MG AIRLINE COUPÉ - MG AIRLINE COUPÉ - Ain't She Cute

By Steve Purdy
Detroit Bureau

I nearly missed the most spectacular car at this summer’s University Motors Summer Party and Reunion. More than five hundred MGs from all over the country came to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the resurrection of this climbs, endurance events and other “trials” that were in vogue traditional gathering of MG enthusiasts after a 5-year hiatus due to organizer John Twist’s ill health. Neatly lined up row after row by model - the TCs together, the TDs, the As, the Bs, the featured Twin-Cams – the cars and the people who love them celebrated over 50 years of the British marque. Twist is recognized as the Midwest’s premier MG guru and a first rate character. By the way, he’s fine now. He and his wife Caroline Robinson run University Motors, Ltd. in Ada, Michigan, one of only two Heritage Approved (officially sanctioned by the holder of the logos and trademarks of the retired BMC marques) workshops in the USA.

At the far end of the front row, along with the really old MGs, Emmanuel “Lou” Louchios’ rich, deep red, two-tone 1935 MG Airline Coupé, gleamed in the intense sun looking a bit like a British classic with a French accent. The swoopy tail and flowing lines along with dramatic design details made it stand out from the crowd - even this crowd of lovely old cars. Louchios was demonstrating the flip-out “trafficators” (mechanical turn signals) and a couple of guys were admiring the authentic “John Bull” tires purchased in England for the car in 1971. Standing by the car holding court for a swarm of admirers was Lew Palmer, keeper of the Airline Coupé Register and expert on the car. Both seemed gratified at the attention the little car was enjoying.

Cecil Kimber, general manager of Morris Garages in the early 1920s, built what were called “trials specials”, created the MG marque in the 1920s. Today we would call them hot rods. That is, he modified ordinary cars to enhance performance making them more competitive in the hill in the early days of automobiles in Britain. The first real MG emerged from the garage in 1925 as a pure competition car just in time to earn the gold at the legendary Land’s End Trial. Then in 1928 Kimber took an engineless prototype to the London Motor Show to see if anyone would salute. Many did, and the rest is history.

The M-Type Midget came along in 1929 and the J-Type in ’32. These were small, nimble, stylish cars for their time appealing to the more sporting class of automobilists. In 1934 the PA and in 1935 the PB models of the Midget evolved. In the late 1936 the MG T-Series cars emerged, the later versions of which are credited with charming American GIs of post-WWII with British style sports cars. They brought them across the pond to the US triggering a trend that spawned road racing and sports car lust throughout the USA.

The single-overhead-cam 4 and 6-cylinder MGs built from 1929 through 1936 were the Midget, Magna and Magnette. The latter two were the 6-cylinder cars. The strong little engine was based on a Hispano Suiza aircraft engine design. During that period of time MG “won more motoring competitions of all sorts than any other marque,” according to the MG Register. “[The engines are] marked by a unique vertical dynamo/bevel gear cam-drive train, range from 746cc to 1271cc, and were born to be blown by the Centric, Powerplus, Zoller, and Marshall superchargers of the day.”

Of the 11,500 MMM cars built from 1934 to 1936, 51 Airline Coupes were built. Only the last – a 1936 TA – was not of the MMM ilk. There were 28 on the PA chassis, 14 on the PB, 7 N-Types on both the NA and NB chassis, and 1 on the TA chassis. “That only adds up to only 50,” you say? Well, the official number includes a second TA Airline Coupé rumored to have been made, but never confirmed.

H.W. Allingham, who was the sales manager for Chalmer & Hoyer Coachbuilders in the early 20s, designed the graceful, long-nosed, short-tailed, special-bodied MG Airline Coupé. C&H pioneered jigging for wood frames and later under a different name made bus bodies and bodies for the Wolseley Hornet, Austin 7s and other MGs. Allingham was not an engineer, a mechanic or even a body builder, rather, he was a successful independent designer with offices in London. His credits include the Vauxhall Airline Coupé, Stratford Tourer, Rover Six Drophead, Jaguar Airline Coupé, HRG Airline Coupé and Vauxhall Coupé de Ville.

