The first MG sports car, now known as Old Number One, was quite a crudely built affair that lacked power and was reported to have been fitted with appalling brakes. Designed and built by MG’s general manager at the time, Cecil Kimber, the car had a top speed of around 70mph and really was great fun to drive. The car is still in existence today and is tipped to be worth well over 250,000 pounds. It had a bespoke chassis, into which was fitted an overhead valve Hotchkiss 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine that produced around 38bhp. Morris axles and brakes were used, special springs made, and racy Hartford friction dampers fitted at the rear. Carbodies of Coventry built the two-seater bodywork, with its skimpy mudguards and very poor lighting. Two small lamps were mounted above the twin spare wheels (one on each side of the body) and a single glow-worm lamp at the back.

The cut down bodywork gave the old car a racy appearance. When driven it made a sweet throaty rasp under acceleration and a staccato backfire when lifting off the throttle. This was a car built by Kimber for hill climb trials, and although not particularly powerful it did provide the driver with total car involvement.

What is fascinating is that the car had a split braking system, not in the same sense as modern vehicles where dual circuits are installed for safety reasons, but with a foot brake operating on the front wheels whilst a hand operated lever applied brakes to the rear wheels. Quite a juggling act to stop the thing in a hurry.

In the 1920s, a good driver was constantly alert to the machine, so the car had attractive silver-faced Smiths dials to monitor fuel and oil pressure, engine revs, road speed and the condition of the electrical system. The water temperature gauge is a glorified thermometer, a "Boyce Motometer" set on the radiator cap. Other controls in the cabin include a fuel pressure pump, a lever for ignition advance and retard, and a fuel mixture dial, vital for starting in cold weather.

In 1925 Kimber helped to bring the MG name to the attention of the motoring public with a faultless performance in the Land's End Trial, a premier sporting event organised by the Motor Cycling Club, and a test of performance and durability that started in Slough and finished at Land's End. Kimber produced the car specifically for the event.

After Kimber had finished with it, he sold the car to a friend in Lancashire, but it returned home to MG in the early 1930s after allegedly being found on a scrap heap in Manchester. It has been in the care of MG's owners ever since.

Ever since the company was born it was known for using unlikely components from the parts bin of other vehicles, assembling them into lively, good looking sports cars. Nevertheless, this was the beginning of the MG legend.