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Legend has it that MG stands for Morris Garages because early MGs were based on Morris mechanicals, but there is considerable dispute over whether or not this is true. Almost all "pure" MG's are two-seat open sports cars, but the brand has also been used to designate sportier versions of other models belonging to the same parent company.

1 History

There is some debate over when MG started. The company itself believes it is 1924, although the first cars bore both Morris and MG badges. Some disputing this believe that MG began in 1925.

From 1929 until 1980 the MG factory was in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. As part of Morris, (itself part of the Nuffield Organisation), MG was effectively absorbed into the British Motor Corporation in 1952, and latterly British Leyland in 1968. The factory was closed as part of the ruthless programme of cutbacks necessary to turn BL around after the turbulent times of the 1970s.

MG is now part of the MG Rover Group based in Longbridge, Birmingham.

There were various pre-war models built, not all of them sports cars. MG built a name for itself in the early days of the sport of international automobile racing. After World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, MG produced a line of cars known as the T-Series which were exported worldwide achieving better-than-expected success. MG departed from its earlier line of Y Type saloons and pre-war designs and released the MGAMGA can be an abbreviation of: Malaysian Golf Association Massachusetts Golf Association Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd Melengestrol Acetate a contraceptive used on cattle Metal Gear Acid a PlayStation Portable video game by Konami Metropolitan Golf Assoca in 1955. The MGBThe word MGB has several different meanings: MGB (USSR) was a predecessor of the KGB (secret police). MGB is also is a model of MG car. was released in 1962 to satisfy demand for a more modern and comfortable sports car. With continuous updates, the MGB was produced until 1980. Between 1967Events January January 4 British motorboat racer Donald Campbell dies while attempting a water speed record in Coniston Lake. January 4 Algerian revolutionary Mohammed Khider is shot in Madrid. January 6 Vietnam War: USMC and ARVN troops launch " Operatio and 1969For other uses, see Number 1969. For the movie, see 1969 (movie). Events January January 1 Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper The News Of The World January 5 The Derry Riots leave over 100 people i a short-lived model called the MGC was released. MG also began producing the MG Midget in 19611961 (As MAD Magazine pointed out on its first cover for the year) was the first "upside-down" year i. one that looked the same upside down since 1881, and the last until 6009. Events January January 1 The farthing coin, used since the 13th century, cease. The Midget was a re-badged and redesigned Austin-Healey SpriteThe Austin-Healey Sprite was a small open sports car designed by Donald Healey. It release was announced by British Motor Corporation in 1958. It was a small, low cost sports car designed to fill the hole in the market left by the small pre-war Austin sev. As with MGB's, the Midget design was frequently modified until it was finally dropped in 1979.

The marque lived on after 1980 as British Leyland (later Austin Rover Group), the then-owner, placed the MG badge on a number of Austin saloons. In New Zealand, the MG badge even appeared on the late 1980s’ Austin Montego estate, called the MG 2.0 Si Wagon. There was a brief competitive history with a mid-engined, six-cylinder version of the Metro.

In the late ’80s, ARG was renamed as the Rover Group and revived the two-seater with the MG RV8, then in 1995 introduced the all new MGF (redesigned and relaunched as the TF, reviving an old MG name).

With the demerger of Rover from BMW in 1999, the MG name appeared on sportier versions of the current Rover saloons and the Rover 75 estate.

The MG Rover Group purchased Qvale , which had developed a new De Tomaso Mangusta. This car, already approved for sale in the United States, formed the basis of the MG XPower SV, an "extreme" V8-engined sports car. It was revealed in 2002 and went on sale in 2004.

As of 2003, the site of the former Abingdon factory was host to McDonalds and the Thames Valley Police.