The MGF Archives: adverts (the early days)

Introduction

I don't tend to religiously keep old motoring magazines - they tend to get discarded over the house and ultimately end up in the bin, but I had a real affection to MG World, which was published between 1997 and 2003 by CH Publications. In fact, I had a running report column and developed a good rapport with editor, Philip Raby and ended up writing complete articles - a little foray into motoring journalism that fulfilled a boyhood dream! What this has meant is that I still have a library (sadly incomplete) of many of the magazines published under this title... and since even the newest of these magazines is now over 8 years (at the time of writing), these make a fascinating glance into an exciting period of MG history - the last of the British designed and built MG sportscars.

Perhaps there is no clearer idea of what was going on in the enthusiast's scene are the adverts - and here, an MG enthusiast's magazine will always have a rich vein - so I've put together a collection of some of the advertisements from those early years - from launch through to 2001...

1998

The Dealers

In these early years, it is no surprise to discover a large number of dealership adverts peppering the MG specialist press of the time. There are a large number to choose from, but the one I include here is one of the "big boys" - one of the South East's and London's largest sports car dealerships based in Chiswick, with their distinctive chequered flag emblem that the applied on the tail of all the MGFs they sold. There are still quite a few cars out there with this appliqué still on their rumps - but these seem to be dwindling as these early Fs get older and less common. Perhaps in years to come, these dealership stickers will be an accepted part of the vehicle's history and be recognised in concourse judging? Who knows...

The Life Style and the Clubs

Here's one from the past. The club scene these days are very much dominated by the MG Car Club (and MGF Register) and the MG Owner's Club. But in the early days, there was also a third club, Club MGF.

Club MGF was in fact the brain child of MG Enthusiast editor and proprietor, Martyn Wise - a club set up specifically to cater for just MGF owners - many of whom were in an older, more affluent demographic. Club MGF therefore offered these owners a 'life style' choice, with trips to the south of France, and in those early days, offered the opportunity of an audience with the designers and engineers who made the car possible.

Club MGF was also a haven for those MGF owners who felt that their needs were not best served by the more traditional MG clubs - whose patrons at that time were often sceptical that this new fangled mid-engined roadster was even an MG at all. I mean, crumbs, it was put together in Longbridge, not assembled in Abingdon!

As such, the club was initially a great success, but sadly slowly dwindled - some of the remnants of Club MGF can now be found within the MGCC's MGF Register.

Given the origin's of Club MGF (from a competing Magazine - MG Enthusiast), it is therefore a surprise to discover that the Club was to be found advertising in MG World... but here you are, an application form. As you can see, the club had global ambitions, and even offered competitive insurance deals through Peart Associates.

Surprising products

1998 was the year of one of most extraordinary MGF products that I can recall - the TAD boot lid. Axel is a terrific guy, who I had the pleasure of meeting at the Brooklands MGF day (and Third Birthday) in 1998, but I still don't quite know what possessed him to cut up his boot lid like this, but it does reveal how much lost space there is in the standard MGF boot lid design: this radically cut down boot lid does not loose any interior boot space at all!

I don't think that Axel ever got around to proving the aerodynamic advantages he proposes for his boot lid. Nor do I think that he ever actually sold one - but if you do have one of these (made completely from steel, in case you were wondering), it is a very rare thing indeed, and absolutely a period and unique accessory. Treasure it, and if you are into the MG show scene, trust me, it will cause many raised eyebrows, and some interest from those sad enough to remember these from the first time round!

Vehicle performance products

By 1998, there was an ever increasing clamour to personalise MGFs, as the numbers on the road increased, and there were relatively few trim and colour options readily available from the factory. Couple this with a rather dull and muted exhaust and intake noise and well, it was fertile ground for after market suppliers to get in on the act.

One of the biggest players from the outset was Steven Palmer, one of the UK's largest MG dealerships, who went on to tap into this lucrative market by creating a new brand, SP Performance. SP started off with exhausts - through a collaboration with Milltek. These systems remain available today, and deserved all the superlatives laid upon them by reviewers - they sounded great! They also release around 5bhp and 5lb ft of torque - so perhaps not quite as much as the optimistic period advertising suggested, but still a worthwhile gain in performance that could be felt on the road.

