MGF
The BMW Rover Group Years 1995-2000
The MG Rover Years 2000-2002

Legend has it this car is based upon the tweaks developed by Gerry McGovern for his own Tahiti blue car...

VVC models retained their improved specification over 1.8i models. Where the 1.8i received new 8-spoke 'Minilite-style' wheels, the VVC received a new 16" 6-square spoke design. The interior is half leather, and the VVC, unlike the MPi, has ABS fitted as standard.

Performance figures are broadly lower than the standard manual 1.8i (although it is argued that this car is at least as fast in the real world), whilst trim specs are close to VVC levels.

Other features include bold new colours- Trophy Yellow and Trophy Blue, a new style of 16" wheels and re-styled front head lamps. The interior has body coloured centre console and door trim inserts, plus coloured high-lights on the seats. Sure to be a classic.

MGTF
The MG Rover Years 2002-2005

Click here for pictures comparing the MGF with the MGTF and click here for some detail pictures of the TF

Sprint SE (July, 2002), based upon the TF 135 and 160 variants. The sprint SE had a high specification   trim from the outset, consisting of Gunsmoke Alcantara and black leather seats, Smokestone fascia and door panels, a coloured hood, chrome pack and front fog lights. On TF 135 models, Sports Pack 2 (ABS, uprated 304mm front disc brakes and callipers and 16" eleven-spoke alloy wheels – already standard on the TF 160) was specified as standard equipment. Only 600 MG TF Sprint models were said to have been produced in the five colour available combinations: Solar Red, XPower Grey, Starlight Silver, Le Mans Green and Trophy Blue.

• a new hood design, incorporating a heated glass rear screen (a first on a soft top MG),
• a new range of colours both outside and in,
• a new badge denoting model specification (on the 160),
• a new wheel design for the entry models (115 and 135) - an attractive "V"-spoke pattern and
• a new range of in-car entertainment systems.

The suspension too was re-rated with the aim to answer criticisms of the earlier cars that incorporated softer springs, re-rated dampers, thicker anti-roll bars and re-specified bushes. The net result was a significant smoothing of the occasionally bumpy ride that some owners with 16" wheel options (particularly SP1 and SP2 option pack-equipped cars) complained of - without compromising the much-admired handling sharpness.
One curiosity of the MY2005 specification sheet was the down-grading of the AP-racing calipers from 4 pots of the Trophy 160/ TF160 to 2 pots. However, I have not yet come across a single MY2005 with the 2-pot AP caliper; perhaps this is due to MG Rover using up existing stocks of the AP-racing 4-pot calipers.

 MY2005 Production details:
It is understood that 1878* 2005 model year MG TFs were built prior to the collapse of MG Rover Group on April 7th, 2005 (excluding 29 pre-production cars) over the last quarter of 2004 and first quarter of 2005 - with a further 253 vehicles being completed following in the 2nd quarter of 2005, presumably under the supervision of Pricewaterhouse Coopers*, the administrators. The precise model composition of these vehicles (presumably a mix of 115, 135 and 160) is at this time, unknown. The VIN range of these vehicles ranges from 637929 (lowest) to 641764 (highest).

*The MGF register has learnt that a significant number (253)  2005MY TFs were built during the PricewaterhouseCoopers administration period, but the VIN range this applies to, and which market these cars were supplied to are not presently known... enquiries and investigations are on-going.

MGTF
The NAC/SAIC-MG Years 2007-

• 1.8 litre 135ps 'N-series' engine - this power plant is directly descended from the K-series 135ps engine found in earlier TF and F derivatives (there are no immediate plans to bring back the VVC 160ps engine at this stage).
• 5-speed PG1 gearbox (no CVT automatic gearbox planned at present)
• MY2005 specification suspension
• New black-on-silver MG badge, along with LE500 badge work inside and out (including the door sill tread plates)
• Piano-black centre console and instrument binnacle
• New instrument cluster, incorporating a digital temperature display (see opposite, left) and new fonts on the instrument faces themselves
• Hardtop will be supplied as standard, in body colour (colour palette pictured right)
• Softtop will come with a heated rear window - as per the MY2005 TFs
• Unique and numbered LE500 badge work - expect to see a 75 LE style numbered badge over the centre cubby box on the production cars

2009 model year 'standard' TF135 (April, 2009). With the credit crunch threatening the collapse of many iconic international names in motoring (Chrysler at the time of writing having just filed for chapter 1 bankruptcy), these have not been the best of times to re-launch the famous octagon brand into a fragile market. Perhaps this is part of the reason why MG UK have now launched the 'standard' model TF. Devoid of such fripperies such as leather seats and reversing sensors, the new model in the revised MG sports car range come in under the £14,000 price threshold, making this car one of the cheapest roadsters currently available on the market. For those making use of the current scrapage scheme, it could mean that you could be driving home from the showroom having spent under £12,000 - incredible value!

