Book reviews, July 1989, July 1989

Early MG by P L Jennings. 240pp. 93/4″ x 7″. (PL Jennings, Cwmbrain, Lanbister, Powys LD1 6UE. £37.50 including postage).

Published privately and now in its second edition, this book is confined to pre-1930 MGs, aiming to provide an up-to-date register of the survivors among the 14/28, 14/40, 18/80 Mks I and II, and 18/100 Mk III cars. This is a very necessary task when fakes and hybrids abound, and reprints of relevant articles are added to this material.

Controversial discussions about which was the very first MG by John Thornley (who also writes the foreword), Lytton Jarman, JB Ashby and Michael Sedgwick are joined by other pieces from Safety Fast, Veteran & Vintage Magazine, the Bullnose Morris Club Magazine and the MG Magazine about the larger vintage models. There are also production lists, half-tone and colour plates, reproductions of old advertisements and reminiscences of former employees passed to the author by Jarman. Apart from the so-called “Old No 1”, one notes that details are given of eleven surviving or recently-known bullnose 14/28s, seven flat-nose 14/28s, twenty-two 14/40s, fifty-nine 18/80s, and two 18/100s with mention of three more “possibles”.

This data is interspersed with the articles but is there for the finding, making this a valuable contribution to the history of these rare MGs. WB