I sent the mirror glass (wrapped in lots of bubble wrap) off and 10 days later the newly re-silvered mirror arrived back, all for a price of £35. Mirror looks good and I’ve attached a photo.
I highly recommend this service, which may be of interest to other members.”
Ed’s note: Frank has also emailed to say that he’s received good service from Station Motor Sport at Station Yard, Melton Road, Market Harborough LE16 7TQ. Tel: 01858 545436.
Ask for Jonathon. He’s done some excellent work on my TC, but seems to be able to turn his hand to any motor vehicles. They have a machine shop with a large range of machines. Sensibly priced as well.”
Registration Number 1951 MG for sale
This desirable number plate is for sale. The price is £3,500. Especially relevant if you own a ’51 TD or a ’51 YA or a ’51 YB. g.tinks(at)btinternet.com [Please substitute @ for (at)].
In the previous issue I said that I had two copies of this book on offer for £25 each plus £3.20 UK postage (the price on the inside cover of the jacket is £40). Obviously, I could not count as I actually had four copies! One has gone to Australia, one to the US and one to the UK. Just one copy remains.
Obtainable from me jj(at)ttypes.org [please substitute @ for (at)]. Payment can be accepted by PayPal to [email protected] or bank transfer (email for details) or by cheque payable to The MG ‘T’ Society Ltd and sent to 85 Bath Road, Keynsham BRISTOL BS31 1SR.
And to close….. Derek Cashsent me this pic of a rather sad looking tappet chest gasket. He’s bought and fitted a thin steel one with the two nitrile bonded cork gaskets.
Two photos from Norman Ewing. Above: Norman at the wheel “Bundu bashing” (Photo by RogerBull). Below: Norman driving the late Dick Knudson’s TC with the late Clive Alexander in the passenger seat. Dick and Mike Leckstein are looking on (Photo by Peter Fielding).
Richard Hinton bought TC9044 when he was only 16. The pictures below were taken in Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire in 1968 when it had its original registration number GWS 490.
He restored the car and 18 months later, used it to drive to school. Going to College entailed keeping it in a public car park in the open so he had to sell it and bought a 4-year-old 1098cc MG Midget Mk 2, much to his regret.
TC9044 then found its way to Maryland in the US – the picture below shows it to be in very poor condition (note the bungee cord securing the passenger door).
Repatriated over 40 years later it was restored in Sussex and then sold on. As it was not possible to reclaim the registration number GWS 490, it was given the age-related number YWG 256.
Richard would very much like to see his old car and hopes that the owner will get in touch. He can be contacted at richardhinton50(at)gmail.com [Please substitute @ for (at)].
TA???? (BTX 126) and TF9668 (UWB 998)
Andrew Hobbs has been in touch from Vancouver, British Columbia. Andrew emigrated to Canada in 1980. When in the UK he owned a 1937 TA, registration number BTX 126, pictured below.
It is hard to believe that such an ‘up-together’ TA would not have survived. However, it does not show up from the DVLA enquiry facility.
Andrew also owned TF9668 from 1967 to1969. A TF1500, it was registered UWB 998. It shows up from a DVLA enquiry, but has obviously been off the road, probably since the early 1980s.
Andrew can be contacted at acbhobbs(at)gmail.com [Please substitute @ for (at)].
TC Race Car (Chassis and Registration numbers unknown)
Jake Marshall is seeking information about this car which was raced in the Richmond Sprint (Australia) by Wayne Tyson in the 1960s. There’s not much to go on, but if you can help, please contact Jake at marshallj03(at)hotmail.com [Please substitute @ for (at)].
TC2430 (in Israel)
Benny Grumer is still looking for information/ history of his 1947 TC chassis 2430 engine 3140. He bought the car in 2010 from a garage in Miami Florida. Someone in the past had converted the car to LHD but it was badly done. To enable the conversion, the front of the car was raised by bending the front springs. The pedals were attached with brackets to the left rail. A TD/TF main brake cylinder was used and as it interfered with the hand brake, the latter was removed! The car had two tyres manufactured in Venezuela (maybe she was imported from Venezuela?). The colour of the body was red with black wings (fenders).
TC1936 (KRA 114)
In Issue 69 (December 2021) Nigel Howarth was seeking information about the TC his parents used to own between 1948 and 1953 (pictured above). Stewart Penfound, TA/B/C Registrar for the T Register of the MG Car Club saw the request and was able to tell Nigel that the car still exists, last heard of in South Carolina, USA. It was converted to a race car, its body shape based on the Cooper MG. The photo above dates from the late 1980s, when it was owned and raced by Alex Quattlebaum, who is still racing today, here in the UK and on the continent, with his very fast Leco MG.
TC Registration number FNT 651
Simon Johnston, who “wears the yellow jersey” for the most posts on the Triple-M forum, often wonders if his old TC is still around. He remembers that it had engine number XPAG 10000, which, if it was the original engine fitted to the car, would make the chassis number TC9279.
It is still out there somewhere as it shows up on the DVLA search facility. It has been ‘Untaxed’ since October 1987, but it looks as though there was some ‘activity’ in December 2004 as this was the date when the last V5C was issued.
The picture was taken in Hyde Park in 1969 – great 1960s hairstyles! That’s Simon at the starting handle. He can be contacted at: simon(at)mgj2.com
[Please substitute @ for (at)].
TC9386
Guido Vanoppen from Belgium has owned TC9386 for ten years, but knows little about its early history. He’s learnt that it was restored privately in Holland and had a Dutch registration since 1981, but that’s about all. If you can help to fill in any gaps, Guido can be contacted at omeguido(at)yahoo.com [Please substitute @ for (at)].
TAs – CVB 452 and CVB 453
These were mentioned in the previous issue. Unfortunately, there is no news of CVB 452. However, Roger Muir, editor of the Octagon Car Club Bulletin has been in touch to say that CVB 453 is TA1686 and is owned by an Octagon member.
TA1386 (KXS 629) and TA3217 (KXS 631)
Mick Bibby has a job on his hands (well two jobs!) with these two. TA3217 is the blue car, which was originally a Tickford. Mick is seeking any history of the cars (which both have age-related registrations).
The MPJG engine inTA1386 is badly seized with a cracked piston and bottom valve washer gone into mains as the following pictures show:
At the time of writing (late December), Mick has the engine in for machining. Mickbibby(at)outlook.com [Please substitute @ for (at)].
TAs – CJW 443, PAS 311, LSL 604, NV 7913, ACJ 103.
If the owner of each car sees this and can tell me the chassis number, I’d be grateful. (Only two pics for these) jj(at)ttypes.org [substitute @ for (at)].
