1926 MG 14/28 Super Sports

Description

Expertly restored version of the world's oldest surviving MG model; period LAP ohv cylinder head; always in regular use and in wonderful condition throughout

A man of enormous energy and creative flair with petrol flowing through his veins, Cecil Kimber joined Morris Motors in March 1921, initially as a sales manager, but was soon promoted to run The Morris Garages in Alfred Street, Oxford.

An autonomous part of the main Morris company, Morris Garages was a retail sales and service centre, but under Kimber it became something of a ‘skunk works’ department, specialising in modifying the standard Morris Oxford/Cowley chassis, tuning up the engines and running gear and fitting special lightweight coachwork.

Known as ‘Kimber Specials’, they bore both Morris and MG badges and it wasn’t until 1928 that The Morris Garages enterprise had become big enough to warrant a separate identity from its parent company, becoming known as The MG Car Company.

The first model to bear the MG octagon badge is generally considered to be an open two-seater with a Raworth body fitted to a modified 11.9hp Cowley chassis. Six of these were made in 1923/24, retailing at £350 compared to £175 for the standard Cowley.

Before these Raworth cars were completed though, William ‘Billy’ Cooper, a famous car and motorcycle trials competitor well-known to Morris Garages, placed an order for two four-seater versions – one for himself and the other for Jack Gardiner, one of Kimber’s salesmen (the last photo shows Gardiner in that very car).

Sharing stylistic and technical cues with the Raworth two-seater cars, these rakish and elegant four-seaters were so well-received that they were put into limited production.

Originally named the MG 14/28 Sports, they soon evolved into the MG 14/28 Super Sports, available in Four-Seater Tourer, and two-seater Coupe and Salonette variants. Built around a modified Morris Oxford Bullnose chassis, lowered and lengthened by six inches, they incorporated many upgrades to the brakes, steering and suspension to elevate them to sporting MG status.

The rear axle ratio was raised, a larger radiator fitted, wire wheels replaced the standard artillery type, the battery was relocated from the running board to under the front seats, the steering wheel was lowered and featured three rather than four spokes while the 1,802cc Hotchkiss engine was fitted with a free-flowing aluminium head and tuned to maximise the revs.

The throttle pedal was also moved from the centre to the right (soon to become standard practice among all makers) and the steering box was moved from its mounting on the cylinder block to one on the chassis which made the car much more stable and predictable on bumpy roads.

The coachwork was built by Carbodies and featured a two-tone mix of blue painted steel and polished aluminium alloy over an ash frame with a raked windscreen to accentuate the sporting lines, prominent polished nickel scuttle vents, blue Morris Oxford MG Super Sports radiator badge and brass MG kick plates on the door sills. A blue enamelled MG Super Sports badge was also mounted on a polished alloy panel in the centre of the dash.

When the demonstrator was tested by The Autocar in May 1925, they declared it to be: ‘A sports model with unusually attractive lines’ blessed with ‘a very lively performance and a higher turn of speed than most drivers would care to use’, going on to record a top speed of 65mph with 0-50mph in 24 seconds.

The following year, Billy Cooper won a Gold Medal in his own 14/28 Super Sports at the MCC’s One-Hour High Speed Trial at Brooklands, earning the MG marque its first competition success.

The Bullnose 14/28 stayed in production until late-1926 when it followed suit with its standard Morris sister car and adopted a rather less handsome flat radiator. Costing between £395 and £475 depending on the coachwork (equivalent to the average house price at the time), exact production figures are uncertain, but it is believed that around 13 were made in 1924 and perhaps rather more in the next two years before the flat-rad model took over in 1926 which was slightly wider, heavier and slower than the early Bullnose cars.

By the time it was replaced by the very similar 14/40 model in 1927, it is thought that around 400 of the 14/28 models had been made in total, of which only around a dozen are believed to survive today.

MR 7058 was first registered in Swindon in June 1926, to a Mr Humphrey Cottrill of Lambourne. A horse-breeder and jockey, he bought the car as a reward for himself after enjoying a big win at the Ascot races, as he related to the previous owner when they visited him in a nursing home shortly before he died. Cottrill used the car extensively until 1930, a buff logbook showing that it then had four further owners in quick succession, the last being a Mr F Edmunds of Brighton who acquired MR 7058 in April 1934.

