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The year is 1947 and visitors to the Earls Court Motor Show are presented with a ‘brilliant new Member of the famous MG breed’. Yes, the Y saloon ‘perpetuates the outstanding characteristics of its successful predecessors - virile acceleration, remarkable “road manner”, instant response to controls, and superb braking’. Moreover, one motoring journalist thought the latest MG ‘achieved the perfect compromise between the racing-bred sports car and the stylish, family saloon’.

Abingdon commenced plans for the Y-Type in 1937 as the replacement for their 1 ½ litre VA. Their latest saloon was to be based on the M-Type Morris Ten, although the MG version was to sport rack & pinion steering and independent front suspension.  Nuffield planned to launch the Y saloon at the 1939 London Motor Show, but after the Second World War, the format changed to a Morris Eight Series E-based saloon.  

MG introduced the Y saloon in May 1947, and most enthusiasts would have been familiar with the 1,250cc engine, which produced a top speed a shade under 70mph with 0-60 in 30 seconds. For £670 including tax, the owner took delivery of a car with a sliding roof, adjustable steering, leather upholstery, a sliding roof, rear window blinds and the ‘Jackall’ hydraulic jacking system

A well-heeled motorist might also have considered putting their name on the waiting list (this was the “Export or Die” era) for the Jowett Javelin, the Sunbeam-Talbot 80 or even the more expensive Riley RMA. However, the appeal of the MG was obvious. Autocar thought the Y ‘will call to the man who enjoys performance, but wants it plus saloon comfort and silence, and still with economy’, which conjures images of Nigel Patrick or Kenneth More.

In 1951 MG updated the Y as the “YB”, which featured improved suspension and brakes plus smaller wheels. Two years later Motor Sport stated, ‘there should be a ready market for this inexpensive saloon amongst those who seek a tailor-made vintage car, the tradition of which is painted by such item as the external radiator filler and the undisguised lamps and radiator’. Production ceased the year when Abington introduced the Magnette ZA.  It was a development which marked a sea-change in MG’s identity.

That the ZA shared its Gerald Palmer lines with the Wolseley 4/44 was not entirely unexpected but under the bonnet lay the BMC B-Series 1.5-litre engine. It is interesting to speculate how MG’s saloon range might have developed had the 1952 creation of the British Motor Corporation not taken place. By that time, the YB appeared quite isolated within the Nuffield line-up. Four years earlier the Morris and Wolseley range had adopted entirely new styling while the MG saloon remained almost defiantly pre-war.

And when looking at the Y’s separate running boards, the opening windscreen and the upright radiator grille, it is almost impossible to believe that the last example left Abingdon just five years before the opening of Britain’s first motorway. The last of the “traditional” MG saloons belongs to an era when advertisements boasted that here was a car ‘For those who are men about town and boys about speed’.

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We have links with some of the top classic car clubs around the country and some of our policies even offer discounts of up to 25% for club members.

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