Mysterious MG

Sitting re-writing this page in 2011 brought back many memories of the investigative nature I took on in 2005 when this article was first published. Looking back now people still doubted my conclusion to the rumblings of what this vehicle was. However, to this day, I still stand by my thoughts - and to this extent I have added more detail for you to consider.

Who needs Scooby Doo, and the mystery machine... when you've got this MG?

I first heard that an ADO16 taxi had been made in 2000. The story goes that BMC built a batch of, proper, three door cars to be used as taxi's in the big cities. There were two doors on the passenger side and only one on the drivers side, so that only the driver would ever step out into the middle of the road.

Obviously, being interested in the ADO16, I was keen to find out more but enquiries at that time were drawing blanks. Perhaps the thing that interested me the most was why BMC would want to make a medium sized family car into a taxi. After all, FX4's were much larger and still made by the group at this point. I did manage to find out that a batch of FX4 taxi's had indeed been produced with no passenger door that opened into the road - but they were only ever prototypes and never progressed into full production.

Finally, after a five year wait the MG arrived in Derbyshire.

Certainly looks the real deal, doesn't it? There is nothing that would make you think otherwise at a quick glance. There's a standard two door aperture on the drivers side, and a normal four door aperture on the passenger side.

Why are there so many different colours going on? The floor pan appears to be white, the roof and front wing appears primed, while the back panel again is white. Maybe it's an unfinished restoration project?

So, why are there some many dents in the back part of the roof? What's with the very professional looking repair on the heelboard?

The drivers side floor pan has also been replaced using the same techniques as the heelboard... I'm beginning to sense something very suspicious about this car. The inner sill on the N/S has also been replaced using the same very professional looking repair.

Now, I know that BMC/BL build quality left a lot to be desired from time to time, but the join adjacent to where the back window seal fits looks terrible.

So... having carried out my research to it's fullest extent. I believe the car had (for a period of time) been a practice vehicle in a technical college. That explains a few things, doesn't it? The car had in fact started out life as a four door and had been transformed into it's present form to show students how to replace panels. This also explains a number of the repairs present throughout the vehicle, and indeed the manner in which they have been completed.

Why, if it wasn't for you meddling Webmaster - we might just have gotten away with it!!