In 1922, Archie Frazer-Nash and Ron Godfrey resigned from the G.N. company, the most successful British manufacturers of 'cycle cars'- ultra lightweight sporting vehicles, mostly powered by air-cooled engines. Frazer-Nash immediately commenced production of sports cars bearing his own name. Godfrey, in partnership with Guy Robins and Ted Halford, returned to car manufacture in 1935, 'HRG' being a combination of the partners' initials.

The hand-built HRG featured robust construction, light weight and outstanding roadholding, powered by the 1 ½ liter Meadows 4ED engine but employing conventional transmission. Godfrey intended the car to be equally successful in all kinds of competition, besides being a tractable street car, with good quality weather equipment. Some 30 HRGs were produced between 1935 and 1938, when a smaller-engined but virtually identical model was introduced, featuring a 4 cylinder single overhead camshaft engine with twin SU carburetors. Transmission was v