Postbag

DO YOU RECOGNISE THIS CAR?

How many times have we seen this, and wondered what strange stories come out of the undergrowth. Try this one for size. My brother-in-law in South Africa sent me a copy of the Cape Town Crankhandle Club Magazine. He had never done that before, but had seen a “do you recognise this car” photo of an old MG, thought perhaps to be an N Type, and wondered if I would be able to identify it.

I have somehow managed to acquire a reasonably good knowledge of the convoluted histories of the seven historic NEs, so when I saw the photo I recognised it as JB 4750. This did not require much specialised knowledge because the number was on the number plate! But only a few were likely to recognise it as an NE, because it didn’t look like one in its historic Tourist Trophy Trim, and neither did it look like one of the lightweight P Type Trials bodies, fitted between the 1934 and 1935 IoM TTs.

The bodywork was neither of these, but a special lightweight body built by Tom Dargue in about 1947/8 because someone stripped off the TT body and had flogged it or given it away. Where that body ended up involves a long and convoluted yarn, which would take ages to repeat here. The story continued with me writing in triumph with the answer to the magazine editor, only to be told by his wife that he had very sadly dropped dead at a club natter only days before.

I was not going to be beaten, so I emailed my brother-in-law to see if he could locate the enquirer in the magazine, knowing only his name and home town about 50 miles up the coast. He found him, and we made contact. Among all the happy car chatter, it turned out that his brother, now long dead, had known the owner in Birmingham in 1955, and I was sent a good clear photo with the owner in the car. What was particularly gratifying was that the very sparse and unconfirmed one-liner in my research was confirmed and augmented, and a properly annotated photo has been added to the Club database.

So, is this just another old MG identified and a bit of history added? Not at all. JB 4750 was one of seven pulled from the N Type production line and converted for racing in just a few months because the changed formula banned superchargers, and thus the very successful blown K3s. Abingdon managed to tune up an already good performance by the standard of the day from about 60 to 90 bhp per ton. The car won the IoM TT in 1934 in the hands of Charlie Dobson at a speed not much less than the K3 the previous year. It’s an historic piece of machinery, and we now know for sure where it was in 1955, and where it is now.

Mike Edmondson

GEORGE PHILLIPS ARTICLES

UMG Monte Finish with Marc and co-driver Per Jonsson

I enjoyed the series of articles in which George Phillips described his motoring life with MG. I very much regret I did not have the opportunity to meet him. In the final article there was a photo of George with Gregor Grant and Gregor’s MG YB Reg UMG 662 on the quayside at Monte Carlo, having just completed the eponymous rally in 1954. The reason Gregor looks slightly glum is that they had just been disqualified for missing (by a few minutes) the final time control. George doesn’t appear to be that concerned!

I am the current owner of UMG 662. The car was the Autocar office hack and Gregor and George had also driven it as a press car on the 1953 Monte Carlo Rally. In my ownership the car has been back to the Principality three times on the Monte Carlo Classique Rally. I attach a photo of it in the same spot where Gregor and George were pictured 62 years previously.

If, as George says, his final MG race in anger was in the September 1953 TT, his penultimate race must have been when he drove UMG 662 to third in class in the Daily Express Trophy Production Touring Car Race at Silverstone that May. The class was won by his old friend Dick Jacobs in another YB, UHK 111. That car, which I also own, is currently on display at the BRDC’s Silverstone Experience museum.

Marc Hanson

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www.mgcc.co.uk FEBRUARY 2021 SAFETY FAST! 35

Safety Fast_Feb21_3-48.indd 35 25/01/2021 17:09

EARLY MG HISTORY

It is most gratifying that Safety Fast! continues to uncover MG history of 85 or more years ago. I was, of course, delighted to read in last month’s Safety Fast! Philip BaynePowell’s letter about the ND Magnette of H.B. Shaw, and especially to see the MG publicity poster advertising the success of the P-type in the North West London Motor Club’s Team Trial of October 1934. Does anyone know what happened to Macdermid on that event, as he is not mentioned in the press report of the event?

Somewhere I have book titled “Advertising MG”, but it does not include any such posters of specific competition successes such as that shown on page 14 of the March edition of your excellent publication. I had not seen this poster before, but I have similar ones for the Exeter Trial of 1935, when the Cream Crackers (in blown PB Midgets) and the Three Musketeers (in the blown L-type Specials) teams shared the team prize; the Craigantlet Hillclimb of 1936 (when MGs won all five sportscar classes); the Experts Trial of 1937 (when the joint winners were both driving T-types, and both Team awards were won by MG teams) and the 1937 MCC Team Championship won by the Cream Crackers.

I wonder whether anyone has a list and/or copies of other such pre-war MG posters proclaiming the success, even domination, of trials or speed events in that period. I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has similar posters!

Jonathan Toulmin

LOOKING FOR MG 2313

Martin Butcher’s article “Looking for MG 2313” in Safety Fast! brought back some very pleasant memories for me.

I purchased the car from Martin in 1973 for £150, as he writes, but I was prepared to pay more! After towing it home to Hertfordshire from Buckinghamshire, I embarked upon a restoration which ultimately took six years. As Martin says, there were a lot of unoriginal parts. Whilst looking at an MG J2 at an MGCC meet in Brentwood for some guidance, the owner came up and introduced himself as Ralph Bateman. This began a long friendship and Ralph took me along to the MGCC Natter at The Merry Fiddlers in Epping. What a revelation – there were so many J2 owners: Mike Linward, Len Bull, Ian Mackay, Colin Smith, Keith Hall, and another Mike whose surname escapes me. The rebuild was completed and was on the road in the early eighties and a chance to really use it, in company with the aforementioned friends from the Fiddlers. The photo is the VSCC driving tests at Brooklands 1982. I sold the car in the late nineties after many years of pleasure and it subsequently found its way to Barry Walker, who I believe sold it to someone in Surrey.

I am still a member of the MGCC and attend the Natter at The Lion in Needham Market in my MGC GT, as I now live in Suffolk.

Ken Gallop

MARCH LOOKING BACK

Flipping through the March Safety Fast!, I thought I’d look up which P-type was on show in that lovely 1950 Atlas Garage shot in the Looking Back section. You know, the one with registration number WO 9377? The Triple-M Register database quickly told me the car is PA1324, believed to be a survivor. Imagine my surprise when, going through the rest of the mag, proof of just that was found on page 77 where WO 9377 can be seen in all its colourful glory enjoying a Stay at Home Rally only last year!

Going back to the black and white shot, flanking the TD on the other side is L0418, a four-seater L1 Magna, although I couldn’t find any proof elsewhere in the magazine of that one having survived! However, the database does say so, even though it’s been rebuilt to resemble an L2 (a two-seater) at some point and we’ve lost touch with the car in 2006 when it was last for sale. Hopefully, reading this, perhaps the current owner can come forward and show us what it looks like today?

Cat Spoelstra