TC8872 (OVW 170)
MG PA owner, Nick Dean has kindly sent me three A4 landscape photos of this TC on photographic paper. The owner is not known, but there has been some recent activity from perusal of the DVLA enquiry facility. The vehicle is on SORN with the ‘Date of last V5C (logbook) issued’ as 13th March 2020.
If the owner cares to get in touch with me at jj(at)ttypes.org [Please substitute @ for (at)]. I will gladly post the photos on to him or her.
I set out down this road back in the summer of 2021. At the time I was concerned about having enough copy for future issues of TTT 2 (I still am!). The last thing I wanted was to fill the pages of the magazine with ‘rubbish’, but thought that this would be a useful exercise to undertake and would also fill up a few pages. Little did I appreciate the magnitude of the task, which grew like Topsy from the time Roger Muir, editor of the MG Octagon Car Club Bulletin came on board. Let me explain………
Prior to Roger ‘joining the party’ my sole source of information was Stewart Penfound’s (Registrar of the ‘T’ Register of the MG Car Club for the TA/B/C models) database. This contains the world’s most complete record of all the beam axle T-Types. However, TA owner, Roger has been maintaining records of TAs for years and it transpired that he had details of quite a few TAs not known to Stewart and vice versa. We therefore were able to record details of a number of ‘new’ cars, not previously known to Stewart and therefore not previously included in my published lists. Inevitably, this slowed things up as I needed to check one list against the other and update my published lists.
Note:The origin of ‘to grow like Topsy’ comes from the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher-Stowe. In the book, Topsy just grew, or according to Topsy herself, she just “grow’d”.
As part of the ongoing process to refine/correct/add to the published information, I included in the December TTT 2 the following new information to that previously published in the October TTT 2 in respect of the chassis numbers 0251 to1000 for cars recorded as being in the UK and identifiable from the DVLA search facility:
Due to the additional TA having been notified and added to the list (TA0646 – ACX 350 – Untaxed) the number and the percentages have been revised. The number of TAs listed in ‘Part 1’ was 157. It is now 158, of which 87 are Taxed (stays the same), 58 are Untaxed or Not Taxed for road use (plus 1), and 13 are on SORN (stays the same). Percentage Taxed decreases slightly (was 55.4%, now 55.1%).
Since the December issue was published, another TA is now on the road. This is TA0732, registration number RD 9263. This car has been on the Isle of Man, but is now on the mainland and its original registration number (RD 9263) has been reclaimed. This registration number was being shown as ‘NOT known to DVLA’, but can now be deleted from this category. I also drew attention at the end of December’s issue to Roger’s lists of TAs but said that I had not had time to go through them.
Having found time to go through Roger’s lists in respect of the chassis numbers 0251 to1000 for cars recorded as being in the UK, the following changes have been made:
TA0264 (JK 6000) – this TA which was recorded as ‘Not known to DVLA’ has been deleted from this category as it has been confirmed that it is in The Netherlands.
TA0306 (SVS 438) – this car was not previously known to the T Register. It is shown as ‘Untaxed’ by DVLA and has been added to the ‘Untaxed’ total.
TA0358 (EPE 104) – previously shown as WXG 492 and included in the ‘NOT known to DVLA’ list and also as EPE 104 in the list of cars known to DVLA. The explanation for this is that the first mentioned registration number is the ‘age-related’ one, which was given by DVLA before it was known that it was possible to reclaim the original number. Now that it has its original number, WXG 492 has been deleted from the ‘NOT known to DVLA’ list.
TA0410 (JM 2786) – the T Register did not have the full registration number, so it was not possible to identify it from a DVLA search. Now that the full number is known it has been added as ‘Untaxed’ to the list of cars known to DVLA.
TA???? (NJ 9776) – this registration number is ‘claimed’ by two chassis numbers (which are not recorded, in view of the need to carry out an investigation to establish the rightful owner). NJ 9776 is shown as ‘Taxed’ and has been added to the list of cars known to DVLA, without the chassis number being shown for the time being.
TA0570 (DGY 127) – not previously known to the T Register or DVLA, so has been added to the list of ‘NOT known to DVLA’.
TA0597 (CPB 345) – not previously known to the T Register. It is on DVLA as ‘Not known’ and has been added to the list of ‘NOT known to DVLA’.
TA0745 (ABL 406) – only recently ‘discovered’. It is shown as ‘Not taxed for road use’ by DVLA and has been added to the ‘Not taxed for road use’ total.
TA0792 (YVL 342) – TA0792 was previously shown as ‘NOT known to DVLA’. However, it has been deleted from this list because a successful application has been made to recover its original number (ADC 374). This number is shown by DVLA as ‘Taxed’ and has been added to the ‘Taxed’ list.
TA0961 (BUP 411) – TA0961 (BUP 411) – shown previously as BP 411 by the T Register and included in the ‘NOT known to DVLA’ list. However, this registration number should be BUP 411 and is shown by DVLA as ‘Untaxed’. It has been added to this list and BP 411 has been deleted from the ‘NOT known to DVLA’ list. As a result of the foregoing changes, the number of TAs listed in Part 1 has increased from 158 to 165.
Of these additional seven, three are Taxed and four are either ‘Untaxed’ or ‘Not taxed for road use’. The numbers by category are:
‘Taxed’ 90 (54.5%)
‘Untaxed’ or ‘Not taxed for road use’ 62 (37.6%)
‘SORN’ 13 (7.9%).
Moving on to the lists published in December’s TTT2 the following changes are necessary in respect of chassis numbers 1001 to 2000 for cars recorded as being in the UK and identifiable from the DVLA search facility. These changes are principally as a result of comparing Roger’s information with Stewart’s.
Chassis numbers TA1381 and TA1847 were shown as both carrying registration number APY 144. This number is recorded as ‘Not taxed for on road use’ with DVLA. Therefore, the total number of cars and the number in this category has been reduced by 1.
Similarly, chassis numbers TA1849 and TA1949 were shown as both carrying BWS 739. Therefore, the total number of cars has been further reduced and the number shown as on SORN has been reduced by 1. TA1849 is the correct car carrying BWS 739.
Note: Roger’s computer software spotted these duplications.
As mentioned in the penultimate paragraph of the article in December’s TTT 2, Roger Muir sent me a lengthy list of TA chassis numbers and their corresponding registration numbers. The list has been compared with existing information held and the results, which include 6 new cars shown as ‘Taxed’ on DVLA, are set out below:
TA1141 (YXG 351) is on SORN.
TA1218 (RC 5266) is on DVLA as ‘Not taxed for on road use’.
TA1267 (ATP 293) is similarly shown.
TA1311 (DRB 330) is on SORN.
TA1324 (EDH 458) is shown by DVLA as ‘Taxed’.
