Members Cars

The following are some of our members descriptions of the motorcars they own and are shared for your interest.

The MGCC, the Vintage Register and the Webmasters take no responsibility for the accuracy of the descriptions, nor are their placement here to be taken as a validation of the authenticity of any motorcar as an M.G. or any particular model.

ALW 522 – 1930 18/80 M.G. Six Mk II

This motorcar was built at Abingdon and first registered on 19^th August 1930 as a Carlton Bodied drop head coupe in the colours black and green. It was brought by A T Sykes of Highgate, London, N6 and was sold by Brooklands Motor Company of Euston Road. The early history of the motorcar is being researched and this will be amended when more information is available. The motorcar featured in RKO Radio Picture film “They flew alone” being the story of Amy Johnson’s life and starring Anna Neagle and Robert Newton. However, this was film directors ‘licence’ for in real life Amy Johnson had been given, as a personal gift from Sir William Morris, a MK 1 Salonette, registration No MG 720, in recognition of her 10,000 mile, 19 day solo flight to Australia in 1929. There is at the present no further information about what happened next. Until in 1960 it was reported as being stored ‘under potatoes and then in a cellar under coal’. In 1976 the body was removed and the complete chassis and running gear with scuttle and bonnet was rescued by Mike Ellis. Phil Jennings towed the car for Mike Ellis, who spent the next 20 years carrying out restoration work. He must have decided not to re-build the Carlton body but to build a 4 seater tourer, using Bill Grudging’s similar car as a model. On the dynamo is a beautiful brass plate saying “Restored by M. Ellis – 1998”. Sadly Mike died before completing the restoration and Jonathon Tilley purchased the car and completed the restoration. In 2014 the present owner brought the car and covered over 3000 miles in his first year of ownership.

MG 1305 – 1929 18/80 M.G. Six Mk I

This motorcar was built as a two seater with dickey at Edmund Road, Oxford in the first half of 1929, there are no records of whether it was registered in the UK and later exported to New Zealand or exported as a new motorcar to New Zealand. Its chassis number is 2/6461 and the original body number is 7556, the twentieth of 23 bodies bought from Carbodies on the 16th March 1929. All the body, apart from the main body, rear of the front doors, is original including the rear wings. The original colour scheme is unknown. The first known owner was Peter Marlow in New Zealand in 1938, at some stage he dismantled the motorcar. In 1955 Colin West brought the dismantled motorcar and stored it under his house for the next 27 years.

He sold ‘two trailer loads of bits’ to Sue Naylor in 1982, she rebuilt the motorcar as a four seater tourer. In 1989 Peter Mace brought the motorcar from Sue and imported it to the UK with it being given the registration number DS 8036. The current owner, brought the motorcar from Peter Mace in 2003 and gave it the registration number MG 1305, which was from a 1929 M.G. M type. The motorcar has undergone a two and a half year rebuild and went back on the road in July 2012.

UU 2506 – 1929 18/80 M.G. Six Mk I

This motorcar was built at Edmund Road, Oxford and was first registered on 18th May 1929. It has the chassis number 2/6413. There is no known history until a Log Book entry in January 1949 for Aurther Stanley Thornton of Pendine, Carmarthenshire. The present owner acquired the motorcar in 1972 in Nantgaredig near Carmarthen and there was anecdotal information that the motorcar had not been used since 1949.

The motorcar was mostly complete but in a seriously damaged and dilapidated state. Stop/start restoration took half a lifetime and the motorcar was put back on the road in 2004 just in time to be displayed at M.G. Silverstone. UU 2506 is used throughout the year in the UK and Europe with an annual mileage of 2000 – 3000.

MG 1214 – 1931 18/80 M.G. Mk I

This car was first registered on 23rd June 1931. The known history of MG 1214 dates back to 1947. It was then in the ownership of Pat Tennant of Bosham Hoe, just a few miles from Chichester. In the early 50’s a lengthened bonnet was fitted to expose the MG insignia on the firewall supports, the body tub was repaired with masonite (!), many tacks and nails, and hydraulic brakes with twin leading shoe fronts were fitted.

It was purchased by Peter Hague in 1980 and used extensively on trials and on the road. He had it professionally fitted with a cross flow head reputedly giving it a vast increase in power. To say this modification was crude is an understatement it required removal of one carburettor to get to number 3 sparkplug. The car was getting rather tired by the late 90’s.

