Geograph - photograph every grid square

Panel 8 was sponsored by Agito Transport Planning Consultancy and designed with pupils at Broadstone Hall Primary School - Heaton Chapel. It features Cecil Kimber.

Former resident of Shaw Road, Cecil Kimber was the man behind the iconic MG Sports Car. He was born in 1888 in south London during a time when the world had just discovered the combustion engine and people were realising its possibilities. His main interest was motor bicycles and he bought his first in 1906 aged 18 but he switched to cars and four wheels after a bad accident.

In 1914 following a family dispute, Cecil left the family printing business in Manchester and pursued a career in motor engineering.

In 1919 he met Frank Woollard who later helped Cecil establish the MG car. Two years after joining Morris Garages as sales manager in 1922, he launched the first four-door saloon, built on the chassis of the Morris Oxford.

Tragically Cecil died in a train crash in 1945, but the MG sports car flourished with a number of pure racing models winning countless successes on race circuits.