TA1386 (KXS 629) is on SORN.
TA1489 (9969 MG) is shown by DVLA as ‘Taxed’. It is thought that this car previously carried registration number DPO 612, which was shown as ‘NOT known to DVLA’ in the December TTT 2.
TA1496 (DYV 562) is shown by DVLA as ‘Taxed’.
TA1505 (BUY 172) is shown by DVLA as ‘Taxed’.
TA1509 (UVS 114) is on DVLA as ‘Not taxed for on road use’. This may be an age-related registration, replacing what is thought to have been the original number on the car (AMO 341) which was not possible to reclaim.
TA1543 (AWV 885) is on DVLA as ‘Not taxed for on road use’.
TA1619 (DVR 607) is shown by DVLA as ‘Taxed’(this was previously incorrectly shown as DVR 697 in the cars NOT known to DVLA.
TA1646 (CTC 679) and TA1686 (CVB 453) are both shown by DVLA as ‘Untaxed’.
TA1710 (EOM 989) is shown by DVLA as ‘Taxed’.
TA1722 (DUO 962) is on DVLA as ‘Not taxed for on road use’.
TA1810 (CNG 929) previously included in December’s TTT 2 as “Untaxed” is in France.
TA1814 (BSC 206) is on DVLA as ‘Not taxed for on road use’.
TA1901 (ERA 432) is on DVLA as ‘Not taxed for on road use’.
TA1911 (Registration number not known) is known to have been issued with an age-related number.
TA1972 (SM 8258) previously shown as ‘NOT known to DVLA’ should be SN 8258. It is on DVLA as ‘Not taxed for on road use’.
TA1976 (EXL 714) although previously shown as ‘NOT known to DVLA’, this car is known to be undergoing restoration.
TA1982 (ELY 563) not previously known, but is now recorded as ‘Untaxed’.
The analysis of ‘Part 2’ (chassis numbers recorded as UK cars in the range TA1001 to TA2000) published in December’s TTT 2 said the following:
Of the 164 TAs listed:
86 are Taxed (52.5% of the total)
55 are Untaxed or Not taxed for road use (33.5%)
23 are on SORN (14%).
As a result of the changes set out above, the revised figures are as follows:
92 are Taxed (50.3% of the revised total of 183)
65 are Untaxed or Not taxed for road use (35.5%)
26 are on SORN (14.2%).
These revised totals will be added to the new totals for ‘Part 1’ of the exercise and those obtained from ‘Part 3’ (chassis numbers recorded as UK cars and identifiable from the DVLA search facility in the range TA2001 to TA3253) to arrive at the grand total for TAs recorded as being in the UK and are identifiable from the DVLA search facility.
What follows are details in respect of chassis numbers and their corresponding registration numbers for TAs recorded as being in the UK and are identifiable from the DVLA search facility from where we finished up in the previous issue (TA2000) right up to the end of TA production.
Chassis
Registration
Engine
On the road?
2002
FGO 709
1132
N/T for road
2016
ENB 124
1250
N/T for road
2019
BBL 80
1708
Taxed
2020
BBL 81
1708
Untaxed
2026
JMD 697
1250
Taxed
2031
FEH 866
1292
Taxed
2041
BWP 895
1141
Taxed
2044
BBL 82
1141
N/T for road
2055
BJW 206
1141
Taxed
2057
AHJ 342
1250
Untaxed
2059
GRF 37
1296
SORN
2071
EUC 880
1141
Taxed
2073
AUT 188
1000
Taxed
2076
JL 5283
1250
Taxed
2082
APN 617
1141
Taxed
2083
EKH 311
1292
Taxed
2086
423 YUJ
1250
Untaxed
2090
CNP 464
10
Taxed
2091
CTF 922
1292
Untaxed
2093
CTF 920
1141
N/T for road
2095
XBV 465
4000
Taxed
2096
ENC 86
1141
Untaxed
2097
SSV 343
1250
Taxed
2103
GDD 568
1250
Taxed
2104
BSF 743
1141
Taxed
2119
VV 6840
1141
Taxed
2120
BWD 919
1141
N/T for road
2130
JK 7524
1141
N/T for road
2131
CAC 4
999
Untaxed
2143
FAU 203
1250
Taxed
2145
BGG 669
1298
Taxed
2146
DRU 984
1250
Taxed
2147
LXS 275
1292
SORN
2149
DPX 469
1130
SORN
2153
ELR 734
1275
Untaxed
2161
CS 7695
1141
Taxed
2162
CDE 906
1292
Untaxed
2163
FHT 696
1141
Taxed
2165
EEL 247
1124
N/T for road
2187
1519 JG
1292
N/T for road
2188
EXH 904
1292
Taxed
2204
BBL 427
1292
Untaxed
2211
357 XUU
1350
Taxed
2215
GRE 318
1141
Taxed
2220
DHP 624
1292
Taxed
2228
YXS 598
1292
Taxed
2233
APN 898
1292
N/T for road
2236
FVK 590
1141
Taxed
2240
GEV 735
1292
Untaxed
2255
EOB 919
1141
N/T for road
2259
KSV 446
1292
Untaxed
2264
ADN 908
1124
SORN
2268
DFY 716
1292
Taxed
2271
EKT 274
1292
Taxed
2272
EAL 545
1292
Taxed
2278
CNG 845
1250
Untaxed
2279
JMP 25
1250
Untaxed
2290
SGO 27
1250
Taxed
2302
GPH 152
998
Taxed
2313
MG 5885
1141
Taxed
2328
JMC 996
1292
Untaxed
2329
JMH 893
10
Untaxed
2334
DJU 282
1141
Taxed
2340
SFF 540
1298
Untaxed
2350
CNP 33
1141
Untaxed
2358
JC 5518
1398
SORN
2361
JMM 839
1250
N/T for road
2368
DVB 519
1292
Taxed
2369
JX 6672
1292
Taxed
2372
WSU 492
1250
Taxed
2381
WAS 129
1292
Taxed
2397
MG 5915
1141
N/T for road
2401
VV 7131
1292
SORN
2404
FNU 90
1250
Taxed
2413
BWS 549
1250
Taxed
2414
FKE 423
1140
Taxed
2421
PSK 331
1141
Untaxed
2424
882 XUX
1250
Untaxed
2427
DRK 252
1141
Untaxed
2431
EYM 807
1141
N/T for road
2433
DHO 756
1141
N/T for road
2439
BAY 967
1292
Taxed
2445
DAD 337
9999
