Totally T-Type 2

Welcome to Issue 12, June 2012. Twelve issues equals two year’s worth of magazines – it seems like only yesterday that Issue 1 ‘hit the streets’; reminds me of something funny I saw the other day (I think on the tabc site) as follows:

Growing up is optional, growing old is obligatory.

I posted the following message on the ‘News’ section of the website on 18th April:

“Sometime during the past week we passed the 2,000 milestone for subscribers to TTT 2. At the time of writing we have 975 members. A subscriber is defined as somebody who has ‘signed up’ to be notified by e-mail whenever a new issue of TTT 2 is launched. A member is defined as somebody who has registered in order to be able to access certain sections of the site – e.g. Publications, Membership Benefits.

A digitally printed full colour version of TTT 2 is available on subscription – the Editor will be pleased to forward details to interested parties.”

At the time of writing (2nd May) we are but 3 away from 1,000 members and well over the 2,000 mark for subscribers.

The price of petrol (average price in UK is around £1.40/litre = £6.36/Imperial Gallon = £5.30/US Gallon, which converts to $8.62/US Gallon at current exchange rates) is definitely having a deterrent effect on classic car gatherings in the UK. I noticed from a quick read of a recent issue of Classic Car Weekly that some clubs have cancelled their national event for the coming season. One club has downsized from three days to two in a move designed to save costs. We shall have to wait and see what level of support is forthcoming but as austerity is being heaped upon us in ever increasing doses, the omens are not good!

The current fuel tanker drivers’ industrial dispute in the UK has focussed attention in some quarters on the fast disappearing independent petrol stations. It is estimated that between 250 and 300 are closing every year and the cause is quite simply down to economics. This is brought into sharp focus when one considers that out of a total of approximately 8,500 filling stations in the UK, the supermarkets, with just over 1300 sites, are fast approaching 50% of total sales. The “pile it high and sell it cheap” style of marketing is obviously not confined to grocery, but of course the grocery sales also benefit as the cash-strapped punters are attracted to the supermarkets to fill up and then do the weekly shop.

I suppose that one comes across a “bad apple” in all walks of life. Unfortunately I have to record one that is closer to home. A TTT 2 ‘hard’ copy subscriber strung me along for far too long with a tale of hardship. This person owed subscriptions from the first issue and at the beginning of January 2012 I had to tell him that unless I received his overdue subscriptions, the January magazine would be the last he would receive. No payment was forthcoming. I know a couple of owners close to where he lives and will acquaint them with the details.

There might have been one “bad apple” but there are over 2,000 “good eggs”!

This issue contains an extra four pages and I’m pleased to be able to provide them. Last year I would have been worried about the extra printing cost, but this year, due to the very healthy state of the finances which have been transformed by donations received over and above the cost price of spares sold (in particular the polyurethane suspension bushes) I am far more relaxed about things. It’s not that I have become profligate – far from it – but that extra ‘cushion’ is really helpful to me.

Brian Rainbow has asked me to give some publicity to the Pre-War Prescott event on Saturday 21st July. There was a really good turnout of TAs last year and you can read about the event, see the photograph of the TAs and download an entry form from the following website: prewarprescott.com

Unfortunately I won’t be able to make the Prescott event because I am booked to attend the Silverstone Classic on that weekend. I shall be going with my brother in his Morgan. The website is silverstoneclassic.com. I haven’t been to Silverstone since I left the MG Car Club two years ago and it will be nice to go back there.

Just to let you know that postal charges have increased massively (the postage on the TTT 2 ‘hard’ copies that I send to European destinations has increased by 88%). Fortunately, we have bought ahead and will be holding our regalia postage prices.

Finally, just enough space to say that son, Stephen has asked me to let you know that he’s off on 11th May to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. He’s trying to raise some funds for a local charity, Weston Hospicecare, so if you would like to support a worthy cause you can donate via the website he has built for the trip at climbingmountkilimanjaro.org – thanks!

JOHN JAMES

DISCLAIMER BY THE EDITOR

Articles are published in good faith but I cannot accept responsibility or legal liability and in respect of contents, liability is expressly disclaimed.

As I am writing this editorial at the start of the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival I thought I would use the verb galloping to describe our progress towards the next milestone of 2,000 subscribers to TTT 2. We hit the 1900 mark at the beginning of March and coincidentally also topped 3900 cars in the T-Database.

For me, Cheltenham is the start of the M.G. year because it heralds the arrival of Spring here in the UK, when a young man’s/woman’s fancy takes to going for a blast in the M.G. Forget for a few fleeting moments all the ills of this topsy-turvy world and enjoy the wind in your hair (while you’ve still got some!)

