2005 MG ZT VDO Analog, with Blue Lighting, Is Car Clock of the Week

Somehow two years have gone by since our last Car Clock of the Week, despite my hoard collection of junkyard-obtained automotive timepieces having grown substantially since that time. Today's clock was made in Germany and found in a used-up British saloon in Yorkshire, England.

The last year that a new MG was sold in the United States was 1980, when the final MGBs arrived here. However, production of vehicles bearing the storied octagon badge continued in the United Kingdom well into our current century, through multiple changes of brand ownership.

The Rover 75 and its MG ZT descendant were developed mostly with BMW's money but were genuinely British cars. I found this final-model-year 2005 ZT 190 at the York U-Pull-It during my trip in January and had to buy its clock.

The Rover 75 was designed to be between the sizes of the BMW 3- and 5-Series, so it wouldn't compete directly with either one. By most contemporary British accounts, it was a good saloon. Production of the ZT version for the Chinese market continued through the middle 2010s.

The clock is still labeled for a Rover 75, though the car became the MG ZT after BMW sold MG Rover in 2000.

The blue illumination will look good when I install this clock into a car-parts boombox.