MOG REUNION

Mike and Paul Bracey with TFJ 737

TFJ737 REUNION

What is it about some cars that can really get under the skin, into the heart and soul of a true petrol head? One car that has done this to a number of people during its sixty-six year history is a 1956 Morgan 4/4, Vin A222, registered TFJ737 on the 8th of September 1956 in Exeter to Mr Peter Chilton.

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY Paul Bracey

n the fi ies Peter was working for Standfi eld

Iand White garages on Honiton Road, Exeter, a Rootes Group distributor of Humber, Hillman and Sunbeam cars as well as Commer and Karrier commercial vehicles. Peter was working as a commercial vehicle salesman at the time. A er scrimping and saving, the order for the Morgan was placed with the Morgan factory through Standfi eld and White. Peter recalls that he was able to obtain a trade discount that way. On the 10th of September 1956 Peter and a friend drove up from Exeter to Malvern to collect TFJ. e records at the factory shows Vin A222 to be a two seater, fi nished in Pearl Grey (white), paid for and dispatched 10th September to Standfi eld and White in Exeter.

During his time with TFJ, Peter was an active member of the Exeter Motor club and enjoyed competing in club events such as road rallies and auto tests and was rather competitive winning several cups with the Morgan. One of his more memorable trips with TFJ towards the end of his ownership was with his new wife Rosemary on their honeymoon. Peter kept the car for approximately three years, passing the vehicle on to C P Talbot from Linton near Burton Upon Trent on the 27th of July 1959. Nothing is known about TFJ’s history during C P Talbot’s ownership but the original log book shows the car was registered to him from the 27th of July 1959

Old family photo of Peter in TFJ circa 1956

Advert for Standfi eld and White dated 1961

Another picture of Rosemary on her honeymoon with TFJ

An old album photo of TFJ in Alfa Romeo Yellow until the 6th of June 1969 when the registered keeper is listed as being a John Edward Talbot in West Harptree, Somerset, probably a relative. John’s time with TFJ appears to have been very short, as the log book shows that on the 27th of February 1970 the next registered keeper to be my Dad, Michael Bracey of Chew Stoke.

Dad told me that when he fi rst saw the new Morgans that look like the ones we know and love today, at the 1956 Earls Court Motor Show, he had to have one. Dad worked alongside Mum and my Grandfather in e Garage in Chew Stoke. One evening John called into the garage for some fuel in TFJ, he and Dad got cha ing, and it became apparent that John was looking to sell TFJ. Dad said he was interested in the car, so John le it

with us for approval. TFJ was rather tired by now, a little scruffy having suffered some minor accident damage to the rear and mechanically well worn. I remember the first trip out in the car, a cold February afternoon, hood up, Mum and Dad in the front, my sister Caroline and I sat in the rather small luggage space in the back behind the bench seat.

Dad set about stripping the damaged rear panel and the rear wings from the car and a good friend and cabinet maker John Haynes rebuilt the damaged timber frame in the rear of the car. Dad then made a new rear panel and fitted it to the car. He then painted it Alfa Romeo yellow. The same colour as the first CX platform Plus Four I saw. The flat head side valve Ford engine and three speed gearbox were well worn. He happened to have a 1200cc pre crossflow Ford engine lying around that had a big valve head and a wild cam in it, attached to a four-speed Ford gearbox, so that went into the car for a while. It proved to be rather quick and very Revy, but as it only had a three main bearing crankshaft , was rather prone to wearing out big end and main bearings, so the engine was replaced with a 1500cc GT Cortina engine fitted with twin SU carburettors. This proved to be very reliable and is still in the car today.

Just before Dad retired in the early 1990’s, Toby who worked for Dad, was at a bit of a loose end one afternoon and when Dad went through to the workshop to see what he was up to, he found TFJ to be stripped of all of

An old photo of Mike and Mary Bracey lapping Castle Combe race circuit in 2011 as part of the Bristol Motor Cycle and Light Car Club centenary event

the body panels, Toby said, “Well, you said you would like a red Morgan, so I decided to repaint it for you,” and so he did. It is still red today. TFJ really got under Dad’s skin and into his heart. During that time he hill climbed it at Wiscombe Park near Honiton, sprinted it, trialled it, road rallied it and competed in gymkhana and autotest events in it with the Bristol Motor Cycle and Light Car Club. It was used to go into Bristol on numerous occasions to do a morning parts run for the garage, this was in the days before dealers and motor factors delivered parts. Dad was Bosun at Chew Valley Lake Sailing club for many years, so a tow bar was fi ed to TFJ to tow safety boats between the sailing club and home, where Dad would carry out repairs to safety boats. TFJ proved to be a very versatile car and was much loved and by all of the Bracey family. Dad had loads of fun with TFJ, and o en said it was the best £100.00 he ever spent.