But do I detect that the world economy is picking up? The US has started to add jobs to the payroll (funny how things seem to get better just before an election!) and two of its automotive industry giants have emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leaner and fitter, and are doing well. General Motors still has to sort out its problems of over capacity in Europe and we wait anxiously for a decision on the future of the Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port, here in the UK, as the Germans do over the future of the Opel plant at Bochum.

So perhaps things aren’t so rosy after all and always in the background is the unpalatable fact that petrol continues its seemingly unstoppable rise in price. It is unlikely to ever go down!

One was tempted to ask “Recession, what recession?” judging by the numbers who attended the Stoneleigh MG Spares Day in February. Money seemed to be freely changing hands and I certainly didn’t hear any moans from traders – apart from one who was lamenting the number of competitors (to himself) who had arrived on the scene. It was good to meet Tom Metcalf from the US and Heinz Müller from Switzerland and a gentleman from Australia, whose name I can’t remember – sorry! A PB owning friend of mine is eternally grateful to Carl Drolshagen from Germany, who brought over a brand new double hump scuttle for his car made by the maestro Steve Gilbert over twenty years ago and in perfect condition – talk about hen’s teeth!

Life has been hectic over the past couple of months and I’m not sure where the time has gone since Christmas. Due to other commitments I’ve not had much time to work on the J2 but I’m now back on schedule refurbishing the rear springs (I had two new main leafs made by Brost Forge in London N7 and had the ‘eyes’ made oversize to take a 1/16” leaded bronze bush. Eric Worpe, who did the work for me (don’t know what I would do without Eric!) has just supplied a lovely black gooey mixture of graphite powder and silicone
grease to coat the tops and bottoms of each leaf. Graphite powder is obtainable from locksmiths as they use it for lubricating lock mechanisms and Waxoil can be used as the retention medium for the graphite powder.

As an independent (of any UK Car Clubs) magazine and website, we work closely with the International MG Y Type Register www.mgytypes.org who are similarly organised. The Register has recently invited us to join them in teaming up with Travel Destinations (ABTA Registered) with whom it has negotiated preferential travel rates for its members. If you are planning to travel to or from Mainland Europe (including Spain) using P&O, the Channel Tunnel or Brittany Ferries then please contact Travel Destinations on +44 (0) 1707 329988 and be certain to mention that you are registered as a member of ttypes.org to obtain your preferential rates. These are not only available to your T-Type, but any MG or indeed your normal daily use car.

If everything goes to plan, a web page will be created on 17th March, which will hopefully be in sync with the release of this issue on the ttypes.org website.

We will give further publicity to this membership benefit in the June issue of TTT 2.

Whilst on the subject of travel, David Heath (TA owner) has asked me to mention that a group of MG owners from the Bristol area are going to the Le Mans Classic in July. They have hired a gite from 3rd July to 10th July for which the cost is £98 per head. You don’t have to stay all week (the race is on 7/8 July) but you do need to book your own tickets and ferry. If interested, contact David at s.d ‘at’ tumbleweed20.plus.com

And finally………. my good friend Gabriel Öhman from Danderyd in Sweden sent me this picture. I’ll let Gabriel “do the talking” in his best Swinglish:

“Here’s a quick solution from Stig Andersson(88) when he had to make a promised trip and the dynamo was in for repair at the electrician’s. Some wood and a ballbearing! Ha, ha!”

JOHN JAMES

DISCLAIMER BY THE EDITOR

Articles are published in good faith but I cannot accept responsibility or legal liability and in respect of contents, liability is expressly disclaimed.

Welcome to Issue 10 and 2012! This is the second full year of the magazine (In 2010 there were three issues; August, October and December), so 2011 was the first full year of publication.

I start the year full of optimism, buoyed up by the wonderful support you all have given me. I occasionally have to pinch myself as a reminder that what I produce from this once tidy fourth bedroom, which has been turned into an untidy study, goes out to an appreciative worldwide audience, but I never forget that none of this would be possible without you, the contributors.

Now to the financials for 2011 and it’s good news!

Donations in 2011 amounted to £676.02; the balance brought forward from 2010 was £197.45 so the balance at the end of 2011 was £873.47. Donations which were received as amounts over and above the cost price of spares I supplied in 2011 amounted to £332.20; the balance brought forward from 2010 was £36.95 so the balance at the end of 2011 was £369.15. Adding these two income streams together (I have amalgamated the general donation fund and the TTT 2 donation fund to make life simpler) the total balance at the end of 2011 was £1242.62.

I made reference in the previous issue to the high cost of the printed copies of the magazine due to the small print run. Despite the fact that most ‘hard’ copy subscribers paid over and above the asked for subscription, the apportioned shortfall between the cost of providing them with the magazine (including postage) and their subscriptions was £125.49. The apportioned cost of providing the complimentary copies was £246.64 so a total of £372.13 needs to be deducted from the figure of £1242.62 quoted above, leaving a net balance at the end of 2011 of £870.49.

