By actively taking part in races and rallies ourselves and stimulating our customers to use their cars as often as possible since, after all, M.G.s are particularly good at that, we know from first hand experience what goes on in a driver’s mind. Which bits of a car could do with improving, which parts lack in durability and how cars should be able to participate in every day traffic and need to be adjusted accordingly. In short, how we can make our cars, regardless of their age, more reliable.
During the 50 years in which the MG Workshop has been operating, lots has changed. Was a pair of panty hoses once good enough to substitute a fan belt and was it okay for your doors to fall apart, your seat covers to be torn or the shock absorbers to not handle shocks very well, simply because there were no replacement parts available, these days, with our cars no longer just old but ‘classics’, people have come to expect a bit more. Despite the fact that quite a number of our customers use their cars as daily drivers, quite a few others use theirs in a different manner altogether: the tiniest irregularity or scratch or broken bulb can be of the utmost importance to some owners. With time a driver’s expectations have changed too: for whatever reason, people can no longer afford to get stranded. With plenty of good quality parts available, we can indeed postpone the cars’ aging process and make them better fit for today’s traffic. They will never compare favourably with moderns though, unless we’re talking about pleasure in driving of course in which case we think M.G.s win!
The challenge that lies before us is to convert, change and adept the 40 plus years ago engineered bits on our cars to make them more reliable and comfortable yet not to compromise on authenticity. When working on our customers’ cars, we constantly keep in mind that they knew exactly what they were doing back then at the Works, or, as Bart taught us: ‘never underestimate the skill of the Abingdon workers.’ Whatever the job, we aim to deliver quality work.