Dad passed away on the 27th of September 2019, had he lived for another few months, he would have owned TFJ737 for fi y years. e last car Dad drove before he passed away was TFJ. On his passing, my sister Caroline inherited TFJ. By now it was in need of yet more TLC.

My day job is the senior technician at Revolutions, the Morgan dealership in Perth, Scotland, owned by Russell Paterson and his son Elliot, both very successful

championship winning Morgan racers . I spend my days servicing, repairing, carrying out body repairs, restorations, and building and preparing racing Morgans for customers and the Patersons. At the weekends, I travel all over England, and occasionally over to Europe, doing race support at MSCC Morgan challenge events. is has meant that when visiting Mum in Somerset the boot of my car would be half full of Morgan parts and tools for my busman’s holidays working on TFJ to get it up to a roadworthy standard; renewing the brake and clutch hydraulics, having the front brake shoes relined, replacing the fi bre board panel under the fuel tank, that had turned to dust when I tapped it, with nice solid treated boards and having my good friend Darren at New Elms Morgan supply and fi t new king pin bushes and king pins for the front stub axles and then handing me the reamer to ream the bushes out to take the new king pins. anks Darren.

By the end of March this year the car was ready to be road tested by Caroline.

Despite the car having been in the family for over fi y years by now, and Caroline having had a driving licence for more years than she would probably care to remember, she had never driven the Morgan. I thought that this could be the fi rst and last time that she drove the car. We drove down to the nearest petrol station,

Rosemary, Peter, Dave and Jane with a Morgan on Jane and Dave’s wedding day 2007

about five miles, I did have to remind her a couple of times that the Morgan is not fitted with self-cancelling indicators! You cancel them yourself. After the refuel, we did a lap of Chew Valley Lake in the spring sunshine. Caroline really enjoyed her first drive in the Morgan. It was at this point I advised her that as the car has had very little use in the last ten years, things will go wrong, and that she would have to fix them herself. Within a few weeks the carburettors began to leak fuel and need new seals and the car got a little hot in August when the temperature rose to around thirty degrees C, so she had Simon at Sifab build a new aluminium radiator for the car. A section of exhaust has also had to be replaced. Other than that, the car is proving to be good fun and has been on many outings over the summer of 2022.

Having got the Morgan up together and enjoying using it, Caroline joined the Morgan Sports Car Club and hooked up with the Mendip Centre and has made many new friends along with her navigator and companion Doris the black Labrador, who also loves the Morgan. TFJ appears to have got under Caroline’s skin and into her heart and soul, another victim!

Peter, who bought TFJ new in 1956 has never forgotten his almost three year period with the car. Often talking to his three daughters, Carol, Jane and Sandra about his time with the car. Sandra lives in Australia, but Jane and Carol are closer to home, Jane living in Lancashire and Peter living with Carol and her family in Wiltshire. It was one of these conversations earlier this year that got Jane thinking, could the car still be around? A quick look on the DVLA vehicle check web site confirmed that TFJ737 was taxed. It is still out there somewhere, but where, and how could she find out?

Back in 2019, her neighbours David and Deb Hey bought their first Morgan, a 2016 4/4 Phantom edition from Williams Morgan, so Jane approached them and asked if they knew if there was any way that they knew of tracing the whereabouts of TFJ737. The obvious answer was the MSCC. David contacted Gill Bevan, membership secretary to find out if TFJ737 was registered with the club. As Caroline had recently joined the club and registered the car with the club, the car was found. After several emails had gone back and forth, and the relevant permissions were granted for contact details to be exchanged; Jane was put in touch with Caroline, and conversations started about our mutual connections to

Peters Daughters, Carol and Jane, Peter sat in TFJ

TFJ737. Gradually, a plan was put together to reunite Peter with TFJ737, sixty-three years on from when he last saw it e date, Saturday the 8th of October 2022 at e Li on, a boutique hotel and pub in the village of Li on, near Wells in Somerset. Caroline had organised a breakfast meet there for the Mendip Centre of the MSCC. My son Ma and I made the trip down from Perth. is was an event we could not miss. Jane came down from Lancashire to stay at Carol’s for the weekend. Saturday dawned, bright, sunny and mild. It was going to be a good day.