I regard the overall financial position as very satisfactory and confidently predict that even without another single ‘general’ donation in 2012, income from a small amount of advertising and from amounts contributed in excess of the cost price of spares (and treated as a donation) will ensure that the ‘balance sheet’ at the end of the year will be stronger still.

The first calendar year of our website ttypes.org has been a resounding success, with a number of essential resources being added, including an online database of nearly four thousand MG T-Types worldwide at the MG T Database. The website has also attracted over 700 new readers to Totally T-Type 2, and going forward into 2012 subscribers continue to grow at a similar rate of two per day on average.

My son is pleased to report that his eBay helper website, MG AuctionWatch, has just undergone a much-needed “rebuild”. MG AuctionWatch now lists more than twice as many T-Type auctions than before, dividing cars for sale, parts and books and manuals into helpful sub-categories, making the current selection of T-Type auctions on eBay even easier to browse. You can test drive the new MG T-Series section of the site at http://www.mgauctionwatch.com/ttype

Doug Pelton is now starting his fifth year in business – I find this hard to believe since it only seems like yesterday that he sent me some pedal spring sets to offer for sale here in the UK when his fledgling business was being established. Doug’s worldwide customer base has grown from 18 countries to an incredible 30 in the past year and he has just brought out the second edition of his catalogue (catalog for our cousins in the US). You can download the latest edition at fromtheframeup.com From The Frame Up LLC is an amazing success story built on service excellence and the supply of good quality parts, which have been painstakingly researched. I raise my glass of Old Speckled Hen to you Doug!

The MG International Show and Spares Day on Sunday 19th February is rapidly approaching so I guess it’s high time I dusted down the display tables and located the new spares which I offer for sale. I will have some XPAG head gasket sets and bottom end sets at roughly half the price charged by some dealers and also plenty of correct polyurethane suspension bushes for TC/TD/TF along with my usual offerings of kingpin sets (now only a few left) and shackle pins.

I shall be sharing a stand with Brian Rainbow and we shall be located in Hall 1, just over the way from Barry Walker’s stand. Brian always carries an amazing selection of spares, particularly those for the MPJG.

I leave you with a ‘shot’ of a freshly painted J2 rear axle – a mere ‘toy’ compared to the weight of a TC axle. It’s just what the dining room table was bought for all those years ago!

JOHN JAMES

DISCLAIMER BY THE EDITOR

Articles are published in good faith but I cannot accept responsibility or legal liability and in respect of contents, liability is expressly disclaimed.

Welcome to Issue 9! This is the first full year of the magazine (In 2010 there were three issues; August, October and December).

Looking back at last December’s editorial I see that we then had 875 Internet ‘subscribers’ and 20 ‘hard’ copy subscribers. Twelve months later we now have just over 1600 of the former and 40 of the latter.

Great strides have been made in building up the website during this time, with a lot of work going on “behind the scenes”. The T-Database has received a healthy boost of late thanks to Gordon Lawson’s truly generous offer to share his “T-Numbers” database with us. We would also like to thank Don Harmer for providing us with details of cars belonging to members of the Southeastern MGT Register in the US. As a result, the T-Database now stands at just shy of 3700 T-Types from nearly 40 countries, with over 500 photos uploaded to date. If you haven’t added your car’s details yet, you can do so by searching for your car by chassis number here.

Since the last issue have also added a new section to the website. The History Timeline is intended to be more for fun than anything else, and lists some of the events during the MG T-Type’s production run set against a backdrop of contemporary news events and period music for you to listen to.

In the immortal words of Lance Corporal Jones of the Dad’s Army BBC comedy TV series http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/dadsarmy “Don’t panic!” – the debt has not reached ‘Sovereign Debt’ proportions and I’m going to consolidate it and explain what I’ve done in the February issue.

Well, that’s enough of the boring financial bits! Looking forward to 2012 (where has 2011 gone?) I hope to be at Stoneleigh for the MG International Show and Spares Day on Sunday 19th February.

http://www.seetickets.com/Event/INTERNATIONAL-MG-SPARES-DAY/Stoneleigh-Park/593448

As usual I’ll be sharing a stand with Brian Rainbow and we’ll be located right opposite Barry Walker’s stand in Hall 1.

‘Hard” copy subscriber, Ted Hack (Ted runs the D-type website, where you can download the quarterly magazine ‘Dispatch’ which is devoted to D-types at www.mgdgroup.org) is an avid MG book collector. He has recently e-mailed me about the book “They Started in MGs” and sub-titled “Profiles of Sports Car Racers of the 1950s”. He has very kindly written a review of the book and this can be found under the ‘Bits and Pieces’ heading on page 18.

