The TA, TB, TC, TD, TF and TF 1500 were all built in one place: MG's works at Abingdon-on-Thames, roughly ten miles south of Oxford. This page sets out what is reliably recorded about the site itself, how MG came to be there, what the plant meant while it was working, and how it ended. Model-by-model detail lives on the model pages, and chassis and engine records on production records.
A leather works, not a car factory
The buildings MG took over at Abingdon were not built for cars at all. They were the works of the Pavlova Leather Company, which had roughly doubled in size to meet the First World War demand for leather goods, erecting nine large buildings in the process. Once the war was over those buildings were surplus to the company's needs, and they were let out to other businesses.
Morris Garages was already one of those tenants. It had leased an unused part of the Pavlova works, with an option on the freehold, and was using it to store used cars. That existing foothold is the thread that leads to everything else.
The move from Oxford
By 1929 demand had outgrown MG's Oxford premises. Production had already worked its way through four progressively larger workshops in and around Oxford, and the next step meant leaving the city altogether. Cecil Kimber judged the Abingdon site the best solution for the expanding car business, despite the extensive renovations it needed; Syd Enever is credited with alerting Kimber to the site's potential in the first place. That account is set down by Brian Moylan in MG's Abingdon Factory.
The move took place over the final months of 1929. An inaugural luncheon was held on 20 January 1930, attended by William Morris, and the MG Car Company was formally incorporated as a limited company in July 1930.
What Abingdon meant
- Fifty years of sports cars. Abingdon was MG's home for around half a century, and every MG-badged sports car from the M-Type Midget onwards was built there.
- Around 1,400 people at its height. That figure comes from Jackie Smith, honorary archivist to Abingdon Town Council.
- A quiet, productive plant. Abingdon had a reputation as one of the most productive and least disruptive plants in the British Leyland empire.
- A club next door. The MG Car Club, established in 1930, has its headquarters at Kimber House beside the site.
The T-Series years
Between 1936 and 1955 the whole T-Series line came out of these buildings. The individual stories are told model by model:
For chassis and engine number records, and how to look a car up, see production records. For what the cars went on to do once they left the works, the competition history picks up the story.
The Pavlova sign
One small survivor of the leather company deserves a mention. The Pavlova sign, which had been fixed to a garage owned by the Pavlova Leather Company in the early to mid 1960s, later deteriorated in the garden at Kimber House and was restored in the years after 2005. The restoration was paid for by the T Register. The account of the restoration is published by the MG T Society at ttypes.org, and the credit for recording it belongs to them.
The closure
The decision to close Abingdon was made public on 10 September 1979. Midget production ended that year as activities were wound down, and the works closed on 24 October 1980. Michael Edwardes closed the plant. MG had not been placed in British Leyland's Specialist Cars Division, the grouping that protected Land Rover, Jaguar and Triumph from cost-saving programmes.
Jackie Smith, Abingdon Town Council's honorary archivist, has recorded that the town had celebrated the factory's fiftieth anniversary the weekend before the news came out, and that the closure was devastating locally at a time when work was hard to find. It is worth holding on to that. A factory closing is a line in a company history; in Abingdon it was a great many households at once.
As of 2003 the site was occupied by a McDonald's and Thames Valley Police, with only the former office block still standing.
Common questions
- Where were MG T-Types built?
- Every MG T-Type, from the 1936 TA to the last TF 1500 of 1955, was built at MG's factory at Abingdon-on-Thames, roughly ten miles south of Oxford. The site was originally the works of the Pavlova Leather Company.
- When did MG move to Abingdon?
- The move took place over the final months of 1929, after demand had outgrown MG's Oxford premises. An inaugural luncheon was held on 20 January 1930, attended by William Morris, and the MG Car Company was formally incorporated as a limited company in July 1930.
- Why did the Abingdon factory close?
- The decision was made public on 10 September 1979 and the works closed on 24 October 1980, under British Leyland chairman Michael Edwardes. MG had not been placed in British Leyland's Specialist Cars Division, which protected Land Rover, Jaguar and Triumph from cost-saving programmes.
- What is at the Abingdon site now?
- As of 2003 the site was occupied by a McDonald's and Thames Valley Police, with only the former office block still standing. The MG Car Club, established in 1930, has its headquarters at Kimber House next door to the site.
- How long was MG at Abingdon?
- Abingdon was MG's home for around fifty years, from the move at the end of 1929 to the closure of the works in October 1980. Every MG-badged sports car from the M-Type Midget onwards was built there.
Corrections and first-hand recollections of the works are welcome. If you worked at Abingdon, or hold documentation from it, please get in touch. Back to the history hub.