As this issue of CCM goes to print, the MG Car Club is busy celebrating its 80th anniversary, making it one of the oldest one-make car clubs in the world. And with up to 125,000 MG-owning enthusiasts expected to take part in various events worldwide, the celebrations looks set to break all previous records.

A total of 80 groups affiliated to the MG Car Club will be arranging their own 80th birthday celebrations, with most of the UK-based events consisting of road runs throughout the individual MGCC regions. And overseas enthusiasts will also be out in force, with MGCC events planned in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong and much of Europe.

It’s all a far cry from the MG Car Club’s first tentative meeting back in October 1930, when around thirty MGs and their owners came together at the Roebuck Hotel, near Stevenage, to see if the idea of an MG club could be brought to fruition. This followed publication of a letter from a Mr Roy Marsh in The Light Car magazine the previous month, asking: ‘What about an MG car club?’

Since then, of course, the MG Car Club has become a major force in the classic car scene. So happy birthday to the MGCC – here’s to the next eighty years!