Daily Archives: May 22, 2012

Buried And Covered In Concrete – MG 14/40 MK IV Sports

Towards 1927 production of MG’s moved to a new factory in Edmund Road, Oxford and production of the MG 14/40 MK IV commenced, with MG Car Company becoming a legal entity in 1928.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

14/40’s were built around bare Morris Oxford chassis, unlike earlier MG’s that were built from completed frames that were striped and rebuilt to MG specifications, as the MG 14/28 had been but were now given MG chassis numbers, MG badges and motors, optimistically, estimated to produce 40hp.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

MG publicity at the 1928, London, Motor Show mentions Land Speed Record Breaker Malcolm Campbell as an owner of a 14/40, a model which was struggling to sell at the time in part due to the age of the Oxford chassis and side valve motor underpinning the car.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

MG founder Cecil Kimber went to great lengths to differentiate his cars from their Morris inheritance before fitting MG bodies, his alleged obsession with octagons is said to have been frequently overdone.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

This Mk IV Sports is one of 135 such vehicles built in 1928 and the only survivor in the UK of a total of just four that are known to exist.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

The winner of Best Vintage Car award at the Bristol Classic Car Show, where it is seen in these photo’s, has no history prior to 1999 when it was found beneath a ripped up concrete base of a shed in Gloucestershire.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

The disassembled car was found carefully preserved beneath a further layer of gravel complete with it’s guarantee plate and original number plates apparently ready for it’s ground up restoration.

Thanks for joining me in this ‘Buried And Covered In Concrete’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be going Dutch with a Daf. Don’t forget to come back now !

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