AUTO HISTORY
Once upon a time, British sports car maker MG made a pretty decent sedan, the Magnette.
The English MG name is so strongly associated with sporty, two passenger roadsters that many people are surprised to learn they also made larger cars. It was the MG roadster, after all, that launched the sports car movement in North America following the Second World War.
While best known for its roadsters, the MG Car Co. of Abingdon-on-Thames, Berkshire, made some interesting sedans both before the war, including 1930s K series six cylinder models, and after the war. The post-war MG sedans were imported to North America.
In 1947 MG introduced its trim little Y-series sedan. Its separate fenders and headlamps betrayed it as a carryover from the 1930s, but in some ways the engineering was more modern than the popular MG TC roadster which still had stiff leaf springs all around, a solid front axle and ultra quick steering.
The Y-series had more precise rack-and-pinion steering and independent coil spring front suspension. This suspension would form the basis for updating the TC roadster into the more modern 1950 TD roadster. The Y-Series also contributed its frame (shortened) to the TD.
The Y-series in A and B models was produced until 1953 by which time the pre-war styling was decidedly dated. For its replacement MG resurrected the name of its 1930s racing and road cars, the Magnette.
While the new Magnette sedan was under development, the Austin Motor Co. and Morris Motors, producer of Morris, Riley, MG, et al., merged in 1952 to become the British Motor Corp. Since BMC was keen on corporate twins the Magnette had a companion Wolseley model, the 4/44, later the 15/50.
The unit construction Magnette was designed by Gerald Palmer who had worked on the pre-war Y-series MG sedan (as had Alex Issigonis of Morris Minor and Mini fame). In 1942 Palmer left Morris to become chief designer at Jowett Cars.
After styling the lovely Lincoln Zephyr-inspired Jowett Javelin sedan he returned to Morris in 1949 to develop the Magnette sedan and its tamer corporate Wolseley twin.
Palmer’s 1954 Magnette series ZA sedan was a thoroughly modern car with an envelope body and nicely integrated lines. In traditional English fashion the roomy four passenger cabin’s interior was well appointed in wood and leather. There was an adequate trunk beneath the tapered tail.
The ZA Magnette was not powered by a traditional MG engine, but by BMC's 1,489 cc B series overhead valve four, an evolution of the 1200 cc engine of the Austin A40 introduced in 1947. It drove the rear wheels through a four-speed, floor-shifted manual transmission.
Giving the sedan 1.5 litres brought looks of envy from MG TD roadster owners still toiling along with their less than inspiring 1,250 cc. The roadster would finally get its 1.5 litres in the 1955 TF 1500 model.
When the MG sports sedan came into the hands of testers it acquitted itself reasonably well. Road & Track (12/54) reported that its 60 horsepower would sprint the 1,129 kg (2,490 lb) Magnette to 97 km/h (60 mph) in 22.0 seconds, and push it to a respectable 134 km/h (83 mph). This put it in the same performance league as the MG TD roadster, and not far off the TD's replacement TF.
Road & Track also tested the new MG TF 1500 roadster in the same issue and reported that while the TF's zero to 97 (60) time of 16.3 seconds was considerably faster, the TF's 137 km/h (85 mph) top speed was only marginally higher than the Magnette's. Low 4.875:1 rear axle ratios meant, however, their poor little engines were spinning pretty fast at normal North American cruising speeds.
The ZA Magnette was succeeded by the ZB late in 1956 featuring an optional model called the Varitone with two-tone paint treatment and a larger rear window. It also got a welcome horsepower increase to 68, said to raise top speed to 141 km/h (87 mph).
The ZB was available with an optional "Manumatic" automatic clutch in which the clutch pedal was replaced by a pressure-sensitive switch on the gearshift. The gears were engaged by servo units. Shifts were slower than normal and it was complicated and not very popular because it defeated the purpose of having a sporty type car. It was soon discontinued.
The ZB Magnette was made until 1958 when it was replaced by the Mark III Magnette, little more than a twin carburetor version of the A55 Austin Cambridge with some MG trim. Its greeting was less than enthusiastic by MG fans.
Other MG sedans would follow based on the front-wheel drive, cross engine Austin/Morris with "hydrolastic" suspension interconnected front-to-rear. In spite of being the wave of the future, they didn't have quite the magic and classic charm of those ZA and ZB Magnettes.