Jim Jarron's Motoring Pages

Both the Wolseley 4/44 and the MG Magnette were designed by Gerald Palmer. Palmer worked for Nuffield before the war, in particular on the car which, after World War II, was released as the MG Y-type.

Palmer left Nuffield in 1942 to work for Jowett in Yorkshire to design their new post-war car, the Javelin. He returned to Cowley in 1949 and was involved in the development of a new range of Wolseley, MG and Riley saloons. He developed two basic designs, a medium sized car (the MG Magnette and Wolseley 4/44) and a larger car (the Riley Pathfinder and Wolseley 6/90). The designs showed the influence of contemporary Italian styling, in particular a Lancia Aprilia with special bodywork by Pinin Farina.

The medium sized cars were to replace the MG YB, with its pre-war body style and XPAG 1250cc engine; the Riley 1½-litre, an elegant if old fashioned looking car with a wood framed body and a unique Riley engine and the Wolseley 4/50. The new cars were designed with unitary construction bodywork.

As it was intended to be a sports saloon, the MG was two inches lower than the Wolseley, to give it a more sporting appearance. As a result, the two cars, although they looked similar, shared very few body panels.

The 4/44 was the last Nuffield car to use the 1250cc XP Engine (as used in the MG YB). This engine was discontinued shortly after the introduction of the 4/44 as a result of the rationalisation which followed the merger of Morris and Austin into the British Motor Corporation in April 1952. It had been decided that all new BMC vehicles would use Austin engines. The result of this was that the Wolseley 4/44 was equipped with an MG engine (albeit in single carburettor form) while its sister car, the MG ZA Magnette was released later and with an Austin engine!

The 4/44 had an elegant well equipped four door saloon body. Being a medium sized car with an engine of only 1¼ litres, performance was adequate rather than outstanding. Top speed was a modest 73mph. Suspension was by coil spring and wishbones at the front and half-elliptic springs at the rear. The car's interior closely resembled that of the 4/50, the most notable difference being that the glove compartments (one on each side of the instrument panel) were not fitted with lids.

The author of a road test published in The Autocar in 1953 was obviously impressed with the car, saying that "from the first moment of acquaintance an exceptional liking was formed for the Wolseley Four Forty-Four, which persisted throughout more than 1,000 miles of motoring. It can be suggested that for a hard-bitten tester to be thus impressed, and his impressions maintained in a wide variety of conditions of route and loading, the car concerned must have very decided merit. Thus it is with this new Wolseley. It has more than a touch of quality in its road behaviour and in its appointments."

The 4/44 was replaced in 1956 by the outwardly similar 15/50.