The year is 1995 and MG has just announced a new, two-seat sports car that has all the hallmarks of a Mazda MX-5 beater. Looks by Gerry McGovern (now head of design at Jaguar Land Rover), a rorty K-Series engine behind the cabin and power to the rear axle sounded like a recipe for guaranteed sales - which it was. Granted, it wasn’t able to reclaim the budget sports car crown from the MX-5, but the fact MG shifted over 77,000 examples proves it did at least give Mazda a run for its money.
Back to the present and the MG F is now one of the cheapest ways to get your hands on something mid-engined, fun and topless, especially compared with an original NA MX-5. And just like its Japanese nemesis, there’s a whole bunch of factory specials. The Trophy was the quickest one offered from factory, with 160hp on tap and a lowered suspension setup, though MG Rover had mulled the idea of a supercharged version with the windscreen-less Super Sports concept. It probably never had a chance of making it to production, but it was the bolt of inspiration the aftermarket was looking for, as proven by this bonkers MG F Cheetah.
Cobbled together by SP Performance, an MG dealer-turned-tuner, the Cheetah was supposedly a response to MGF customers demanding more grunt - and more noise - from their dinky roadster. Apparently, SP had neither the means nor the know-how to make its own components, so it amassed a team of top tuners to do its bidding. The first being Turbo Technics, which developed a bespoke Rotrex Supercharger that would bolt onto the existing 1.8-litre engine alongside a new ECU to manage the air and fuel mixture. Then, the company enlisted Milltek to come up with a fruitier exhaust to unlock a bit more noise. The whole package brought peak output up to a nice round 200hp, which, in something as diminutive as an MGF, must be fairly amusing.
Now with nearly 40 per cent more power, attention turned to upgrading the chassis. The standard Hydragas suspension was replaced with competition-grade springs and dampers used in the French MG F Trophy series, while the brakes were uprated (albeit lightly) with Mintex pads. Brakes aside, the Cheetah was a comprehensive upgrade over the standard car and came with a suitably scaled-up price tag to go with it. SP sold the Cheetah for just shy of £30k in the late '90s, which is almost double the going rate for an entry-level MG F. Yowch.
What you didn’t get, however, is the bodykit you see on the car destined to go under the PH auction hammer. Admittedly, it does appear quite aggressive and those skirts probably aren't going to make friends with your local sleeping policeman - but it’s pretty smart when paired up with the 17-inch Superlite alloys it’s currently wearing. More curious is the Mini Cooper S side vents on the front wings, though presumably any of the modifications can be reverted to normal if you wish. Well, except maybe the interior. And frankly, where's the fun it that anyway?
Either way, it’s a 39k-mile car that has clearly been the pride and joy of its one and only owner. That’s very little info on production numbers, but it's certainly believable that fewer than 10 were ever built, given the sky-high cost of entry. We’ll find out how much it’s worth in 2025 when the auction kicks off next Thursday, but it'll surely be gold dust for someone after the MG equivalent of a BBR-tuned MX-5.
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