Classic British MG saloon speeds into Lakeland Motor Museum

There’s a new star on show at the Lakeland Motor Museum which experts say represents the last hurrah of the truly British mass production motor industry.

The twenty-one-year-old MG ZT 190 has been donated to the museum by a classic vehicle enthusiast from Folkstone in Kent, who spent years lovingly restoring the car to pristine condition.

The classic sports saloon with a V6 2.5 litre engine, was produced shortly after the Phoenix Consortium bought the Rover marque from BMW in 2000 and relaunched the company as MG Rover. The plan was to expand the MG range with sporting versions of existing Rover models. But it soon collapsed.

Experts say the MG ZT represents the final chapter of the last domestically owned mass production car manufacturer in the British motor industry.

To the former mechanical engineer who donated it to the museum it is quite simply “a Gentleman’s car” and a vehicle he had always wanted to own and drive.

“It’s absolutely blooming magic to drive,” says Paul Hancock, the car’s owner. He acquired it around eight years ago.

“I bumped into a bloke outside a shop who was in one and I told him I had always fancied getting one,” says Paul. “He told me he had two and that the one he was in was for sale! I just snapped it up!”

The car, first registered in 2002, cost Paul £650 to buy but over the coming months and years he’s spent around £4,600 to do the vehicle up and make it the great example now on show at the museum.

It now has a Rover 75’s green leather, heated seats and a chrome side trim instead of the original ZT’s cloth seats and body coloured trim. Paul also added a ram-air intake system to improve engine performance, high performance brakes and other mechanical and cosmetic changes that made the car a big hit at classic shows.

““I’ve always had an interest in doing cars and motorbikes up,” explains Paul who is 77 years old and retired. “My first project was when I was 12 years old. I rebuilt a Cyclemaster engine with a friend of mine. They were made to motorise bikes. We put it on a tandem and had a lot of fun with it!”

As much as he loved the MG ZT he was finding it increasingly difficult, because of ill health, to keep looking after it.

“After all the effort I put in I didn’t want to sell it on to someone who would run it ragged and undo all the work I had done to get it in this condition – so I thought it would be lovely to see it looked after by a museum.

“I contacted the Lakeland Motor Museum and they jumped at it. It’s great to know it will now be looked after and that lots of people will enjoy seeing it.”

Chris Lowe, Curator at the Lakeland Motor Museum, says: “We are delighted to add the MG ZT to our collection of classic vehicles and I’m sure out visitors will love seeing it. It’s a car that harks back to another era and it marked a turning point in British motoring history. We want to thank Paul for generously allowing us to put the vehicle on display at the museum.”

The MG ZT joins a collection of over 140 classic cars and motorbikes at the museum in Backbarrow, Cumbria. It also has thousands more exhibits of automobilia, historical displays and a riverside café. Nestled in the scenic Leven Valley and open seven days a week, the Museum is about more than just cars. The entire collection is presented in a social context, with a host of rarities to awaken some special motoring memories. Find out more by visiting www.lakelandmotormuseum.co.uk/