N/T for road
2446
MG 5974
1292
Taxed
2448
925 UXN
1141
N/T for road
2449
BNT 471
1255
Untaxed
2455
EBP 244
1141
Taxed
2458
DYD 390
1292
Taxed
2459
EYM 145
1141
Taxed
2463
DTC 97
1500
Taxed
2464
BJB 260
1141
N/T for road
2472
ENN 267
1124
SORN
2482
EOG 671
1292
Taxed
2483
BYS 901
1293
Taxed
2489
LSL 465
1500
Taxed
2494
DTC 654
1292
Untaxed
2509
GKE 116
1141
Taxed
2511
CVE 700
1141
Taxed
2513
GPL 590
10
Taxed
2520
HPD 348
1250
Taxed
2524
BUH 930
1141
Untaxed
2526
FKJ 805
0
Taxed
2529
MG 6165
1287
Untaxed
2544
JMD 378
1141
Untaxed
2551
BAP 927
1296
Taxed
2557
AVY 618
0
Taxed
2558
DAK 796
1292
Untaxed
2560
EYY 822
1141
Untaxed
2571
GUG 199
1292
Untaxed
2574
GRA 393
1141
N/T for road
2577
CBO 767
1010
Taxed
2588
DRK 818
1141
Taxed
2590
DBJ 841
1292
Taxed
2591
WXG 919
1292
Taxed
2593
ENH 486
1141
Taxed
2614
CDV 287
1292
SORN
2615
CS 8495
1141
Taxed
2617
HPU 46
1292
Untaxed
2619
BNV 195
1292
Untaxed
2621
YXG 811
1292
Taxed
2625
GMM 515
1292
Untaxed
2634
CRY 121
1141
N/T for road
2637
RC 6710
1292
Untaxed
2638
HSU 401
1250
Untaxed
2639
879 XUX
1250
Taxed
2640
EKD 635
1292
Taxed
2642
FGF 460
1350
Taxed
2648
GTW 695
1290
Taxed
2650
MG 6227
10
Taxed
2651
GTW 276
1292
Taxed
2657
MG 6401
1141
SORN
2659
FKL 788
1250
Taxed
2672
KS 8199
999
Untaxed
2687
ETF 647
1141
Taxed
2689
BDR 107
1293
Untaxed
2694
JSV 598
1250
Taxed
2725
TSV 239
1292
N/T for road
2731
FEL 142
1124
N/T for road
2733
DVC 500
1250
Taxed
2748
EPO 181
1292
Taxed
2749
EON 908
1292
Taxed
2754
ENK 220
1250
N/T for road
2760
MG 6304
1708
Taxed
2778
ABX 919
1292
N/T for road
2784
805 EUT
1141
SORN
2791
FRA 535
1588
Untaxed
2792
ENK 992
1141
Untaxed
2794
7775 MG
1250
Untaxed
2795
ERL 311
1292
N/T for road
2797
WVS 730
1292
Taxed
2802
FLC 798
1141
N/T for road
2808
DTF 35
1141
Taxed
2811
JHO 70
1292
Untaxed
2817
MG 6520
1250
SORN
2819
GVW 685
1292
Taxed
2820
WAS 424
1250
SORN
2821
JMP 978
1292
Taxed
2836
JRE 932
1141
Taxed
2837
CGB 655
1250
Taxed
2864
MG 6317
1141
SORN
2870
FLH 222
1292
Taxed
2878
MG 6452
1141
N/T for road
2879
RC 7310
1087
Taxed
2881
MGX 856
1292
Taxed
2884
HRE 17
1292
N/T for road
2889
FRA 794
1292
Taxed
2895
FRA 795
1292
Taxed
2919
GWE 167
1292
Untaxed
2927
AAV 902
999
Taxed
2929
KHX 55
1292
Taxed
2931
EBY 871
1141
SORN
2932
OS 5237
1141
N/T for road
2940
JM 4835
1141
N/T for road
2941
GR 6500
1292
Taxed
2945
FLJ 704
1000
Taxed
2948
EVO 200
1292
Untaxed
2951
FKN 849
1292
Untaxed
2952
EU 8044
1010
Taxed
2957
MG 6341
1141
Untaxed
2965
FOJ 857
1292
N/T for road
2966
FNF 666
1287
Taxed
2977
KMH 642
1141
SORN
2980
DDF 363
1292
Taxed
2983
DDK 592
1250
SORN
2994
FXP 190
1250
Taxed
2997
CCR 726
1290
Taxed
3001
EYA 333
1292
Taxed
3009
JPF 673
1141
Taxed
3010
FGJ 63
1250
Taxed
3021
DTF 651
1292
Untaxed
3024
BDR 878
2561
Taxed
3027
AFV 727
1250
Taxed
3029
FWJ 362
1296
Taxed
3033
EGO 6
1292
Taxed
3037
DKV 23
1292
Untaxed
3044
FKO 712
1250
Taxed
3061
HPH 103
1292
Taxed
3063
DDF 978
1150
Taxed
3064
BMO 375
1141
Taxed
3076
DTF 654
1250
Untaxed
3084
KXS 460
1292
Untaxed
3086
383 XUP
1250
SORN
3089
VAM 460
1265
Untaxed
3090
CET 267
1250
N/T for road
3093
KS 8420
1141
Untaxed
3096
CSD 190
1250
N/T for road
3101
SL 2611
1141
Taxed
3110
HHK 623
1250
N/T for road
3116
ERO 368
1141
Taxed
3120
HPJ 54
1292
Taxed
3126
FEL 35
1132
N/T for road
3130
EOY 34
1292
SORN
3131
MG 4639
1250
Untaxed
3135
BNR 43
1250
Taxed
3145
KMG 568
1292
SORN
3146
BVH 277
1292
Untaxed
3150
ENU 192
1250
N/T for road
3152
EFY 267
1298
N/T for road
3153
GNU 608
1292
Taxed
3160
KMH 202
10
Taxed
3162
FLR 527
1141
SORN
3169
HRF 693
1200
Taxed
3172
BFR 153
1292
Taxed
3178
WXG 710
1292
Taxed
3180
JSV 671
1250
Taxed
3181
DRT 525
1141
Untaxed
3184
DOR 33
1141
Taxed
3189
802 YUT
1250
Taxed
3190
BDB 60
1141
Taxed
3201
FKT 343
1141
N/T for road
3202
FKP 395
1292
Taxed
3203
FKT 346
10
Taxed
3206
FKT 354
1141
Untaxed
3215
FNF 137
1292
Taxed
3217
KXS 631
1292
SORN
3220
536 YUT
1250
Taxed
3234
FXK 651
1292
Taxed
3235
MG 6511
1250
Taxed
3238
BBU 913
1292
N/T for road
3239
EUR 243
1292
Taxed
3242
WXG 631
1292
Taxed
3243
FKD 408
1141
N/T for road
3248
FKT 357
1141
N/T for road
3253
GKE 568
1141
N/T for road
The total number of cars identified in ‘Part 3’ of the exercise (TA 2001 to TA3253) is 243, of which:
129 are Taxed 93 are Untaxed or Not taxed for road use 21 are on SORN
It is now necessary to add in the totals from Part 1 (TA0251 to TA1000) and Part 2 (TA1001 to TA2000) to arrive at the total of Parts 1 to 3, which is as follows:
Total number 591, of which:
311 are Taxed 220 are Untaxed or Not taxed for road use 60 are on SORN
This number can be increased by 6 to arrive at a new total of 597 due to:
CJW 443, PAS 311, NV 7193, LSL 604, ACJ 103, (chassis numbers not currently known, but the first three are taxed, LSL 604 is untaxed and ACJ 103 is on SORN).