I have some news about the polyurethane bushes for the TC, TD and TF models and this can be found on page 18.

Last but not least I have been busy working on my J2 restoration – I try to do something every day, even if it is just for one hour to keep the momentum going – and reproduce below a photo of some painted parts on the washing line (it’s what washing lines are really for!). See you hopefully in 2012!

JOHN JAMES

DISCLAIMER BY THE EDITOR

Articles are published in good faith but I cannot accept responsibility or legal liability and in respect of contents, liability is expressly disclaimed.

Welcome to Issue 8!

I’m putting this issue ‘to bed’ in the middle of August to ‘sleep’ until the middle of September because my IT man (son, Stephen) is off at the end of this week on his travels to Japan and Taiwan for six weeks. Due to the shorter time interlude between the preparation of this issue and the last one I’ve struggled a bit with sufficient copy but we’ve just about made it.

A healthy supply of copy is vital to keep a magazine like this going and I feel for Vernon Byrom, Editor of the MG Octagon Car Club magazine The Bulletin, who, just lately, has had to make a number of requests for copy and indeed, has had to write some of the articles himself to fill the magazine. I’m in the same boat with Vernon this month in having to write some of the articles; I don’t mind doing this but it does consume more time when I could be in the garage ………dreaming up more articles!

In editing a magazine it is desirable to strike a balance between types of articles featured; in the case of this magazine, which is unashamedly biased towards the technical side of ownership of our cars, I strive to cover every T-Series model and therefore strike a balance between the beam axle models and those with coil spring independent front suspension. I have to say that I feel uncomfortable with the lack of coverage I am able to give to the TD and TF models, but I can only include what I am provided with. Perhaps TD and TF owners would like to take the hint!

Speaking of the MG Octagon Car Club, I attended the Club’s ‘Wings’ Run at the end of July. It was held at Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire, which is a mere 25 miles from me. I was a little apprehensive (as the photograph taken by Steve, just before setting off shows) but this was the first time I had used the car this year.

Steve, my passenger ‘shot’ a couple of short videos on the journey; the first, taken shortly after after setting off:

The second is a bit longer and is ‘shot’ in the countryside. Apologies for the squeaky brakes in both videos and don’t forget the PB has a ‘crash’ gearbox!

Encouraged by the performance of the car on the ‘Wings’ Run I took it to David Lewis’ Wiltshire ‘natter’ at Lacock a week later. Even though it entailed a drive back home in the dark, I was glad I attended because there must have been a record number of M.G.s there – at least 20. T-Types were a plenty, but also MGAs, MGBs, V8, YA and ZA,

On 11th August we posted a news item on the website to say that we had reached the landmark of 1400 email subscribers to this magazine. To have attained this number in just under a year (the website was officially one year old on 20th August!) is no mean feat. At the rate that new subscriptions are coming in (current number at 17th August is 1430) we shall soon hit the 1500 mark. Thank you all for your support!

On 14th August we launched a new section of the website for our visitors: the T-Database. Part gallery, part T-Type “wiki”, the T-Database is an opportunity for MG T-Type owners to showcase their cars on the site. Through the T-Database you may upload multiple photos of your T-Series car, and add limited non-personal information about your vehicle. Alternatively, you may simply wish to browse the records of the cars that have already been added to the T-Database.

In order to post information and photos to the T-Database you need to be a member of ttypes.org; membership is quick and most importantly totally free, and can be obtained by filling out the registration form here. Once you have logged in, you will be able to update your car’s record on the T-Database by searching for your car by chassis number and then by clicking “Edit this Car’s Details”.

Not ones to let the grass grow under our feet, there are more enhancements planned for the website, more suppliers and more items for the Technical Publications section – just need the time!

In the December issue I’ll publish the up to date financial situation. However, I can say with certainty that the sum total of donations is very healthy and the ‘hard’ copy account is in surplus, both due to lots of generous donations.

Just enough space left to thank Fred Weber, Bart Vandonk, Tom Thompson and Trad Harrison for identifying Denis Dunstan’s mystery item. All said that they were fitted to the tappet chest plate – more details in ‘Bits and Pieces’ later in this issue.

JOHN JAMES

DISCLAIMER BY THE EDITOR

Articles are published in good faith but I cannot accept responsibility or legal liability and in respect of contents, liability is expressly disclaimed.

Welcome to Issue 7! After producing (the now defunct) Totally T-Type (TTT) for six years I am starting my second year with Totally T-Type 2. A four year stint as Editor of the Octagon Car Club Bulletin in the late ‘nineties’ /early ’noughties’ confirms that either I am a glutton for punishment or I have it in my blood, but perhaps the common denominator is the love affair with the cars?