The subsequent history of MR was lost in the mists of time before a chassis and running gear were discovered buried in woodland on the Wiltshire/Somerset border. Photos in the history file show there was little bodywork left by 1988 when the remains were extracted.

It took eight years for the then-owner, a serial vintage car restorer and historian, to find and restore genuine period fittings, what could not be sourced at autojumbles was fabricated to exact company specifications to produce possibly the most correct interpretation of an MG 14/28 there is today.

The body was built by a Mr Pitney of Wokingham from drawings made by taking the dimensions from David Potter’s 14/28 Super Sports. These drawings and dimensions are included in today’s sale. The windscreen frame, a unique design used by MG, was specially fabricated, the correct period instrumentation was sourced to complement the new seats and a full set of weather gear was carefully made and fitted. Originally MR 7058 was a two-seater, as shown by the buff logbook, but this car was built as a four-seater for practical usability.

DVLA happily assigned the original registration number of MR 7058 to the completed car in 1998, and the restorer kept the car and used it extensively for over 30 years both in this country and around Europe, the usability enhanced by the fitment of a period LAP cylinder head, a highly desirable overhead-valve conversion by Lago Automotive Products of London which would be virtually impossible to source today.

Developed by Anthony Lago (who went on to found the Talbot-Lago marque in France), the LAP ohv conversion was aimed at well-heeled Morris owners who could afford the £24 price tag (ten times the average weekly wage at the time).

Lago’s ads boldly claimed: ‘Enormously improved acceleration, greater speed on hills, more hill climbing in top, far less gear changing, cooler running, higher speed and reduced petrol consumption’. The reality was perhaps not quite as sensational, the restorer of this car observing: “What the ohv conversion supplies is bottom-end torque, not speed. So there is hardly a hill that is not passable in top, saving recourse to the rather archaic three-speed gearbox”.

In June 2018, MR 7058 was the subject of an eight-page feature in The Automobile magazine, the writer singling out the car’s ride and handling for particular praise:

"It feels stable and predictable, tracking true even when the steering wheel is momentarily released. A corner looms. Some speed is shed, but perhaps not as much as I would have liked. The 14/28 then does what all good members of its octagonal clan should – it flies through the bend with minimal roll and even less fuss. I’m genuinely astounded by this Vintage machine’s prowess."

The owner/restorer also takes the wheel and bowls along at 55mph, saying: "When we did a Bugatti rally several years ago, I must say we showed several of the attending Bugattis a clean pair of heels. These cars are made for using. You can see how Kimber got away with charging a vast amount of money over the standard Oxford price." 

Due to the extremely dilapidated state of the remains that originated this rebuild, MR 7058 does not currently feature on the list of surviving MGs held by the Vintage Register of the MG Car Club, but as with many expertly restored vintage cars of this period, it now drives better than new, while years of careful use have given it the patina so desirable in a 1920’s car. It is totally correct in all details that differentiated an MG from its Morris counterparts and we are told that it is widely admired wherever it goes.

Fastidiously built with great attention to detail, this represents a rare opportunity to acquire a true vintage car from the era of the very beginnings of the MG dynasty. As you can see in the photos, this expertly restored machine is in spectacular condition throughout and has been starting on the first press of the button and running beautifully as we have moved it around on site, with healthy oil pressure.

It comes with the original aluminium cylinder head (see photos), a period jack in the tool box on the running board plus a wealth of useful technical literature to assist in keeping it in tip-top running order for many years to come. 

None of the six original Raworth-bodied two-seater Morris/MG specials survive, so the 14/28 Super Sports is effectively the oldest surviving MG model and certainly the first to achieve success in competition.

Eminently usable and a veteran of many shows and rallies, MR 7058 would grace any discerning collection. We could only find a record of one 14/28 Super Sports being sold at auction, a 1927 flat rad four-seater tourer which made $77,000 at RM Sotheby’s in America in September 2022. Arguably more desirable, this gorgeous Bullnose looks mighty attractive at the enticing guide price suggested.

Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com