Also, MG 5175 (taxed) whose chassis number was not known, is now known to be TA0991.
Therefore, new total can be broken down as follows:
Taxed 315 (52.8%) Untaxed or Not taxed for road use 221 (37.0%) SORN 61 (10.2%)
A degree of caution is advised when considering these numbers. The ‘Taxed’ total of 315 is factually correct, as one would not be able to tax a car that doesn’t exist! It is possibly short of a few, but only a few, because it is likely that there are still some cars that we don’t know about – but I suggest that these are by now few and far between.
The ‘SORN’ total is reasonably accurate as one would be unlikely to declare a ‘ghost’ car.
The questionable category is the ‘Untaxed’ or ‘Not taxed for road use’ as the records for many of these, date a long way back and there must be serious doubts about the existence of some.
This picture of two good looking TAs was sent to me by Keith Griffin (Keith’s car is the one on the right). MG 5175 is mentioned in the text above. Its chassis number is TA0991.
Many decades ago, as a young aspiring Pilot Officer in the RAF, I was told by my flying instructor that it was essential to check the aircraft underside/bottom as part of your pre-flight checks. Today, I still undertake this procedure on my TC before undertaking a big trip to check that your nuts are tight and that there are no new oil leaks. This time, I gave particular attention to the rear axle supporting towers located above each spring and located by bolts and plates.
Guess what, I found a crack radiating from the base of the tower and across the tower, the entire base of the tower was cracked and fell apart. This is a common fault on T types with repairs often being required during the car’s youthful years!
Failure to notice, will result in the axle breaking away from the spring and the wheel bring thrusted into the wheel arch, at speed you would probably leave the road – you would certainly stop!
To rectify this dangerous situation, you need to remove the whole brake drum and backplate so that fresh reinforcement can be undertaken by welding. Suitable plates are available from Paul Busby. Time must be spent lining up the axle so that the wheels run parallel to the chassis before welding. A belt and braces method to do now is to remove the 4 axle retaining bolts and welding a support bracket up the inside of the tower and located by the bolt at the lower end this will help spread the loads up the tower rather than rely on the base of the tower.
So always check your bottom for loose nuts and cracks with a fine toothcomb to prevent disasters on the road, I hope the photos explain my comments!
Ed’s note: Before showing you some of the photos that Chris sent, I thought it would be useful for the new and possibly less experienced TA/B/C owner, and for TD/TF owners who may not be familiar with the rear axle supporting towers on the TA/B/C (these are also referred to as support brackets, or spring hangers) to include one picture showing the general location and another showing a close up of a support tower in good condition.
Pic showing the location of the off-side supporting tower on the rear axle banjo casing.
Close up pic of the off-side supporting tower.
I initially had difficulty in understanding this pic. It shows the top spring plate which locates immediately below the base of the tower. What has happened is that part of the base of the tower has disintegrated and is left on the spring plate (Ed)
The below picture shows a plate in position to form the new base of the tower and ready to be welded to the side of the tower. The spring top plate can be seen located immediately below this plate and sitting on top of the leaf spring.
Pic shows completion of repair.
Ed’s note: Chris has recently followed up his article with the following:
To enable worry free motoring, I have now “invented” a belt and braces device that will give you peace of mind when speeding along the byways and highways of the world.
I obtained 2 conventional axle U bolts extended them by about 40mms and then drilled a 3mm plate which I then bolted to the underside of the rear spring and then bolted the U bolt through this plate. This will ensure that if the axle tower cracks and gives way, the newly installed U bolt will ensure that the axle remains safely in place. It also has the added bonus of helping to spread loads via a different route. The photo shows the U bolt in position.
Pic shows the “invention” described by Chris.
Ed’s further note: I suggest that a more common problem than the one experienced by Chris is that the holes in the base of the support tower, which take the four 31/4 x 5/16 inch HT bolts (you can also use M8 x 100mm bolts), were drilled too close to the edge by the Factory. To quote Eric Worpe:
“The holes for the spring fixing bolts are too near the edge of the bracket, and this allows deflection of the bracket around the holes when the whole assembly is stressed, particularly whilst braking hard. This results in fatigue cracks radiating out from the holes to the edge of the bracket. The bracket needs to be reinforced, rather than just welded up, and if possible extended to give greater rigidity around the holes”.
The reinforcement is accomplished by welding in a strip of 1 inch wide by 1/8 mild steel around the inside bottom of the support tower. The strip needs to overlap the edge of the support tower by about 1/8 inch and be clamped in place before welding (see pic below).
Pic shows the strip now welded in.
Once welding has been completed, the bolt holes can be re-drilled. A well-known weakness fixed!
My specific focus here is on work I carried out to fit both flashers and LED bulbs to an MG YB, but much of this comes out of my previous work to do the same on a TC and a J2 and will be no doubt applicable to many other, if not all, old cars.
Before getting into the details of fitting LED bulbs and indicators to old cars, let me outline a few pertinent general considerations which may complicate what at first sight may appear to be a fairly simple process. My intention is not to put people off from treading down this path as I believe that with a little application and a modicum of confidence, electrics can be seen to be not the black art that some believe. In order to try to demystify things as much as possible, I will try to break things down into what I believe are the issues to be considered, to allow individuals to plan their own way through the maze. I also have to point out that what follows contains my considered opinions, though they are backed up by my technical training and a life spent installing, commissioning and repairing systems much more complicated than our cars.