Buddy Shapiro brought the car in 2001 and when he started the restoration he had to decide whether to restore it to the original specification. He did not know when the mkII gearbox was fitted or the 18-inch wheels. As the car has been in its modified state for rather longer than its original he felt it right to leave it modified. After all this is part of the cars history. However, he did remove the crossflow head and return the engine to its original configuration but with the twin carburettors fitted with their own float chambers as in the mkII’s, rather than the single shared chamber of the mkI’s. Chassis number 2/6672.

The present owner brought the car in 2013 and has used it on several Vintage Register events.

WL 7125 – 1929 18/80 M.G. Six Mk I

Chassis No 2/6546 – WL 7196 is a Mk1 18/80, which is fitted with a four-door tourer body. It was first registered in July 1929 and was supplied to Robin Salter who lived in Bognor Regis. Since then there have only been three further owners. The motor car was restored in the early 1980’s for Ian Hutchison by Roger Thomas, the current owner has constructed and fitted a boot as would have been fitted when new, but is still very original.

The present owner has used the motor car for many long distance continental holidays and MG events. It has visited eleven European countries in the last ten years and the total mileage from new is 420,000

MG 1124 – 1931 18/80 M.G. Six Mk I

This car, a fabric bodied Saloon, was registered on 12th June 1931, but the car was almost certainly built at Abingdon in 1930 and as such is accepted by the VSCC. The chassis no is 4FS/6713 and the engine number is JC11088. H Gordon Tucker of Wivelsfield Green, West Sussex purchased the car from University Motors in Park Lane, London W1. He drove the car each working day into central London for 40 years and parked in the underground car park in Marble Arch.

The Dolphin Mascot, which is still with the car, was given to him by his brother in 1931, who was stationed at HMS Dolphin. In about 1971, when the car had done 346,000 miles he sold it to Phil Jennings, the author of Early M.G. and joint author of From Oxford to Abingdon. He restored the car with a new fabric body, a new interior, a rebuilt engine and gearbox. With a recorded mileage of 356,000 miles he sold the car to Peter Mace who added about another 10,000 miles using the motorcar regularly on MGCC, EMGS and VSCC events.

The Current owner brought the car in 2009.

XV 9508 – 1928 M.G. 14/40

There is no early history of this motorcar. The earliest known owner was R Reynell of Saxmundham in Suffolk, who owned the car for 14 years. The motorcar appeared for sale at a Beaulieu auction in the 1970s but did not sell. J Stoneman of Ely brought the motorcar in 1979 selling it on to C Mallett of Saxmundham. Cyril Mellor purchased the car on the 2nd August 1987 keeping it for 16 years before selling to the present owner.

SU 2696 – 1930 18/80 M.G. Six Mk II

This Abingdon built motorcar was completed as a 4 door metal saloon in May 1930 but not registered until 17th February 1931, when T. C. Smith and Son of Aberdeen sold it to D M Baird of Drummock, Aberdeen. The next recorded owner was Morgan Marshall in April 1949. By 1955 the car had passed to R Huntley Showering of Redland, Bristol. The motorcar stayed in the Bristol area until 2000, having passed through the following hands 1958 I V P Cross, 1959 T M Smith, 1960 Frank L Burgess then in 1969 back to Morgan Marshall and finally into the Ostler family in 1988 who removed the saloon body and replaced it with a speed model body as it is today, then it passed to Neville Pugh in November 2000. The present owner brought the motorcar on the 19th November 2008. The chassis number is A0311. From it’s registration the car has been named Sweet Sue.

MG 796 – 1930 18/80 M.G. Six Mk 1 Speed Model

First registration of this MG 18/80 Mk I Speed Model was on  22.11.1930. The first owner was Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin, a British racing driver and one of the “Bentley Boys” of the 1920s. Already 1931 the car changed ownership to Lady Sybil Grant. Her father was Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Her mother was Hannah de Rothschild, the richest woman in Britain. The car stayed within the Grant Family until 1957. After Lady Sybil Grant died 1955, her grandson Antony Richard Charles Grant inherited the car and in 1956 he made a journey to Venice. 1957 John Cochrane, a young man, bought MG 796 and used her until 1963 and stored her from 1963 to 1987 in a barn. In 1987 John Cochrane instructed Octagon Services Ltd. to restore her mechanically. She is still listed on the web site of Octagon Services Ltd. under ‘Major Restoration Projects’. In the 1997 July edition of the MGCC magazine “Safety Fast!” it was reported that John Cochrane wanted to sell his car. Gert Jensen bought her and restored the body and trim. Gert used this car extensively usually with his wife Anne and attended the European Event of the Year 2006 in France. After Gert’s death his daughter sold the car 2014 to the present owner in Southern Germany. 2015 the present owner travelled with this MG 18/80 MK I from Germany to Kent (UK) and also to Sicily.