When I started editing the Octagon Bulletin in late 1997 it would have been unthinkable to have produced a primarily web-based magazine and even by January, 2004 when TTT was born “my baby” would not have enjoyed the instant success it did if it had been offered as a primarily web-based publication.

Times change (not always to our liking, but it doesn’t pay to swim against the tide!) and I hear that E-books have overtaken print sales in the US. On the basis that if the US sneezes, we across the ‘pond’ catch a cold, the writing is on the wall for print sales in the UK.

Of course, there will always be a demand for the printed copy and I will continue to offer this option for TTT 2 for as long as the customers ask for it. Indeed, if anybody would like to become a ‘hard’ copy subscriber then you only have to contact me through the Contact Form of this website.

I recently had a productive meeting with my Member of Parliament on the subject of E10 fuel. Naturally, it certainly helped to discover that he is the owner of a 1936 Bentley! He was very well briefed on the subject and considered that the European Union might well start to have doubts as to the wisdom of its pro E10 policy against the background of high food prices and difficulties in satisfying demand for food on a global basis. I’ve received a follow up letter from him and he has promised to write again when he has received a reply from the Minister at the Department of Transport.

As a follow on, I hear that a recent report by a number of high powered agencies, including the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations (UN), urges the end to biofuel subsidies.

Whether or not biofuel remains in favour is in the lap of the gods but at least the case for the subsidies it currently enjoys is beginning to be questioned and without subsidies the proposition is nowhere near as attractive.

Whilst listening to the radio the other day I heard that the State of Nevada is considering bringing forward legislation to allow for driverless cars – I’m sure that it wasn’t a figment of my imagination but I thought I also heard that the only reported accident to date was caused by a driven car hitting a driverless one!

On the subject of accidents and insurance, it has been widely reported that Insurance Companies in the UK lost £2bn last year on car insurance as bodily injury claims soared. Inevitably, increased premiums will soon recover the loss, but I fail to see why classic car insurance needs to be caught up in the mix. I don’t know about you folks in the UK but my classic car premium increased noticeably this year over last.

As UK owners will know, ‘Agreed Value’ policies require an independent valuation, which normally holds good for two or three years. I have been asked to do a couple of valuations recently and have duly obliged. I don’t ask for a fee, but a small donation to the ‘hard’ copy fund of TTT 2 is appreciated.

I was delighted to receive a copy of Doug Pelton’s new catalogue recently. It really is an impressive document and comes highly recommended by me. You can order a copy, or can download it at http://fromtheframeup.com/default.aspx

Here’s what Doug says about it:

Please note: My catalog has been a work in progress for over 4 years. I have finally completed the major components identifying almost every item on the TC down to the last little screw. Although it is referred to as a catalog, it is actually written to serve as a technical manual.

If you are restoring a TC, this is a must have document as it includes assembly orders, parts identification tips, cross references, comparison pricing, Tech Tips, originality information and much much more.

Finally, Dennis Dunstan has asked for assistance in identifying the following part:

Can anybody help, please?

JOHN JAMES

DISCLAIMER BY THE EDITOR

Articles are published in good faith but I cannot accept responsibility or legal liability and in respect of contents, liability is expressly disclaimed.

Easter was late this year; in fact it was getting on for the end of April. With all the doom and gloom which currently pervades our daily lives I thought I’d share this E-card with you, which certainly brightened up my Easter!

There seems to be no abatement to the never ending round of motor fuel price increases. A couple of days ago (I’m typing this on 1st May) the price of Brent crude had reached $120 a barrel; at this level we are not too far off the record of $147 a barrel of a few years back. As these ‘spot’ prices filter through to the petrol pumps it is bound to impact on vintage and classic car motoring with the result that owners will be looking at events nearer to home.

Various reasons are advanced for the upward hike in prices; the activities of speculators are cited by some, but it is difficult to escape the conclusion that it is mainly down to the laws of supply and demand. World oil demand grew by 2.8m barrels per day in 2010 (3.3% over 2009) and demand (led by China) has continued to grow in 2011. On the other side of the equation, supply is barely keeping up with demand, especially with the removal of 1.7m barrels per day due to the Libyan crisis. There are, of course, producers who could boost production, but is it in their interests bearing in mind that oil is a finite resource?

“The bitterness of poor quality lasts longer than the sweetness of low price”. This maxim was related to me recently by a garage owner when I was accompanying a friend in his MG L2 for its first MoT test, following a five year rebuild (the car having previously been in the USA). Apparently, it was on a sign in an ale-house, which also prepared meals for its patrons.