1. Why fit flashers?
The standard answer is to bring our cars up to date. The problem is that it is an old car and we like it precisely because it is not up to date. This is not such a strange assertion as it may seem at first sight, as some people coming into the old car movement seem unwilling to accept the true nature of the vehicle they are buying. This question is generally, and more relevantly, followed by the assertion that the original setup is “dangerous” as drivers nowadays don’t see the semaphores and are thus unaware of our intentions. This is arguably true, as being positioned on the side of the car they are not only out of the sightline of the following driver but do not flash to catch their attention. The flashing problem can be easily overcome by fitting flashing LED festoon bulbs but this would not really address the problem. Inevitably, however, as we tread warily down this path, we come to realise that this throws up other considerations and it is those which I will try to address here. For instance, it is the ideal time to consider whether to use LEDs and to ponder the issue of whether to change polarity of the car from positive to negative – but more of these thorny questions later. Whatever route we take, it inevitably requires extra wiring to be run and this immediately throws up the tricky problem of originality, but, again, more of this later. If we are fitting a new wiring loom, and considering the age of the car this may be the first and most important decision we make, we will be getting the extra wires we need, but we need to be sure that the loom supplier knows our requirements with regard to which wires we need to run, and to where, in order to avoid the supplier’s idea of how to implement the modifications being different from our needs. Just accepting the manufacturers “flasher kit add-on” without understanding exactly what we are buying can be problematic. For instance, the manufacturer of the particular loom I used had no provision for a “tell-tale” light for the indicators which was incorporated in the particular dash switch I used. Thus, we need to be sure from the beginning where we are going with this, as changes later can be tricky.
2. Why fit LED bulbs?
Here I will use the word “bulb” to refer to a device designed to fit a standard (for our cars) BA15 or BA9 socket and consisting of a number of individual LEDs arranged in an array. Of course, we could fit flashers without going down the LED route and this would avoid completely the question of polarity but inevitably there are other things to be taken into account. Firstly, let me get out of the way some muddled thinking about LEDs. Ask the average old car owner about LED fitment and the old chestnut about them using less current and thus putting less strain on the generator is bound to be the first thing that comes up. Of course, both of these things are true, but, as the generator is perfectly capable of providing the power needed in the first place, they are totally irrelevant. Even adding an auxiliary socket for a phone charger or a Satnav, or even a heater blower, is not going to strain the original system beyond its capabilities. 1930s M.G.s did have a problem in this area with generators unable to provide the power necessary even for running with all lights on which is why headlamp bulbs in those days were so low rated (and dim!) but by the time our cars came around after the war, technology was much better and, besides, how much night driving do we do anyway? Thus, as long as you are not going to fit an outrageous sound or light show system, we can’t use this as an excuse to go down the LED route. So put away all ideas of fitting an alternator, even if disguised as a generator/dynamo – there’s no point!
So why do we fit LED lights? Quite simply because they are brighter. They also have the great advantage of being smaller, or at least can be made smaller. This is an important consideration if we are to modify the existing lamp bodies to incorporate extra bulbs to avoid the need to fit ugly or non-original additions, but some care is required in choosing which bulbs to use from an ever- expanding selection. Here it is pertinent to point out that the individual LEDs in such bulbs can be arranged by the manufacturer to cast their light in various directions, so we must take that into account when choosing which one to use and how to orient them in the light units. Of course, there are firms who will sell you a ready-made solution to these problems in the form of an insert, which they claim is simply fit and forget. My experience is that such claims are never borne out in practice. A couple of examples may illustrate this point. Leaving aside the cost, a consideration which I find is less and less relevant to some people who are now coming into the old car movement, we are tying ourselves into a product which has no standard covering it. Thus, when it goes wrong, we will probably be unable to buy an equivalent unit from another supplier or even from the same supplier, assuming they still exist, as they will probably by then be offering a different, no doubt improved, product. Everything fails eventually and the higher the tech the quicker this is liable to happen.
Another problem I have found is that some of these units, due to their integrated nature, can feed stray voltage out into the vehicle wiring, sometimes causing unwanted bulbs elsewhere on the vehicle to light. This is due to the nature of such units which, rather than having separate “bulbs”, say for brake and sidelights, simply bring on the sidelights at one brightness and increase this for the brakes. This may or may not be a problem, depending on the voltage itself and how other bulbs respond, but the problem is easily fixed by the addition of extra diodes. I feel this is just too much to ask of a user though, especially when they have paid as much as they have for a unit full of diodes anyway. I therefore find it easier to stick to individual bulbs, albeit in LED form.
3. Polarity
LEDs are polarity sensitive, so whether we should change the car’s whole polarity from positive to negative is a pertinent question. Here the motives and attitudes of some of the people who are now coming into the old car movement often come into play. If the intention is to fit high tech modern systems on the grounds that someday you may need them, I refer you to my previous comments about why you bought an old car in the first place. Speaking to people who espouse this course of action, I find more muddled thinking, which can be summarised as: “negative earth is better”. This is offered without any real evidence, which is not surprising because there is none. What there is, is some sort of claim about galvanic corrosion which, while it may be a theoretical possibility, is at best marginal, and anyway, hardly a credible consideration in cars which are so little used, probably never knowingly going out in the rain and are often undersealed up to their windscreens anyway.
The choice of negative or positive earth matters nothing to an electron which only responds to a relative polarity difference regardless of which pole is connected to the metalwork of the vehicle. Even the ubiquitous use of negative earth nowadays is little more than a convention which acts as a standard, avoiding the necessity to manufacture two different flavours of equipment. Even the problem of fitting modern negative earth parts to a positive earth car is often fairly easily overcome just by supplying it with the polarity it expects. Or to put it another way; just make sure it is insulated from the car metalwork. A wooden dash makes a perfectly satisfactory insulator or you can just mount the addition to a plastic bracket. This is how I have gone about things with my LED light conversions and guess what? – they work!
4. How should we approach the question of originality?
Ah yes, originality. This question has as many answers as people who have an opinion on it. Inevitably, what follows will have to reflect my personal opinion, though I will attempt to take as objective a view as possible – a vague hope perhaps. For our immediate purposes this will concentrate on where to site additional indicators at the front and back but also consider whether we should do it at all. I fall into the school which is of the opinion that we should make as few changes to the original system as possible in the knowledge that there may have to be a trade-off between aesthetics and perceived safety. Of course, it goes without saying, I hope, that any changes made should be reversible, but I also only really consider them if the law requires it and if they can be concealed as much as possible. The reversibility mantra is commonly heard but I do wonder if it is simply trotted out to justify the owners’ intentions, or deflect criticism of their actions. T-Type steering boxes fall into this category and don’t let’s talk about seat belts. Whatever the reason, it does make reference to what I consider to be an important point. Many people in our movement refer to this by considering themselves to be merely the custodians, rather than owners, of the vehicle. The older something becomes, the more this matters. Even the market recognises this with original vehicles, whether in the form of them being largely untouched or sympathetically restored to original configuration, fetching premium prices. Thus, when we and our vehicles are younger, we may modify them to suit ourselves with the cry “it’s mine and I’ll do with it what I want” being often heard. As they, and we age, I feel more respect is called for and originality thus becomes more important. Would you put a brake servo on a veteran car? Issues of safety, especially on modern day roads cannot be totally ignored though.
