Page 11 - Sample pages "Kim: A Biography of M.G. Founder Cecil Kimber" by Jon Pressnell

The memories of Jack Lowndes9, another early employee, confirm the challenging working conditions. ‘Our workshop was at the back of the premises in Alfred Lane, and when we wanted to get another M.G. sports car to work on, we had to push about 15 standard cars out into the lane, to get ours in. That was the place to teach one to drive: the cars were packed wing to wing, until we could not get another car into the yard. One morning when we arrived at work, we found every car covered with snow [and] the open cars full right up with frozen snow...We had to boil water on our oil stove to thaw the snow...’
9 Cousins/Jarman reminiscences.
‘OLD NUMBER ONE’ – AND A SECOND DAUGHTER
It was in early 1925 that the most famous car created by Cecil Kimber saw the light of day. This is the car that has become known as ‘Old Number One’ and is regularly described as being the first M.G. – a claim that is most certainly contestable. First registered in March 1925, in Cecil Kimber’s name, the car was a one-off built for him to use in the Motor Cycle Club’s Land’s End Trial, to be held over the Easter of 1925.
The basis of the car was a Morris chassis with the rear rebuilt to incorporate semi-elliptic springing, for better axle location. The
Kimber in his 1925 special. When, after the Land’s End Trial, he called in on Devon Morris agent Frank Barton, William Morris’s former business partner and general manager of The Morris Garages from 1911 to 1918, he ill-advisedly invited his wife for a spin in the car, took a bend on two wheels and nearly turned it over. Mrs Barton was not impressed, her son related to the author.
101 Chapter Four: Making a Marque
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