MG CENTURY: 100 Years—Safety Fast!, The Big Gift for your gear/petrolhead giftee

MG CENTURY: 100 Years—Safety Fast!
DAVID KNOWLES
Motorbooks International
$60.00 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Celebrate and explore 100 years of MG cars with this impressive volume featuring expert commentary, historical images, period ads, and contemporary photography. MG Century, authored by marque expert David Knowles, offers a complete and richly illustrated history covering the evolution of this storied British car company.

For many car enthusiasts, MG is synonymous with “sports car.” It is often credited with igniting a passion for European cars in postwar America at a time when roads were otherwise filled with the lumbering output of Detroit. In MG’s native England, the company’s cars filled roles from family transport to competition driving.

MG, as we think of it today, began in the 1920s, but its roots go back even further with a young William Morris. Initially working in the booming bicycle trade, he eventually branched into motorcycle and car repair with the fledgling Morris Garage (hence, MG) in 1907. By the mid 1920s, the successful Morris Garages was in a position to begin manufacture of its own cars under the MG name.

MG grew significantly in the years before World War II, building and racing its classic Midgets and Magnettes. World War II provided challenging times for the company as it did for the UK and much of the world. In the postwar period, a focus on sales outside England, and particularly in the United States, both defined MG’s product line and ensured its success. Legendary cars followed, including MG TC, TD, and TF followed by thoroughly modern MGA, MGB, MGB GT, and Midget. Magnettes and the 1100 offered options for those wanting sedans and more practical cars.

MG ownership moved through a number of UK companies in the postwar period as well as ownership by BMW and today’s SAIC, a Chinese-based company through which it operates as MG Motor. Highlights along the way included the MGB GT V8, MG Metro Group B rally car, and MGF. Based on its latest state-of-the-art EV platform, MG will soon launch an all-new roadster coming full circle over its century in business.

Authored by marque expert David Knowles, MG Century: 100 Years of Safety Fast! is a fitting celebration of one of the automotive world’s oldest and most beloved brands—and a must-have for every car enthusiast.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Who's your gear/petrolhead giftee? Who loves to drool over Hagerty's Barn Finds on YouTube while hatin' on everyone with a barn to find stuff like an MGB-GT in? Here's us all a book. My father's older brother collected cars. I got to go ride in his 1932 Dual-Cowl Deusenberg! His 1933 Pierce-Arrow, too! He lived in Southern California, was born during World War I, and so had the basic obscene good luck to be in the right place at the right time to get in on those marvies. These cars, especially the MGB (an older friend had one and gave me rides in it...bliss) were around in my childhood, so were available when I was the age at which my uncle began collecting cars...and I never bothered. ::headdesk::

The Table of Contents will show you the gorgeous machines I missed out on, as well as the organizing principle of the entire read. The spreads are a plan view, so to speak, for the design of the text and the images in juxtaposition.


The following images are the presentation view...the way the book will look to your giftee sitting there in a happily absorbed reader/viewer's lap:

I don't show you every beautiful book I'm offered because, sometimes, they have poorly written, or factually incorrect to my own knowledge, text, or boring design, or I just can't think of anyone I'd buy one for. Not the case here...I learned new things from Author Knowles' involving storytelling, and not a fact was out of place to my knowledge.

If I didn't already have one, I'd put this as my big ask to Santa. You might know someone who'd love it too. Great gift to give.