Several Morgans turned up, one Plus Six, a couple of CX Plus Fours, a traditional Plus 4 and Caroline and Doris the Labrador in TFJ. A er introductions, Carol and Jane were introduced to TFJ for the fi rst time, and Peter reunited with TFJ a er sixty-three years. It was a very memorable occasion. Peter’s big grin confi rmed his happiness at si ing in the driving seat of TFJ. It obviously brought back a lot of happy memories of his time with TFJ and he couldn’t quite believe that he was back in his old car. He was extremely impressed that the car had been so well looked a er. is Morgan had le its mark on Peter, found its way under his skin and into his heart and soul, a bond that appears to have lasted a life time.

It made me think about my Dad. How he would have loved to still be with us and to have met Peter and his family and cha ed about their life and times with TFJ. I thought it amazing that the original log book, issued sixty-six years ago, had been in our family for over fi y years and we were meeting the man that had registered the car originally. Just fantastic. A er a very enjoyable three plus hours, cha ing over breakfast and several coff ees, it was time to go.

I found one of Peter’s fi nal comments of the morning very amusing, “I preferred it white!!”

A few days later Carol and Peter were looking through a whole lot of pictures that had been exchanged between us all Peter said “ ere is something magical about them”. Morgans we presume. Who can argue with that?

I must thank the following people for making it possible to reunite Peter with TFJ, Jane for taking the time to check if TFJ was still around and making the trip down from Lancashire for the weekend.

David and Deb Hey for contacting MSCC.

Gill Bevan for being the go between.

Caroline for organising the breakfast meet of the Mendip Centre MSCC. e team at the Li on for looking a er us all so well.

Carol for helping with this article, for the photos and stories of Peter and Rosemary’s time with TFJ.

I really enjoyed meeting Peter, Carol and Jane, It was a day I will always remember.

Hopefully friends for life, brought together by the magic of one special Morgan TFJ737.

RUMBLINGS FROM THE SHED Rumblings From Th e Shed REMOTE BRAKE, CLUTCH RESERVOIR FITTING

e Issue

There are sometimes problems with the Morgan engine bay layout as the starter motor or alternator can need some added heat protection to extend their life because of heat build up.

Today it’s the turn of master brake fluid reservoir that sits on top of the master cylinder next to the exhaust manifold. On quite a few Morgan models you may have a heatshield placed between the exhaust manifold down-pipes and the brake servo, Master cylinder and master cylinder reservoir unit as it “sticks out” from the bulkhead behind the brake pedal on Morgan’s.

What can happen is quite simple; the end of the brake reservoir over time becomes brittle or can melt leading to brake fluid loss and that is not what you want happening. On this Morgan set up there is a separate Clutch Fluid reservoir located on the bulkhead, away from the Exhaust Manifold heat.

To overcome this problem, it’s

e Kit

possible to retrofit a combined Clutch and Brake reservoir with 3 outlets. The Master Reservoir can fit where the Clutch Reservoir currently sits (or another location, the choice is yours) and then it plumbs directly from the Reservoir

Step 2

Step 5 Step 3

Step 6 Step 4

Step 7

Step 8

to the clutch Slave cylinder and the Brake Master Cylinder on the Brake Servo. Lets begin;

Step 1 Make a mounting plate to hold the new reservoir in you desired location.

Step 2 Suck out fluid from the Clutch Reservoir

Step 3 Suck out brake fluid from the Brake Reservoir

Step 4 Remove the “Spring pin” at the underneath the front of the Brake reservoir Step 5 Clean all debris & detritus from the Master Cylinder with brake cleaner, then gently prise the brake reservoir up and off the Master Cylinder

Step 6 Ensure that the Master cylinder reservoir seals are clean and free of damage

Step 7 Check the new 90° Elbows are clean of debris then lube with clean brake fluid

Step 8 Push the 90° Elbows into the Master Cylinder unit, facing the direction of pipe travel. Step 9. Remove the pipe from the clutch piston unit

Step 10 Undo the Clutch Reservoir retaining clip and remove the clutch reservoir and pipe

Step 11 Remove the retaining clip from the bulkhead. You may need assistance in the driver footwell as this is normal bolted in place as the Nut will be underneath the carpet. (We were lucky and could hold the nut in place without removing the carpet. Fingers were crossed!)

The install will be in next months article.

Step 9 Step 11