The success of these exhausts is revealed by their incredible longevity. While SP Performance didn't survive the long term, Milltek continue to churn these systems out, and can be purchased through a number of MG Specialists - most notably these days, Brown and Gammons.

Hardtops

SP performance didn't just limit themselves to exhaust systems. In fact, the company had been busy building a portfolio of products, including hardtops. This was an expensive option from Rover when the cars were new, and the stylish hardtop that SP commissioned from UK Styling house, KraftHaus, was an attractive alternative. These were most easily characterised by the strakes on the roof top - whereas Rover's official hardtop is completely smooth. Unsurprisingly, the official hardtop remains the most numerous, but this SP original remains available - and is often referred to as the "Heritage Hardtop". If you fancy something a little bit different, these may be worth searching out, but they do have a reputation of not fitting as well as the Rover OEM items.
1999

Exhaust systems

Yet more from SP, in 1999 we saw SP Performance/ Milltek launch another exhaust system, this time inspired by the Lotus Elise - the centre-exit Gran Tourismo system. Based on the ever successful original "Supersport" it boasted similar performance figures, although in reality it wasn't quite as efficient, perhaps because of the extra circuitous pipework required to bring the tail pipes into the centre of the car. It also had a aesthetic problem - the MGF rear bumper is designed to have widely spaced rear tail pipes, and has indents along their lower edge that are very clearly visible when not hidden below a tail pipe. As a result these were not as successful and somewhat rarer than the Supersports. But they are and remain very distinctive - and perhaps ideal for those thinking about building a Supersports replica....

Trim upgrades

SP were by no means the only specialists on the block where it came to vehicle personalisation. Another early player who remains strong to this day is Mike Satur. Mike is a straight-talking Yorkshireman and a great guy with an eye to the sorts of things that owners were really yearning for. In this advertisment from 1999, we can see some of his products that were designed to break up the standard black plastic monotony of the standard interior.

He offered a great many different services, from complete bespoke leather interiors, alloy interior components, windbreaks, and even bodykits. Yes, some of these items are not to everyone's taste, but the thing was he was offering a choice that many were keen to buy into. This early advert is interesting, because if you compare these to his current offerings you can see how his product range has evolved over the years. Mike has never kept still, and continues to offer fresh and interesting alternatives that some other companies seek to emulate.

The other key player in interior upgrades was Newton Commercial, who remain an important player on the MG scene to this day. In these early days they offered additional exterior brightwork packs that simply weren't available from MG at the time, along with leather seats and door trim upgrades.

Newton offered strong quality, albeit at a price. Perhaps unsurprisingly, their products managed to get some official endorsement.

Over the years, Newton's product range has increased, but interestingly, the interior trim options available then remain available to this day - an interesting observation that may be of some interest to those restoring MGFs in the future.

Dashboard kits

Personally, I have never really been into wooden dashboards in MGs, but there has always been a massive demand for this. Even today, you can go on ebay and order walnut trim kits for your MGF or TF. Back in 20th century however, these kits cost rather more than they do now!

You either purchased from MG, or you went to one of the specialist companies. According from this advert in 1999, that was a 260+ quid option. Presumably not including VAT or fitting... Not cheap. I think that you'd really REALLY want to have wood in your car to go down this route. And seeing that this advert kept on recurring for years afterwards, presumably people really did.

Better Brakes

It wasn't all about styling in 1999. This is the first year I found mention of Tech-Craft, who were and remain to this day an AP distributor. Here they are offering AP racing brakes for the MGF - presumably similar to the ones found on the MGF Cup cars. As Tech-Craft continue to trade, they may still be able to put together a kit for your MGF/TF today. However, I suspect that this market was effectively killed once MG brought out the "Trophy" braking system, based around AP braking components that can be had for a fraction of the price asked for Motor-sport derived parts.

Exterior modifications

To my surprise, 1999 was also the first appearance of the Panther - a special edition exclusive to Fairways, an MG dealership in Kent. Eagle eyed MG spotters will have already noted the strong resemblance of this car to the SP Performance Cheetah. This in fact is no surprise - this car is based around the exact same Krafthaus derived body kit! So in a way, this is a Cheetah, all but in the engine department. Oh and the wheels are MG 16" items first seen on the Abingdon SE rather than the AVEZs on the real deal.