At the time I was complaining about the quality of some of the after market spares which are sold nowadays – not always at a low price!

When I started including recommended suppliers on the website http://ttypes.org/ I had the issue of quality very much in mind. I do not charge for advertising, either on the website, or in TTT 2; suppliers are there, either because they have been recommended or because I have personal experience of their quality and service. They do not, or never will, be included because of the size of their wallets!

Some readers will know that I sell, on a non-profit making basis, a limited range of spares. Invariably this is because I need a part for my own rebuild and rather than get just one made, I arrange for a small batch. A good example of this can be found on page 22. The supplier I use for spares such as king pins and shackle pins is Steve Brook of Crick, Northamptonshire. Steve, a precision engineer has been making parts for vintage and classic cars since 1982.

Any parts that I sell quote the material specification and come with either a NDT certificate or a materials certificate. I can’t do more than that!

One bonus of putting together this magazine and keeping the website up to date is the contact with T-Type owners all around the globe. I get a particular ‘buzz’ when I am able to help somebody. One recent example concerned the owner of TB0607 (pictured below) in Sweden. Prior to its recent rebuild the car had languished in a barn in Sweden for thirty years. It had no papers when it came out from England, which didn’t seem to matter much all those years ago, but it certainly did when the time came to register the car with the Swedish Transport Authorities! Through the good offices of my friend Gabriel Öhman and his excellent “Swinglish” we were able to convince the Authorities that the car is a genuine Abingdon product, which left the Factory on 17th October, 1939.

Just enough room left to let TA/TB owners know that there is a pre-war ‘Garden Party and Hill Climb’ meeting at Prescott on 16th July hosted by the Vintage Minor Register. Go to http://www.prewarprescott.com for more details.

DISCLAIMER BY THE EDITOR

Articles are published in good faith but I cannot accept responsibility or legal liability and in respect of contents, liability is expressly disclaimed.

Hello! This issue is just over a week late in coming out, mainly because I have been spending time on my cars. I aim to publish each issue on or about the 15th of the month prior to the cover date of the magazine. So, apologies!

My trusted computer let me down just after Christmas; it had been getting slower and slower and one morning finally “gave up the ghost” and presented me with a black screen. Fortunately, my computer guru happened to be home for a brief interlude between his travels and chose a replacement for me and set everything up, including transferring all the files. How I would have managed without him, I know not as I am a complete computer ‘dummy’.

I was saddened by the news on 3rd March that Bristol Cars had passed into administration. Following the end of World War II, and faced with the problem of how to use its excess capacity and keep its many employees busy (who had previously been building such RAF stalwarts as the Bristol Blenheim and Bristol Beaufighter), the then Bristol Aeroplane Company moved into the luxury car market. In 1960 it was persuaded to join with others to form the British Aircraft Corporation (later British Aerospace). At that time the car division (Bristol Cars Ltd) passed into private hands.

Some of you may not have heard of Bristol Cars; if you go to http://www.bristolcars.co.uk/history.html you can view photographs of all the (hand built) models produced.

I am aware that several subscribers of the now defunct “Totally T-Type” magazine (in fact, a high percentage of them with Internet access) ‘voted with their feet’ and joined up with this magazine. These subscribers will not be aware – presumably because they were never informed via ‘T’ Register publicity – that I was presented with a limited edition print last summer by Register Treasurer, Gillian Smith and TD Registrar, Peter Cole. They kindly invited my wife, Sue and me out to lunch in Hampshire and also presented me with a case of red wine.

I happen to know that Gillian and Peter went to a great deal of trouble to get the print framed and have a brass plaque inscribed and mounted at the bottom of the print, which reads as follows:

“Presented to John James in appreciation of his outstanding contribution to the ‘T Register”

Donations towards the running of this magazine and the website continue to trickle in, for which I am very grateful. There is currently a healthy balance and the only expenses foreseen for the remainder of 2011 are for the ‘hard’ copy costs and postage incurred in sending complimentary copies to article contributors.

Mention of ‘hard’ copies reminds me to state that I now have 36 subscribers. A couple of subscriptions are outstanding, but on the assumption that these come in, we have moved to a break even situation for ‘hard’ copies.

The ttypes.org website continues to go from strength to strength. You can now register for a free site membership which will, over time, offer additional benefits, the first of which has already been added to the site: a technical publications archive, offering free downloads of period technical MG T-Series material. Currently the archive contains five Service Information Sheets relevant to early T-Types and a Lucas parts catalogue for the TC, but that selection will be expanded regularly in the coming days and weeks. We’ve already had kind offers from fellow T-Typers who have publications to add to the archive, so if you have a period technical document you feel that others would find useful, we’d be very grateful if you would get in touch. Meanwhile, we invite you to register for your free site membership at http://ttypes.org/register.php and then browse the MG T-Series period technical publications archive at http://ttypes.org/publications at your leisure.