5. Questions of reliability
This may seem a strange one, but any changes we make must consider whether we are actually making the car electrics, or indeed other systems, less reliable. This alone is a good reason for avoiding the use of high-tech wizardry as the higher the tech the more chance of it failing. This is really stating the obvious as if something is not fitted it cannot fail.
Some take hi-tech to extremes however, and I have even heard of an LED unit which has its own software-based controller, though I am unsure if this is commercially available. This may be an interesting intellectual exercise but I feel it is seriously disrespectful to ageing machinery. Nevertheless, there is a belief that by fitting, say, an electronic ignition system, we are improving reliability. This is only true if our view of reliability is reduced to extending the time between failures.
There is an alternative way of looking at things, however, which acknowledges that the original system may be more likely to fail earlier than the high tech one, but this is only because it contains more user serviceable parts. There are people who when asked on a bulletin board for how to approach the repair of a generator control box will helpfully recommend fitting a solid state insert which, while it may be capable of giving improved regulation – if setup correctly – in reality it replaces a little understood item with one which only the designer really understands. It also ignores the inherent reliability and effectiveness of the original unit thousands of which are still working satisfactorily after all these years. Will the solid state insert last as long? Remember it contains a lot more parts to fail and do you really understand how it works? And, besides, aren’t we trying to avoid turning our pride and joy into a commodity?
In an old car movement, which is moving from being populated by people who have dirt under their fingernails to those who have large wallets, the understanding of routine service has moved from being something we do to something we pay for. The loss of technical knowledge that accompanies this means that we are prone to believe hi-tech is always better. It may last longer but when it fails it does so suddenly, leaving us stranded and unable to fix something we don’t actually understand, whereas the original system would often allow us to limp home rather than have to call the breakdown service. A little knowledge, and routine servicing, is our saviour at times like this.
Having said all this it has to be said that some aspects of old cars’ reliability can gain by some degree of modification. Here we have to acknowledge that the Y-Type has a particular Achilles heel in the self-cancelling mechanism and the slip ring arrangement to enable the horn and indicator wiring to operate as the steering column turns. Such a mechanism can usefully be bypassed by an auxiliary horn and indicator switch mounted on a separate, relatively low tech, panel as I have done which avoids the mechanical problems of the original. More compromise with originality! Please don’t call me a hypocrite.
6. Practical considerations At the front of the car not too much compromise has to be made in order to avoid fitting supplementary indicator units which are arguably fairly ugly by design. In order to avoid this, I have used the small size of the modern LED bulbs now becoming available to fit both indicators and sidelights in the front Lucas 1130 “torpedo” lights though I have had to use the smaller BA 9s fittings to squeeze them in.
Specialists will sell you 1130 inserts with the larger BA15d fitments intended for a single twin filament bulb. These work satisfactorily when used with filament bulbs but have the disadvantage that both clear and amber colours cannot be got within a single bulb without going to LEDs.
Although here in the UK clear indicators at the front are, I believe, legal, as are red at the rear, I feel that amber indicators may avoid too much scrutiny by the uninitiated and at least give a nod to the expectations of other road users. My original solution to this on my TC when still using filament bulbs was to use two with BA9s fitments which were originally produced, I believe, for motorcycles. Using two separate bulbs also avoids the “stray voltage” problem which I came across on my J2 when I fitted LEDs. The use of two bulbs allowed an easy conversion to LEDs as smaller BA9s units became available along with a variety of colours. In my case, having retained positive earth I had to use an insulator between the metal of the mounting with nylon fixing bolts as well as reverse the bulb connections in order to use easily, and cheaply, available negative earth bulbs. Perhaps somebody will start producing these inserts by 3D printing. Isn’t technology wonderful – sometimes! (Diagram and picture follow).
At the rear, our ST51 or “D” lamps, require a little more ingenuity. When I rebuilt my TC in the early 1990s, before small, coloured and really bright LED bulbs became available, two bulbs per unit, for brake and sidelights, sufficed as I built a relay unit to emulate the later TD and TF system in which the same filament was used for both brakes and indicators. This was achieved by flashing (or occulting) the brake lights when both were in use. In the YB I have used an arguably better (some would say “safer”) system by separating the two out. This simplifies things by doing away with the need for the relay unit but does call for yet another bulb to be shoehorned into an enclosure originally designed for only one. In fact, I ended up squeezing two twin filament LED units in either side consisting of indicator, brake, side and reversing lights. This has provided two brake lights and two reversing lights, unlike the singles of the original cars. With two bulbs in one I have had to use positive earth bulbs, although for convenience I have also used an insulating partition similar to the metal original found in some ST51 enclosures, while using the necessary BA15d bulb holders. The “s”&”d” suffixes indicate single or double contacts. This is probably the place to point out that BA15d holders and bulbs come in two types with either equal or offset locating pins. I have used offset pin bulbs which ensure that bulbs are always inserted the same way around. This matches the commonly available bulbs but I could only find equal pin holders requiring a few minutes work with a rat tail file sort out.
This can also be done on T Type with proper indicators working on both sides of the car rather than relying on little understood hand signals. The single, puny lamp of the original has also probably been long replaced by two, though in the case of T- Types, reversing lamps would not normally be used. The insert sellers will tell you that red LEDs work better than white behind the red lenses of the original units. I have found that this is true as a white LEDs output is in a different part of the light frequency spectrum from an incandescent bulb and so they don’t look quite as red. Indeed, I have found some original lenses where both warm and cool white LED bulbs show a slightly more amber colour. This may arguably be a useful effect if used for emulating the modern amber indicators but how well this works is still to be fully evaluated. I therefore decided to use red LEDs for the brake lights and reversing lights in the outer halves of the ST51 units and white LEDs in the inner halves for the Indicators and Sidelights.
By this means I was also able to use white light through a clear side lens for the number plate illumination. This involved some compromise with the revering lamps as it would undoubtedly be better if they were white but I feel red would work well enough, especially as there are now two, rather than the single of the original car. To use white reversing lights would require a white lens which would not work for the indicators. I decided to use the brighter half of the two bulbs for the brake lights and indicators for safety reasons, relegating the reversing lamps and side lights to the less bright half. This is normal for the original filament bulbs where side lights are 5w and brake lights and indicators are 21w. The slight difference in colour between the white and red bulbs of the brake and indicators may be an advantage when both are on together. I could have used the same bulb, in the outer section, for side and brake lights respectively and gained a certain amount of white light for the reversing light in the inner partition from the number plate window but I feel this would be marginal and besides it would require some sort of interconnection between the red sidelight in the outer partition and the white bulb in the inner partition to provide number plate illumination. A couple of diodes would, I am sure, have sufficed for this but I rejected it as just that bit too complex.
