ROUND 2: Z-TYPE MAGNETTE vs STANDARD VANGUARD

There is a long tradition in MG circles of the company introducing a new model to howls of complaint from traditionalists, only for those same traditionalists to come round eventually, recognise the new model’s merits and stop judging it in comparison with what went before. We'll see some more such models later in this feature for whom redemption has come arguably too late, but the Z-Type Magnette made the leap from 'not a proper MG' to a very desirable member of the family much more quickly because it was fundamentally such a good car.

Why the initial scepticism? Well, development of a successor to the Y-Type had been underway for some time and designer Gerald Palmer had come up with an Italianate monocoque body with far more modern styling and nicely flowing lines. This was originally destined to be an MG and have the