Cecil Kimber Day Celebration
By Russ Sifers, Kansas City MG Car Club

Cecil Kimber was born on April 12, 1888. Cecil became the sales manager in 1921 at Morris Garages which was a repair business owned by William Morris (later Lord Nuffield) who also owned Morris Motors, Ltd. which made family-style automobiles.

Kimber built sporting bodies on the Morris Motors chassis to promote the Lands End run. That car was later called “Old Number One.” Kimber had access to parts from Morris Garages as well as Morris Motors and other car companies, so building sporting cars began.


The M.G. Car Company was started in 1928 and moved to Abingdon, England in 1929 with Cecil Kimber as the managing director. The M Type Midget with a 850 cc engine was made that year. Cecil went on to make numerous race cars including the MG C, K3, Q, and R that won at Brooklands, LeMans, and Mille Miglia until William Morris decreed no more expensive racing. Kimber also built sporting cars including the MG D, F, J, L, N., and P and the even more popular MG TA in ’36 - ‘38 and MG TB in ’39. People could drive those cars during the week and race them on the weekend.


When World War II started, production of MGs stopped. Only 379 MG TBs were made. Cecil Kimber was killed in a train wreck on February 4, 1945 before WWII ended. He never saw the TC roll off the production line to become “The Sports Car America Loved First” after the war.

Many people who knew Cecil Kimber said he was a sports car purist. He knew that in order to sell the Morris Motors family-style cars, they needed winning race cars and popular sports cars to draw the attention of buyers. When William Morris decreed no more racing, Kimber “leased” cars to racers from the MG factory and quietly supported their efforts to win. We wanted MG sporting cars to go on, and they did. Thank you, Mr. Kimber.






Editor Note: Article reprinted from the newsletter of the Kansas City MG Car Club - Kansas City MG Post - Vol: 40 Issue: 3. Photos from Wikipedia.