The bodies were mostly built by Carbodies, with some by Whittingham & Mitchell. About half the Airline Coupés are still known to exist. The search continues for the others.

The headline of a feature article in Road & Track magazine, August 1970 caught the eye of young Emmanuel “Lou” Louchios of suburban Chicago. It read: “1935 MG PA Airline Coupé – Was this the most beautiful MG of all time?” A full-page photo of a sleek and sexy, wire-wheeled, swoopy sports car in a lovely park setting illustrated the headline page and another seductive shot of the Coupé on a leafy fall trail suggested a back road drive. The article by legendary writer and sports car authority Strother MacMinn went on to chronicle the history of the MG marque and the unique Airline Coupé. Lou was smitten. He was already a consummate British car enthusiast with Triumphs and MGs in his garage, including 2 PA Roadsters. But there was something really special about the Airline Coupé.

Prophetically, in the classified section of the magazine that same issue, there was a ’35 MG Airline Coupé for sale, Chassis #PA1811. Destiny won out. Louchios bought it and has now had it for over 30 years. It was mostly stored from the time Lou got married in 1975 until retirement from his day job as a civil engineer about three years ago. Now, after a major restoration begun less than two years ago, , it is the only car in his collection. About half of the restoration work was done by Louchios himself. The freshened Coupé has twice won “Best of Show” honors this year, first at the above reported University Motors show in Grand Rapids and two months later at the 400-car British Car Festival in Palos Hills, Illinois.

Though mighty beautiful the Airline Coupé is not a luxurious drive. Two people of even modest size will be shoulder-to-shoulder across the minimal cabin. The back seat, or perhaps ‘jump-seat’ is more accurate, might accommodate a couple of toddlers or a medium-sized dog. The 4-speed transmission is not synchronized so great finesse is required to run through the gears. But, of course, the mechanical feel and close connection between driver, road and machine is felt intensely in this pure sporting car.

We don’t know what the coefficient of drag might be but the original sales brochure proclaims that “These new Airline Coupe bodies . . . are designed on aerodynamic principles, and the body lines are the outcome of numerous wind tunnel experiments, resulting in much higher efficiency and an increase of performance on the road, with lower running costs and petrol consumption.” The brochure goes on to tout a framework of “selected and seasoned ash with narrow steel screen pillars”, “Hand-beaten aluminium panels . . . wherever possible”, a “well louvered bonnet for cooling”, and “two ample sized pneumatic bucket seats . . . upholstered in leather.” The interior is finished in polished solid walnut, including the instrument panel. The bodies, of course, were hand built with few exactly alike. They were built in small batches, sometimes one at a time. The mix of steel and aluminum was not consistent, depending apparently on availability, whim or perhaps other factors.

Certainly an up-scale sports car for its time the MG Airline Coupe’s most unique feature is the sliding roof with three distinctive cathedral-style windows. These windows on Louchios’ car had been cobbled shut and covered over. One of his first projects was to renew this classy feature with fresh trim and new plexi-glass.

Louchios nearly sold the car a few years ago to an enthusiast who wanted the car very badly. We can only imagine the price offered but since that was not shared we can only imagine. What the car is worth today is anyone’s guess.

MG’s goal in those early years, according to MacMinn “was to design and build accurately responsive sports cars suitable for both daily use and competitive events and to sell them at modest prices.” Most sports car lovers would agree that the British marque did a pretty good job of pursuing that goal, at least by 1930s standards. Most car lovers today, even sports car lovers of the purist persuasion, would be hard pressed to use it for a long drive, as a daily driver or in serious competition. But for its day the Airline Coupé was an exciting ride.

Find the MG Airline Coupé Register at www.roundaboutmanor.com/Airline.
Visit John Twist and University Motors in Ada, Michigan at www.universitymotorsltd.com.
Or visit a comprehensive MG website at www.mgcars.org.uk.