MG’s Abingdon Factory

This book is a pictorial study of the workers who built the legendary line of MG sports cars. With over 160 period photos depicting factory life, car building, and the war effort, this is a fascinating story. The demand for these fiery little cars exploded, eventually pushing to a massive facility outside of Abingdon. The factory included everything needed to build the vehicles, as well as soccer and cricket fields, a pool hall, and a hockey rink. The facility even had its own volunteer fire department, it was so well developed.

MG Abingdon’s famous racing reputation gained in the 1930s made it the obvious place to site BMC’s Competition department with its maiden venture the 1955 Le Mans 24 hour race.

The many original pictures in this book chronicle every aspect of the factory, from its opening amidst great euphoria in 1930 to its closing amidst great recriminations in 1980.