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The beginning
In 1949 Gerald Palmer, having
already been employed at M.G. from 1937 to 1942, returned as
Chief Designer to The Nuffield Group, which had bought M.G.
in the intervening years. During his short spell at the much
smaller Jowett company, Palmer had designed the Jowett
Javelin, of which over 30,000 units had been sold. At
Nuffield he was to design new models for M.G., Riley and
Wolseley. The current M.G. model, the Y-Type, was intended
to appear in 1940 but with the intervention of the war only
came to the market in 1946 and was, as a consequence,
already dated.
As the Y-type’s successor, Palmer designed the Z
Magnette in conjunction with the Wolseley 4/44 which was
intended to take care of the bottom of the middle range.
Succession for the Riley line is provided by the Pathfinder,
which is somewhat bigger. In his design, Palmer is
influenced by the great Italian designers, which explains
the similarity to the Lancia Aurelia (front) and other Fiat
and Alfa Romeo models.
 Although
it was the M.G. that was designed first, it is its Wolseley
stable-mate that appears first in 1952 because a new
Wolseley model is more urgently needed. It is powered by the
XPAG unit but this has lower power output than in the M.G. T
Types so hardly produces an inspiring performance propelling
a saloon weighing over a ton.
Launch of the ZA Magnette
In October 1953, there appeared at the London Motor Show a
green ZA Magnette with beige interior and a grey/grey car,
both of which had been completed only a short time before
the exhibition opened. Because of production problems the
finished cars did not correspond with the advance publicity
material in all respects: the M.G.s on show still lacked
quarterlights and also the advertised wooden dashboard could
not be produced because of materials shortages.
 This
situation was reversed in March 1955 when, after barely 6000
units had been produced, supplies of Italian walnut became
available. Because of this, the cars were uprated with
foglights and bumper over-riders as standard. Presumably
this was intended to eliminate any difficulties arising from
the other changes to the spec. Also the cars were visibly
well equipped in other ways. A heater is offered as
standard, when this is still not the case with other more
expensive models. And what is more, the passengers will ride
in comfort on leather seats.
The Magnette is equipped with the new B-series engine, which
produces as much as 60bhp at 4600rpm. Admittedly, the engine
still lacks the external oil filter feed-pipe at the rear of
the block as it will later appear on engines used up until
the M.G.B. This had the result that at start-up the bearings
had to operate for too long without oil and often they
managed a life-span of only 10,000 miles. However, the
problem was quickly identified at M.G. and so only 1460
Magnette owners had to live with this defect before the
noted oil pipe was fitted.
At £915 the ZA Magnette cost less than the Y-Type
(£989). Whilst the Wolseley attracts praise in 1952,
the launch of the Magnette unleashes an outcry among M.G.
enthusiasts. The re-use of the glorious Magnette name on a
family saloon with Wolseley bodywork, an Austin engine and a
dummy radiator was not the sort of thing they had come to
expect from M.G. Nonetheless, the M.G. is no Wolseley copy.
In order to emphasise the sporty character of the M.G. in
contrast to the sedate but luxurious Wolseley the bodwork
was made two inches lower, which not only looks more sporty
but assures better handling. However, this has the result
that the Wolseley and the M.G. share very few body panels.
Apart from the roof, the front doors and the boot-lid, the
panels are not interchangeable! As the Magnette sits lower,
the floor pan, the sills and the front and rear wings are
different. What is more, each car carries its own
traditional radiator grill so their bonnets are not
interchangeable either.
Nevertheless, the Magnette starts a new era at Abingdon. It
is the first M.G. built onto a unitary "monocoque" body.
Naturally, this brings its own problems with it, because
thus far M.G.s had always been chassis-built, as was still
seen in the M.G.TF and from 1955 the M.G.A. So it is no
wonder that the build time for a Magnette amounts to as much
as four weeks. After 140 vehicles have been built this
reduces to one week, which then also becomes the norm.
Production begins in February 1954 after the rear axle is
modified on the instructions of John Thornley. (Read
here why the axle had to be changed). The bodies
are delivered, fully painted, by Pressed Steel in Swindon;
the power train comes from Coventry.
More power for the ZB
Until July 1956 only minor details are changed, but then the
engine output gets some treatment. By increasing the
compression ratio from 7.15:1 to 8.3:1, larger H4 twin
carburettors and modified inlet and exhaust valves the
output is raised to 68bhp. In September 1957 the ZB
Magnette appears
but differs from its predecessor only to the extent that the
chrome body-trim has minor modifications. For an extra
£25 the prospective buyer can opt for the Varitone
model. This offers a larger rear window and a two-tone
colour scheme. Nonetheless there do exist single colour
Varitones. For a further £50 the customer can also have
an automatic transmission fitted. However, the first few
automatic cars make it clear that the transmission does not
work properly and are recalled for modification in 1958. The
"Manumatic clutch" was
never popular and was no longer fitted from October 1958.
Anyone who had opted for it and later realised that his
£50 had been poorly invested could have a conventional
transmission retro-fitted for the sum of £75.
Sporting Magnettes
The Magnette never provided M.G. with a recipe for sporting
successes. The name was no help with this at all. The
Magnette was too heavy and produced too little power.
Thoughts of switching to six cylinders or to the already
developed twin-cam engine were quickly dropped. Nonetheless
three Magnettes took part in the 1955 Monte Carlo Rally
under the name of "The Three Musketeers", admittedly without
notable success. Only the 1st and 3rd place in the
Silverstone Production car Race in the same year brought the
desired press attention. A year later Nancy Mitchell
achieved third place in the Ladies Competition at the Monte
Carlo Rally. But she only won the Ladies European rally
Championship because she competed for the rest of the season
in an M.G.A. Pat Moss stayed in the Magnette without
success. In 1957 the Magnette disappeared from the Works
teams. It was only deployed by BMC as a support vehicle for
camera teams. It was, however, campaigned in subsequent
years by privateers. The Magnette recorded its greatest
sporting successes in stock car races in the sixties and
seventies.
 With
its great stability it was ideally suited to this. However,
by this means a large number of Magnettes were consigned to
a glorious but destructive fate. Estimates of the M.G. Car
Club’s Z Magnette Register suggest that about 1,000
vehicles still exist.
The end came for the Z Magnette in December 1958 after
36,601 examples had been produced. These production figures
had, hitherto, never been achieved by any other M.G.
The sequel came in the middle of 1959 in the guise of the Mk
III Magnette, with nothing more than its name in common with
the Z Type. But that is another story…..
MGE 26.01.2000
For more detailed informations look at
List of
production changes
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