M.G. FUNERAL

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33094, 8 December 1972, Page 16

M.G. FUNERAL

M.G. sports-cars will no longer be made in Australia. When the last M.G.B. came off the line there last month, it was accorded a “funeral procession” to mark the model’s Australian demise. More than 9000 M.G.B.s have been made in Australia. The decision to stop production is a result of Australian Government requirements for the local content of the car to be increased from its present 45 per cent to 85 per cent. The last M.G.B. came off the production line — which built them at the rate of three a day — draped in black cloth, and was met by an “undertaker” in black top-hat and tails. The procession then made its way sombrely to the plant’s main showroom, accompanied by many M.G. enthusiasts, including one

Cabinet Minister and several racing-drivers who started their careers in M.G.s. Leyland Australia will continue to carry parts for the cars, but will not import new vehicles from Britain, where production of the model continues. The M.G.B. is now the most popular sports-car ever made, almost 300,000 of the models having been made. About half of them have been exported from Britain to the United States.