Why was there no MG version of the Minor?

[Pete Bags]

I've often wondered why there was never a 'sportier' version made of the Morris Minor. Why was there no MG Minor?
The Triumph Herald had the Vitesse, Vauxhall's Viva got the Brabham treatment, Hillman had the Imp Sport, even Ford sold a specific aftermarket performance kit for the Anglia. Morris did produce the MG 1100 and MG1300 - but no official 'performance' version of the Minor. Even the humble Mini got the Cooper version.

Given that Moggies are now raced competitively on the track (I watched Chris Rea's highly tuned Minor panda car being raced by F1 legend Jochen Mass) and not forgetting Phil-the-hill and his hill climb special and others as well, it just seems amazing that the Morris management never thought of producing a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' version of our little car back in the day.

Does anyone know why?

[ManyMinors]

I know that one was built as a prototype. Don't forget that BMC did produce the Wolseley 1500 and Riley 1.5 which were loosely based on the Minor and filled that gap in the market perhaps? Performance tuning parts were always available for the Minor. I think Stirling Moss had a tuned Minor way back in the early 1950s . BMC marketed a huge range of cars. Probably too many! There weren't many gaps really and the Minor was always intended to be a fairly basic car largely purchased by conservative buyers.

[philthehill]

In 1946 there was a proposal to badge engineer a MG version of the Minor. See Paul Skilleter's book on the Morris Minor for details.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

The Minor was already considered to be a sports saloon and a variety of firms offered off the shelf conversions to boost power and improve handling.

[philthehill]

A sports saloon - now that is being a bit fanciful.
Only when additional performance equipment (much of it non factory) was added to the Minor could you consider it to be any more than a family saloon.

[ianmack]

2E9369DD-3EA1-4C65-B57D-8FA65E77DBCF.jpeg (314.17 KiB) Viewed 1156 times

It looks like BMC were quite happy as it was. In the earlier cars 0-60? You could wait forever!

[geoberni]

Sports Saloon....
Really... All the official advertisements I've ever seen refereed to 'Sound and Sensible Motoring' or 'Economy', or 'Performance', which they then explained away as 'wind cheating contours', 'versatility' etc, but never described it as 'Sports'....

This is the tone and pace of a Morris Minor sales pitch....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkSxKvgh4Ew

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Anybody who knows anything about cars knows it is a sports saloon.

[philthehill]

[Pete Bags]

2E9369DD-3EA1-4C65-B57D-8FA65E77DBCF.jpeg

It looks like BMC were quite happy as it was. In the earlier cars 0-60? You could wait forever!

Well, the BMC poster says the Minor 1000 has 'whip-crack' acceleration, so therefore it must be a sports car!

[kennatt]

Think I once read on here of a MGB engine in a minor ,wonder how that handled bends.

[philthehill]

Depends upon the size of the whip.

The 'B' Series engine has been fitted to several Minors over the years and there has been mixed responses as to the handling.
Throw enough money at it and you can make the Minor handle as if on rails even with the 'B' Series engine fitted.

[Mark Wilson]

I think Stirling Moss had a tuned Minor way back in the early 1950s .

He may well have done, but it was his sister Pat Moss who rallied Minors very successfully in the 1950s, for the BMC works team, so they did have some idea of its capabilities!

[ManyMinors]

She did indeed. She had one of her own too which she said was modified with an alloy head

[jagnut66]

I think earlier posters hit the nail on the head when they mentioned Wolseley and Riley, as well as MG itself.
Don't forget all these marks fell under the BMC banner, as well as, later, Triumph, Jaguar and Rover, at which point I believe the name changed to BMH (British Motor Holdings).
I think one answer has to be the dreaded 'internal politics', many a good idea was strangled at birth by the fact it would create an in house rival to another brand.
Who, lets not forget, were still, for the main part, run and staffed by people who had a long standing associated loyalty to those brands and were only too ready to stifle competition to what they still considered 'their companies'.....
Later of course BL took charge, which was the death nell for whole British motor industry but that's another story.....
Best wishes,
Mike.