Colours included:  Racing Green (Metallic), Platinum Silver (Metallic), Oceana Blue (Mica-tallic), Frost White, Radiant Red (Pearl), Raven Black and Storm Grey (Metallic)

2010 Model Year TF135. These are the end of the line TFs before production was finally wound up at Longbridge in May of 2010. Essentially the same as the MY2009 version, these came with one important revision - the wing mirrors. This investment was made to ensure vehicle homologation compliance for sale in the EU, and are larger than the Rover 200-derived mirrors previously employed on TFs and MY2000 MGFs.

These remain on sale in 2011 as I write this article, so there is still time to bag yourself one of the very last MG roadsters ever manufactured. It will be a small bit of automotive history, but the MGF and TF were the salvation of the brand. Without the MGF, it is perhaps difficult to imagine that there would still be an MG today.

The second explanation therefore, is that the F's name roots the modern MG into the marque's rich naming tradition. The 'current' naming system commenced with the launch of the first all new MG after the second world war- the MGA of 1955. The natural naming progression continued with that car's successor- the incredibly successful MGB, launched in 1963. A six cylinder variant of that car was launched in 1967. However, the MGC's life was short, being significantly outlived by the 4 cylinder MGB, which eventually ceased production (with the demise of the MG Abingdon plant at the hands of Sir Michael Edwards) in 1980.

Behind the scenes however, long before the demise of the MGB, plans were afoot to replace the MGB/C. In the late sixties, the ADO21 project had been spawned. Based upon MGB underpinnings, but using an E-series engine pinched from the Austin Maxi mounted mid-ships, this car was to have been the first mid-engined MG- and probably the first affordable mid-engined sports car. Other elements of the design were dictated by the perceived risk of changes in US safety legislation- which was widely predicted to outlaw soft top convertible cars. Thus a targa design was alighted upon (similar in principle to the Fiat X1/9), with a flying buttress design that masked the height of the relatively tall engine. For better or for worse, that design did not get beyond the drawing board, as it lost out, in internal competition, to a design by Harris Mann for what was to become the Triumph TR7. However, whilst never seeing the light of day, this is the car what is popularly assumed to have acquired the MGD label.

Interestingly, the mid-engine MG concept that was born with the MGD paper concept, was revived some 20 years later in the 1985 MG super car concept, the MG-EXE. Whilst never considered as a true production concept (the politics and image of the MG brand at the time ensured that the EXE stayed a motorshow fancy), the MG-EXE nonetheless was to have a profound influence upon the design direction of subsequent MG sports car concepts. An example of this influence can be seen in the rear lamp cluster design seen on the MGF- which is very reminiscent of those found on the MG-EXE.

And so, having used the letters A through to E with either production cars or concepts for potential MGs, we arrive at the letter 'F'. And so it was, in 1995, that we saw the launch of the MGF- a name that surprised the motoring press of the time; the motoring pundits had widely predicted and fully expected the MGD tag for the car.

Obviously there are gaps and discrepancies in this naming system. How does one fit in the MGB GT V8? Or the MG revival car, the MG RV8? And if one riffles through the 'secret' design proposals for potential MGs, one finds that the MGF tag had already been used- on the MG F-16 (the car that formed the basis for the later PR3 front/ front drive, mid/ rear drive and front/ rear drive development hacks used to evolve and hone the engineering concepts and parameters used in the car that we now know as the MGF). Which means of course, the most likely and plausible explanation for the MGF's name is, perhaps disappointingly, a marketing ploy- but one that at least has a certain logic and one that is based on the heritage of the world famous MG marque.

Quite how the naming lineage will continue has only just become clear; it was always unlikely that the MG-G name would be used- primarily because in the UK 'Gee-gee' is a popular slang word for a race horse! So now we bid 'hello' to the new MG TF!