Few initials have such worldwide recognition as “MG.” Initially standing for Morris Garages, the place where Cecil Kimber transformed ordinary Morris cars into sporting machinery, they have become virtually synonymous with “sports car.”

Light two-seater bodies and modified suspension made the cars nimble, and a racing program in the 1930s spread their fame. MGs won 37 major events in five years and set a number of records, among them the first 750-cc car to break 120 mph and the first 1,100-cc vehicle to top 120.

The first of the T-type MGs arrived in 1936, the 1,292-cc, pushrod engine TA. It set the style for the next 20 years, with deep-cutout doors and a slab-shaped petrol tank at the rear. The shorter stroke but more powerful 1,250-cc XPAG engine debuted with the TB in 1939.

MG’s post-war return came at the 1945 London Motor Show, with the new TC, wider and heavier than the TB but in the same idiom. It has long been legend that returning GIs gave Americans their first glimpse of the MG. In fact, a few pre-war models had been imported by followers of the nascent motor sports movement, but that enthusiasm, combined with regular imports of the new TC, cemented MG’s reputation in the United States as the sports car of choice.

Chassis TC/6766 was completed during the month of October 1948. For some years it has been the personal car of Jim Hall, well-known racing driver and partner with Hap Sharp in Chaparral Cars, and is being offered from his collection. The archetypal British sports car, it has the patina of respectable age. Painted Old English White, it has black pleated leather seating, the latter showing use but no abuse. The car runs and drives well, and will provide much pleasure to a new owner, not to mention the celebrity provenance.

An excellent example of the car that sowed the seeds of sports car passion in post-war America, it represents a chance to acquire one of the favorite originals.