Posters: A to Y Z & MGA Montage Midget MGB Metro 6R4 Postcards: MG Mini Austin Land Rover Triumph Morgan Ford
Splat! MGB GT V8 MGF and Advertising Heritage MG ZR ZS & ZT 2002 MG XPower SV MG vs BMW

The one that (didn't) got away

(apologies for the grammar)
also "Citroën hoisted with their own hot air balloon" (see below)

For a television ad campaign for North America the agency had the idea of pushing an MGB with a parachute out of an airplane to rescue our hero, stuck on the desert floor below, from his enemies. Our hero would jump into the MGB and drive it off the pallet and leave everyone else eating his dust.

There was a bit of a problem with the first take - the parachute failed to open with this result. Happily the next take was OK and the hero really did drive off in the car that came out of the plane.

Click this link to see the finished ad. from Skye Poir's 'MGB Experience'.

Citroën's claims are hot air

Recent claims by Citroën to have set a new record at 1 067 metres for the world's highest flying car, their new C3 Pluriel, were thwarted by MG.

MG historian David Knowles brought it to their attention that a MG had been almost twice as high... 25 years ago.

From the text of his book - The MGB - it records that in late 1978, as the 1979 model year MGB made its appearance, the wide open theme remained, but the special gimmick this time was a giant red hot-air balloon.

The MGB had been converted to a gondola, with steel bars welded to the front and rear of the body, which allowed the car to be suspended precariously beneath the balloon on four steel cables.

A propane gas cylinder was installed in the boot, while the "burn" controls were in the car interior.

The ensemble - which the company had to register with the Federal Aviation Authority as an "experimental aircraft" - was flown to 1,981 metres as part of another bold thirty second television advertisement, breaking the record for the heaviest lift by a hot-air balloon in the process.

Citroën must be feeling somewhat deflated, having issued communications about their assumed success.