Kind Words by John Kimber and others.
Cecil Kimber founded the MG car company in 1928 having previously worked for AC cars and the Sheffield Simplex company. Within 20 years, the MG cars had gained a worldwide reputation for affordable performance and race-winning reliability.
Cecil Kimber with ‘Old Number One’, thought to be the very first MG.
John Kimber
From the early days of the Nagara project, Cecil Kimber’s grandson, John Kimber, has taken a keen interest. John has wide interests in design, architecture, classic boats and, of course, classic cars and the MG marque in particular.
John Kimber studies some early sketches of the Nagara Midget
John said.
“I am most impressed by the Nagara Midget project. Nick Nakorn’s design-flair gives the prototype an elegance that reminds me of my Grandfather’s classic ‘airline coupes’ of the early 1930s – a vast improvement on the original 1960s Midget hard-tops – while his ingenious and painstaking attention to the engineering-details promises some innovative refinements to ride and performance.”
Nick Nakorn and John Kimber at Nagara Automotive in 2016
Robin Kimber looks into the prototype, still wearing it’s buck, in 2016
Since then, John and his son Robin, have visited the workshop several times. It’s been a delight to be able to chat to John and Robin about the project and their interest has been extremely encouraging. As many micro-business, self employed, sole traders will know, it’s not easy to keep projects going on a low income when one is under-capitalised and dealing with health issues. Projects move slowly and I’m hugely grateful to all who have helped me maintain progress.
Douglas Anderson
Another person of note who has taken a keen interest in the project is Douglas Anderson. Douglas is a respected motoring journalist, author and the Director of the Rallye Monte-Carlo Classique, one of the departure points for the rally being in Glasgow, Scotland. I can thoroughly recommend Douglas’s excellent new book Depart D’Ecosse with a foreword by UK rally legend Paddy Hopkirk.
Douglas is also launching his own MG Midget variant, the ADO sports racer, later this year in mid December. As our projects have so much in common, we have kept in touch and Douglas came down from Scotland to my workshop in Devon to go for a ride in the Nagara prototype. He said:
“The Nagara MG Midget is a well thought out and executed vehicle. Having had a test drive, I can vouch for its outstanding handling and comfort which is superior to the standard MG Midget. The rear suspension in particular is well engineered and has been thoroughly tested. I hope Nick will put it into production as it is a clear winner. I intend to make this an addition to my Midget.”
Douglas Anderson’s ADO prototype in aluminium.
The Nagara V.V. Rear Suspension system for the MG Midget.
The Media
The Nagara MG 1500 Continental Prototype has also been featured in two magazines!
Practical Classics
Practical Classics, February 2019, page 162
Huge thanks to the Editor of Practical Classics, Danny Hopkins, for the feature - some of the details are not quite correct but there were a lot of people at the Moretonhampstead Motor Museum on that day so time was very, very short. The Practical Classics team were on their amazing annual tour of then UK and I was lucky enough to meet them at the Museum.
TKC Track Kit and Custom
I was so chuffed to have a 3-page spread in TKC and my huge thanks to Editor Steve Hole and photographer Carol Hardy for travelling all the way to Devon from East Sussex. It was a pleasure to meet them and we spent a long time in conversation about different aspects of the car.
Well, that’s all for now. Let me know what you think in the comments below and please do feel free to like and share this as well as my Youtube channel. P.S. A wonderful chap called, I think, Diz sent me a batch of photos he took at the Exmouth Show last year but I’ve lost his e-mail and contact address. If you see this Diz, get in touch and thank you!
Stay Tuned,
Nick
Nagara 1500 Continental prototype at the Exmouth Show - photo by Diz ?