Sweet SMISS Style

The ultimate pre-war MG wasn’t a sports car but an ultra-rare, long lost drophead coupé designed to entice Bentley customers. Peter Tomalin drives a stunning recreation

'A car for those who can choose from the world's best, irrespective of price consideration. Quite a mission statement from the marketing johnnies at the MG Car Company. And there was more. A well-tested machine, capable of a performance as fast as anything on the road, much safer than most, outstanding in appearance, supremely reliable and unequalled in value. The brochure for the new 2.6 Litre model certainly wasn't stinting on the superlatives. But then this wasn't your regular MG.

Think pre-war MG and for most of us a diminutive sports car comes to mind, most likely an early Midget: long of bonnet, narrow of body, two bucket seats, rorty fourcylinder engine, slab fuel tank and spare wheel strapped on the back; uncomplicated, unsophisticated and unadulterated fun. Such cars were, of course, hugely successful in their day.

But sales tailed off during the Depression, and, following MG's merger with Morris Motors in 1935, the new management moved to take the marque upmarket and appeal to 'old money, which meant taking on the likes of Bentley and Lagonda - and undercutting them.

The first fruit of this new policy was the 2 Litre today generally referred to as the SA - launched as a handsome four-door saloon at the 1935 Earls Court Motor Show with an extremely attractive list price of £375. The bodywork was penned by James Wignall of Mulliner and very much aped the Bentleys of the day. Underneath, cost savings meant taking components from other parts of the Morris group, so the SA was based on a Wolseley chassis and powered by a well-proven 2.0-litre pushrod straight-six, also of Wolseley origin though fitted with bespoke camshaft and carburettors for its MG application.