Classic car, classic ads?

MG had a history of producing classic advertisements for its cars. "Safety Fast!" became a slogan synonymous with the brand.

According to the various fundi on the MG forums, the origin of the slogan was George Tuck, who was the publicity manager for the MG Car Co Ltd in the 1930s. The story goes that Ted Colegrove, the original Sales Manager of the company at Abingdon was driving behind one of the new buses in Oxford. The bus had a big red triangle on the back and words "Safety First!" painted through it, to indicate that they were fitted with four wheel brakes which was a novelty then. Ted thought that if the "ir" was replaced by an "a" it would make a jolly good slogan for the MG, so he went back to Abingdon and, with George, sold this idea to Cecil Kimber, one of the founding fathers of MG. From then onwards it was the only slogan for MG! It was still being used into the 1960s. For example, it appeared on a 1962 MG Midget advert - "Safety Fast motoring is the safest of all".

Now my interest is more at the other end of the decade.  The MG Midget was still trading on its sporting heritage in the sales brochures for the Mark III model.  "Sport the real thing" became the slogan for both Midgets and MGBs. I've been hunting around on eBay for bits of memorabilia and picked up a framed original, fittingly featuring a glacier white Midget similar to ABW.

1970 MG Midget sales brochure

The time around 1970 is widely recognised as the nadir of MG advertising, although it has a certain period charm. For a while "Your mother wouldn't like it" was the banner on many ads - though it was never clear whether this referred to the car or the driver!

Of course, the driver was inevitably a man, even though a reasonable proportion of owners were women.  Some of the copy must have seemed quite dodgy at the time; it seems downright sexist now!  An example was the "You can do it in an MG" slogan... very Carry On!

My favourite period advert tried to address the question of the manliness of the MG Midget; it carries the slogan: "85% of Midget owners are men". In marketing terms you might describe this advert as "suggestive".  It features a scantily-clad young  lady fondling the handbrake!  The copy is even better, reminding you that "lots of girls will be relaxing in our new, thick contoured rake adjusting seats."

MG Midget advert, 1970 

Mrs C was horrified when I purchased this one on eBay; "Not in this house" or something similar! Some of the other copy on this advert is open to challenge too: "Magnificent high speed cruising."  Whatever you might say about the MG Midget, it is not a high speed cruiser.

How different these adverts are to those that were used just 10 years earlier to advertise the Austin Healey Sprite.

Austin Healey Sprite brochure, 1958

 Ahhh!  Halcyon days!

Oselli 1293 Fast Road Stage 2 Engine

In an earlier article (Oselli and the MG Midget A-Series Engine) I discussed the history of Oselli and its links with the MG Midget.  Since taking delivery of ABW, I've been able to do a lot more investigating into the tuning that had been carried out on the car.

ABW was tuned by Oselli in 1998. The engine was removed , reconditioned and rebuilt to 1293 Fast Road Stage 2 unleaded specification. But what does this mean?

The 1293 Fast Road Spec claims to gives 95 horsepower, but retaining good manners for town driving. Fuel consumption remains good at cruising speeds and there is lots of low speed torque (see previous article on towing with MG Midgets!). Oscelli strengthened the bottom end considerably to provide a reliable unit able to rev up to 7500 rpm and able to last over time.

Power curves from Oselli brochure, 1998

The work done by Oscelli:

• engine stripped out
• parts checked, tolerances measured, and prepared for machining
• engine rebuilt, clearances checked, cam timing set up
• engine bored out to 1293cc
• crank, flywheel, clutch, pistons and conrods all balanced
• tufftride treatment to crank, journals repolished, alignment checked
• heavy duty bottom end main and thrust bearings fitted
• flywheel lightened
• cylinder head modified to large valve OE62 Rally Spec
• A600 camshaft fitted, cam follows set
• high capacity oil pump
• miscellaneous new seals and gaskets
• performance distributor

According to the May 1990 catalogue, the specification of the Oselli A600 camshaft is: 37/71/71/37, 288° duration inlet/exhaust, 0.360" valve lift with std 1.25 rockers, 0.016" tappet clearance, 107° inlet valve full open for timing setting (data from Richard Wale, 2009). It was a slight de-tune on the 1293 'Rally' specification (for which the Kent 286 camshaft was standard).

Close-up of ABW's "Oselli tuned" engine

Some months later Oscelli tuned the SU HS2 carburettors, fitting ‘AF’ needles – the standard specification being ‘AN’. The new needles offer better performance with the K&N filters, tuned exhaust, modified head, and fast camshaft fitted to ABW.

ABW's engine bay

Standard Midget engines are quoted at 65 bhp. I'd be amazed if ABW is giving anything like 95 bhp – but she seems eager!