MG Car Club to build archive wing at Kimber House

The MG Car Club is to add a new archive wing to its Kimber House headquarters. The extension will boast state-of-the-art storage facilities for the club’s priceless collection of production records, photographs and artifacts and is due to open in March 2016.

The Wing is named in honour of former MG Car Club chairman and president, Bill Wallis. Bill joined the MGCC in the late 1940s and went on to found the Midlands Centre. Bill dedicated much of his life to the MG Car Club and is warmly remembered by many club members for his contribution to the club and the wider MG community.

Adam Sloman, a spokesman for the club, said, 'It was only natural for us to think of Bill when it came to naming the extension. So many people have fond memories of Bill and I think it’s a wonderful way to honour someone who did so much for the club.'

Much has changed at Kimber House since the club moved in to its iconic home, in the shadow of the MG works, back in 1990. Initially the MGCC occupied just number 12 Cemetery Road, however as the club grew, so has Kimber House.

Around the turn of the millenium, the club expanded to occupy number 11, and by 2010 the accommodation had grown further with a new garage block and the addition of the John Thornley Suite - a room that is regularly used by the club’s many registers and centres, as well as hosting an impressive selection of the club’s collection.

The new rooms will be used to store items like production records for MGs from the 1930s, through to unique items such as a coat owned by Cecil Kimber himself, the father of MG. With a continually growing collection, the club’s current archive is no longer fit-for-purpose, hence the new extension.