trophy 160 - with a 160bhp power unit and uprated trim options including front and rear spoilers and garish centre console and door inserts. It comes in four colours -Anthracite, Solar Red, Trophy Blue and Trophy Yellow. The Trophy remains as a special edition of 2000 cars whereas the final production range consisted of four models - the 1.6i, 1.8i, 1.8i Steptronic and the 1.8i VVC. With production now reaching some 77,000 cars on a design in production for over six years it was time for some fairly radical improvements, despite the F remaining the best selling sports car in the UK. Consequently the year 2002 will see the introduction of the TF - whilst there are some very noticeable styling and mechanical changes, particularly the move to coil spring suspension, the basic F can still be seen. Rather than a completely new model the car is more of a MK 3 version of the tried and trusted original F design. Indeed the interior styling remains virtually identical but with the addition of more trim options. The new TF will retain the same basic engine sizes and power outputs and be sold at a similar price to the old range. The TF should ensure that the classic F marque should remain on our roads for many years to come.
The final question is why the MGF ?
From the MGF Handbook
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