These cars clearly weren't cheap, and it is unknown how many were sold, but this was a bold move by a dealership to put this car together.

MGF lifestyle - the MGF 4th Birthday Party and Accessories day!

I couldn't resist posting this advert, seeing that I was involved in the organisation of both this, and the similar celebration party and accessories day the previous year! This was the forerunner for the MGF Register events such as MGF10, and the subsequent MGFest series - but run at Brooklands rather than Gaydon.

These days were a ball to organise and participate in - I hope everyone attending had as much fun as we did!

MGF4 was organised by Paul Sharpe, Neil Willetts, Martin Woods and myself.

I shall have to see whether that old zyworld free-domain space website can be resurrected for historical interest... not sure how much of its content has survived however.

2000

From the ashes of the collapse of SP Performance...

SP Performance, once a key pillar of the MGF modifying world, had sadly folded during the previous year. But the products that they had been key in developing remained in demand - not least the Milltek exhaust systems that continue to sell strongly. But as we have seen from earlier adverts, SP Performance sold a good deal more than just exhausts.

Exterior styling

Krafthaus, their styling collaborators, had been rebranded as KH assemblies by this time, and they were keen to try and sell yet more body kits based on the Cheetah. This meant that you could DIY in part or in whole the Cheetah styling package (and emulate the Panther that had been advertised in MG World the previous year). Clearly, Fairways had failed to obtain an exclusive marketing deal on these kits - and what this may have done to their Panther sales is unclear.

Here we have a rare KH Assemblies advert from 2000, providing the cost breakdown of the kit components. The wheel arch extensions were not, fortunately, a necessary part of the kit, which could be restricted to bumper assemblies alone. I am not sure that the black and silver car shown in the advert really does it justice though...

Engine Tuning

The other key component of the Cheetah kit - well, THE key component, its heart if you like, was the Super charged engine. And Turbo Technics were very happy to sell you this conversion on its own.

The kit had actually proven extremely successful on the identically-engined Lotus Elise, so development had been on-going despite the dissappointing Cheetah sales. The full number of MGF Cheetahs sold are not presently known, but these are rare cars, and the majority do not have the outrageous body kits featured on the press cars. Most people seemed to prefer the "Q car" approach.

No matter, the best part of £5000 would net you a car capable of up to 215bhp. Handling and braking modifications were, of course, entirely up to you. I'd imagine that they'd be very highly recommended. This of course meant that there was a hidden cost to these conversions; £5k already looked like a lot of money to the average MGF owner. Adding a further 2-3k in handling and braking modifications made it almost untenable. For this reason, I suspect, the numbers of TT SC kits sold never exceeded double figures.

Exhaust Systems

Phoenix of Devon became the new boy on the block with a new stainless steel exhaust system in 2000, promising class-leading performance, and distinctive tail pipe designs that echoed the design of the fuel filler cap. These proved very successful, and distinctive from the Milltek family in having a more bassy exhaust note. Unfortunately I was never able to perform before and after Rolling Road testing on this system, and the claimed 9 or 15bhp gains are unlikely; 5bhp being more likely, but nonetheless healthy gain.

2001

There were far fewer new product adverts in this and following years - and although stalwart advertisers such as Newton Commercial and Mike Satur continued to support MG World, the lack of general advertising found in the magazine (deemed a postive advantage by many readers!) was probably the start of the end for MG World as an independent magazine... but that's a discussion for another day.

Engine tuning

Editor Phil Raby's approach however was to look to do features on the various products developed for the MGF, and the Mountune advert of 2001 is a classic case of this - this single advert accompanying Phil's write up of the Mountune 155 equipped car (which did indeed go very well - I was fortunate enough to get a passenger ride in this very car following Mountune's attendance at a local pub meet in 2000).

However, for what ever reason, engine tuning did not sell well to the MGF community - and certainly not in the way that it did to the Lotus Elise owners. Again, one can speculate why, but Mountune did not waste time and resources promoting this service - and you may now be more familiar with this name associated with fast Fords. However, should you wish to look into a Mountune tuned engine, they may still be able to help...