It would be remiss of me not to mention that 75 years ago, the TA Model appeared on the scene. University Motors proudly announced that “The new M.G. MIDGET SERIES ‘T’ will be available for trial purposes at Stratton House on June 29”. Nobody could surely have foreseen the incredible success story of the ‘T’ Series, which was to result in our cars being exported all around the globe. A great cause for celebration and I’m sure that we custodians of the cars consider ourselves fortunate to be looking after them.

It’s easy to be overtaken by events in editing this magazine. Under the ‘Bits and Pieces!’ collection of articles I said that we are trying to track down the present owner of TB0613. We thought he might be in Oklahoma, but we are fairly sure we have located him in Louisiana. More in next issue!

Finally, my thanks to Matthew Magilton for the excellent front and back cover photos.

DISCLAIMER BY THE EDITOR

Welcome to the first TTT 2 magazine of 2011! This month you have 24 pages instead of the usual 20. This is to compensate somewhat for the lengthy front cover article, thereby ensuring that you have a similar variety of articles as provided in past issues.

As we enter a year (yet another!) of austerity in the UK it seems that the motorist is getting clobbered once again. The average price of a litre of petrol (gasoline) is now 127 pence, which equates to £5.77 per Imperial gallon. Therefore to fill up with say, ten gallons, costs the best part of 58 GBP. Ten Imperial gallons is equivalent to twelve US gallons, so if my maths are right (never my strong point) twelve US gallons, if bought in the UK and paid for in dollars (at $1.58 = £1) would cost just over 91 USD (that’s 7.60 USD per US gallon!).

Unfortunately the misery for us poor, downtrodden souls in the UK doesn’t end there. Motor insurance is set to rocket; to quote from a recent Financial Times article:

A number of UK insurers have suffered large losses as a result of bodily injury claims from car- crash victims, who have been encouraged by claims management companies and no-win, no- fee solicitors.

Of one thing you can be sure; like the bookmakers, who never lose, the insurance companies will always ensure that they get their money back through higher premiums!

Well, I’m not usually a miserable ‘so and so’ but it’s enough to make you think twice before venturing out very far and when you do, it’s a real challenge, if you have a beam axle car and still have Bishop Cam steering, to manoeuvre around all those potholes which have suddenly appeared on our roads as a result of the Arctic temperatures we endured in December. Mind you, some would say that it’s a real challenge, even if there weren’t any potholes!

The number of “subscribers” to TTT 2 continues to grow and at the time of writing (14th January) we are just twenty short of the magic one thousand. I’m pretty confident that by the time of the next editorial we shall be heading for the next one thousand!

The TTT2 section of the website has been updated so that two new links appear at the top of every page alongside the search box. The first, “Tell A Friend”, lets you fill out a “virtual postcard” to a fellow T-Typer which sends them a short email informing them about ttypes.org and TTT2. This is a grassroots way for you to help us spread the word to others who may benefit from the content and services available on this website, so if you do know someone who would benefit from hearing about ttypes.org, we’d be very grateful if you would find the time to take a look at this new feature and send a virtual postcard to someone you know.

The second link is the “TTT2 Archive” and is a handy reference to download any of the issues of TTT2 that have been published so far. Simply click on the desired TTT2 cover picture to download that particular issue.

Development work on the website is continuing apace and two new features are being worked on, which we will keep close to our chests for the time being. I am currently holding up the categorisation of our suppliers listing – there are not enough hours in the day, but I will simply have to make some time to complete this job.

Donations have been coming in thick and fast and at the end of December we had £572.44 in the ‘kitty’. From this £36.95 has been transferred into the ‘hard’ copy account as it is money that I have raised through the sale of gasket sets and the ‘hard’ copy fund needs every penny it can get because it is running at a loss. The sum of £88.12 has been deducted in respect of printing and postage costs for complimentary ‘hard’ copies sent to contributors and £250 has been invested for five (5) years’ worth of domain name and website hosting. Overall, a satisfactory position except for the ‘hard’ copy economics which is down to me to sort out – it will be sorted!

As mentioned in the last issue, the ‘T’ Register is holding its annual ‘Rebuild’ event on Saturday 5th March 2011 at Oxford & Cherwell Valley Motor Sports College, Bicester, OX26 4LA. The final agenda looks like this:

* TABC Instrumentation – A Question and Answer session by Speedograph Richfield
* TABC Back Axle – by Roger Furneaux
* An Update on T Type Electrics – by Barrie Jones
* Practical MG TD – Maintenance, Update & Innovation – by Jonathan Goddard; Jonathan will be enlarging on his recently published book
* Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow. A case study of modern fuels in the XPAG/XPEG by Paul Ireland.
* An Open Forum on ‘Fuel for Thought’ – A discussion of the problems encountered using modern fuels in old cars.

