Silver platter

In 1995, against a backdrop of financial uncertainty, a new owner in the form of BMW and a nation that was recovering from recession, Rover Group made MG fans very happy. For the first time since the closure of Abingdon, some 15 years previously, the MG sports car was back. It mattered not a jot that the new MGF was constructed largely of Rover parts bin components, nor that it was assembled in Longbridge rather than MG’s spiritual home. Here was an affordable, cute, two-seater roadster that was created in the image of the MGs of the past, right down to sharing its powertrain and underpinnings with other cars in the company’s stable.

The design was actually very clever. Based on two Rover Metro front subframes, it used interlinked Hydragas suspension and a selection of switches and buttons that were instantly familiar to anyone who owned a contemporary Rover car. The column stalks were from a 200, the heater vents from a Metro and the electric window switches were from the 800.

But the car was neatly styled – the design team led by Gerry McGovern, who went on to become head of design at Jaguar Land Rover – and used a new 1.8-litre version of the K-series engine, found in the Rover 200/400, but developing 118bhp.