From this came the S-Series, a saloon or Tickford-bodied drophead coupe, which went on sale in 1936; the first SA had the 16hp 2.0-litre engine from the Wolseley Super Six, later enlarged to 2.3-litres (18hp) in an attempt to rival the new Jaguars, and cost from £375. It didn't sell in big numbers, so MG also introduced the V-Series, with four-cylinder 1550cc engine (12hp), which cost from £260. MG did go for another attempt at the upper-end car market, however, with its largest car yet: the WA of 1938 had a 20hp 2.6-litre engine and was priced at little more than the SA, from £295 for a bare chassis, £442 as a factory-built four-door saloon and £468 as a four-seater convertible.
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| 1939 TA Midget |
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More importantly, an all-new Midget, the TA, was launched in 1936. Larger and roomier than its predecessors, it had the 1.3-litre 10hp engine and cost £222. Contemporary road tests found a top speed of about 80mph, with 0-50mph acceleration in around 15 seconds. The TA came with a two-seater roadster body in standard form, but Carbodies also produced an Airline Coupe body, and Tickford a more comfort-oriented (and more expensive) Drophead Coupe. Lord agreed to a limited competition strategy to promote the new range, and works teams of three modified TAs each, the 'Cream Crackers' and 'Three Musketeers', successfully competed in trials and endurance events, with the Three Musketeers winning a 12-hour race at Donington. The Cream Cracker cars at first used the VA's 1.5-litre engine, later enlarged to 1.7-litres, and the Three Musketeers had the 1.3-litre engine with higher compression and superchargers. They were an excellent advertisement: in 1937, MG sold nearly 3000 cars, a record, and the TA alone went on to overwhelmingly outsell the PA and PB models.
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| 1939 MG VA 1.6-litre |
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By 1939, MG had made around 22,500 cars altogether - and set some more land speed records, with Goldie Gardner's EX135 reaching over 200mph. Just months before the outbreak of World War II, the TB was launched, with a new short-stroke 1250cc engine (11hp). It was hardly promoted, though - not least because under the RAC regulations, the more powerful engine incurred higher taxation - and just 379 were built before the factory was given over to wartime munitions production.