Applications, quoting MGCC membership number, email contact address, telephone contact, and postal address, together with your cheque for the appropriate amount (£25.00 for MGCC members, £32.50 for non-members), should be mailed to Peter Cole, 8 Aldbourne Drive, BOGNOR REGIS, West Sussex PO21 4 NE. Tel: 01243 267234. Cheques payable to Peter Cole, please.

Finally, I look forward to meeting those of you who are going to Stoneleigh on 20th February. We will be in Hall 1, opposite Barry Walker’s stall.

DISCLAIMER BY THE EDITOR

Hello! Quite a few of you know me and I have met many of the UK readers (and some from outside of the UK) but lots of you don’t, so here’s a ‘mugshot’.

Having got this third issue of TTT 2 under my belt I’m looking forward to the six issues in 2011. I do so with renewed confidence, thanks to the many messages of support which have been received. It was a bit of an act of faith when I launched the first issue of TTT 2 back in August. I had severed my links with the MG Car Club and had left behind a successful and highly regarded magazine (TTT) which I jealously guarded as “my baby”. However, “my baby” wasn’t really left behind; the infant came with me to pastures new and what’s more, lots of you voted with your feet, contributors and readers alike, and joined with me!

So it’s a ‘thank you’ for wonderful support and for financial contributions (more of this later) and a special ‘thank you’ to my son, Stephen for developing the website and generally keeping me (a real computer “dummy”) on the straight and narrow. I know that he has lots of ideas for the future development of the website and if I can sit him down for long enough when he returns from Japan in early December, before he goes out to Thailand in January, we can make some real progress.

At the time of penning this editorial (19th November) we have 875 Internet “subscribers”; we also have 20 ‘hard’ copy subscribers, of which 5 are outside of the UK. The ‘magic’ total of one thousand subscribers is currently eluding us but we will get there; of that I am absolutely certain. When one considers that we have built up this number of subscribers in a period of four months from a standing start, then I reckon we have done pretty well – we must be doing something right!

Donations currently stand at £242.57. Included in this total are three amounts where I have supplied spares – head gasket sets {2} and a Bob Grunau oil filter adapter {1} – and purchasers have sent me some extra cash over and above the price asked for. To all who have sent donations and to those who have paid more than the asked for amount for ‘hard’ copies I heartily thank you.

Although I am no longer a member of the ‘T’ Register I have indicated that I am more than happy to publicise their events in TTT 2. Here’s one that will be with us before we know it:

The ‘Register is holding its annual ‘Rebuild’ event on Saturday 5th March 2011 at Oxford & Cherwell Valley Motor Sports College, Bicester, OX26 4LA. Technical sessions/speakers so far confirmed are:

“T-Electrics Revisited” – update and revision of previous sessions and publications by Barrie Jones, with particular emphasis on modernising, improving and upgrading the standard T-Type electrical components, including detail on Distributors, Alternators, negative earth conversions, “electronic” ignition etc.

“Practical M.G. TD” – sessions on Maintenance, Update and Innovation, by Jonathan Goddard, based on his recently published paperback book on the transformation of TD 0589.

“Suck, Squeeze, Bang , Blow” – living with modern fuel blends in the T-Type XPAG/XPEG (and other classic engines), by Paul Ireland, who has been carrying out much personal investigation and research into the effects of “modern” fuels on XPAG/XPEG engines. Paul will be sharing the results of his latest investigations, and pointing out the pros and cons of various tuning, timing and “blending” solutions.

“So You Want To Be A T-Racing Race Engineer?” – a light hearted, but nevertheless, fascinating look behind the scenes at the T-Racing community and activities, by Iain Rooney, of Pilot Motorsports and Restorations. Iain is the Race Engineering and Performance Tuning brains behind a number of well known T-Racers and their cars.

Applications, quoting MGCC membership number, email contact address, telephone contact, and postal address, together with your cheque for the appropriate amount (£25.00 for MGCC members, £32.50 for non-members), should be mailed to Peter Cole, 8 Aldbourne Drive, BOGNOR REGIS, West Sussex PO21 4 NE. Tel: 01243 267234. Cheques payable to Peter Cole, please.

Just enough space to wish you the very best for the coming festive season and the New Year! We live in a topsy turvy world and no doubt some of us would like to turn the clock back a bit, but the one thing that binds us together is our little matchbox cars, as Michael Sherrell so cutely describes them.

John James