Finally, may I please put in a plea for the original semaphores? It would be sad to see their idiosyncrasy lost in the name of progress, reliability or safety so I have managed to retain them in working condition even if their need has been bypassed. The smiles on the onlookers’ faces make their refurbishment well worthwhile.
Some years ago in the US, I spotted a new small car with skinny 19” wheels. It turned out to be a BMW i3 electric car. On return to Australia I did some research, to find the tyres were 155/70/19”R. Over subsequent months and years, whenever I located these tyres there was always only one available in the whole country.
Meanwhile, my Dunlop B5s were rapidly wearing thin, then we got the news that no more were to be made, and my experience with the several copies available has not been good. I don’t mind 16” wheels on my Café Racer but not on my 600,000+ mile TC which, apart from a few sojourns across Australia and back has always been on 19” wheels in the 62 years I have owned and driven it.
This led to a renewal of interest in the BMW tyres known to me as Bridgestone Ecopia 500 155/70/19R. My local Bridgestone outlet (on Canning Hwy Victoria Park) was most helpful in finding some 23 of these tyres in South Australia. Armed with this information I bit the bullet and ordered one to try. Off came the old Dunlop B5 and on went the 19” radial, an easy fit. It looked the business although the diameter was a bit smaller and it did look a bit modern, but overall, I liked it and ordered the other 3. A week later they arrived and all 4 went on to TC/9491. The tyre itself was soft and compliant and needed the minimum of balancing weights. Spinning them up on the front of the jacked-up car was the first revelation – they were round! A tentative brisk run around the block and a brief run down the freeway had me convinced they were going to be good.
A Club run followed on the weekend involving a spirited 60 miles or so over undulating, twisty roads. Running with 30psi front and 32 rear, I could not believe the difference: It was like riding on air, the car felt like it was on rails (to coin a phrase), more stable than I’ve ever experienced, and pulled the car up beautifully when a panic stop presented itself. I’ve yet to try them in the wet, but I bet they are going to perform better than anything in my Dunlop past.
Michael Sherrell.
Editor’s note: I Google’d the BMW i3 electric car and sure enough there it was, standing on its 19 inch wheels and skinny tyres. I tuned in to one of the video reviews where it was said that the car “has big 19 inch or 20 inch wheels and super thin tyres to give the car a lower contact road resistance”. The car was launched in 2013. I think the 19 inch wheels were on the early models and the 20 inch came later.
If you look closely at the brass plate which can be found on your T-Type radiator, you will see that it is embossed like the picture below.
Yes, I know the title of this article is Osberton Radiators, but this is explained below – read on….
We need to go back to 1912 when W R Morris (Lord Nuffield) formed a company (WRM Motors Ltd) for the manufacture of the Morris motor car in Oxford. One year later the first Morris Oxford was built and production was rapidly stepped up over the ensuing years. William Morris needed reliability of supply for the assembly of his cars and suppliers who could keep up with the pace of his production. At the outset the radiators for his cars were supplied by Doherty Motor Components in Coventry. However, as there were concerns about this company’s ability to supply sufficient quantities against the backdrop of ever-increasing car production, Doherty Motor Components were persuaded in 1919 to establish a branch in Osberton Road, Oxford in a former roller-skating rink owned by Morris (in the pagoda shaped building pictured below).
According to John Presnell’s book MORRIS THE CARS AND THE COMPANY ISBN 978 I 85960 996 5 William Morris later provided the resources to the factory’s two foremen, H. A. Ryder and A. L. Davis, to buy out the company and Osberton Radiators was formed.
The Osberton Radiators Facebook page charts the progress of the Company from its modest beginnings to a major manufacturing company.
According to an old report in The Oxford Mail newspaper quoted on the Facebook page, Osberton Radiators got off to a shaky start. This was because the cooling elements of early radiators were made of brass, steel and copper, soldered together ….. but most of the ten workers employed had never seen, let alone used, a soldering iron! To overcome this skills deficiency the employees were issued with instruction sheets and parts for a metal toy aeroplane were ordered for them to put it together and so practise and develop the art of soldering.
It would appear from the picture below that the workers soon acquired the necessary skills and Bullnose Morris radiators were being produced.
In 1923 William Morris (WRM) bought the Company ‘in house’ and it was then part of the Morris ‘empire’ as Radiators Branch. By 1925 manufacturing operations were transferred to a new site on Bainton Road. Part of this factory was used on a temporary basis for M.G. production until September 1927. This was necessary because of the cramped conditions at Alfred Lane, where some of the early M.G.s were built. The increasing demand for M.G.s rendered Alfred Lane entirely unsuitable, so Kimber asked W.R.M. if at least one bay at Bainton Road could be rented by Morris Garages. M.G. moved to a purpose-built factory at Edmund Road, Cowley in 1927.
Mention has been made of the growth of Osberton Radiators (known affectionately by its employees as ‘The Rads’). It diversified into producing exhaust systems, petrol tanks, bonnets and sumps. During the Second World War, it contributed hugely to the war effort, making radiators for Merlin-engined Beaufighters, Lancasters, Mosquitoes and Spitfires. Later known as Oxford Automotive Components, it eventually became part of the Unipart Group and continued production until 2001. Between 2002 and 2006 a new housing development was built on the site.
Harold Alfred Ryder, known in the factory as ‘HA’ was made a Director of Morris Motors in 1926.
Acknowledgements to John Presnell’s aforementioned book, the Osberton Radiators Facebook page and McComb’s The Story of the M.G. Sports Car.
Welcome to Issue 70, which is the first issue of 2022.
We are still in the grip of the pandemic, which makes it almost impossible to plan events with any certainty that they will actually take place. I have missed the Totally T-Type 2 Autumn Tours and I know that the regular participants have also missed them. It seems ages since the last one in mid-Wales back in 2019.
No sooner it seems that we think we have ‘turned the corner’ with this dreadful Covid, than a new strain turns up and we are ‘back to square one’.
I was surprised, but delighted, to receive an email from Noeline Beswick, the daughter of Fullerton George Gordon Armstrong, who founded the Armstrong Patents Company (Armstrong Shock Absorbers) in 1926. Noeline was born to her parents in their later years (certainly her father’s later years) and is a septuagenarian She picked up my article entitled Armstrong Shock Absorbers, which was published in Issue 66 (June 2021) through a Google search.
I said that I was so pleased to have this link with the past (her father was born in 1885) and I have since sent her a copy of the magazine. She replied Yes, it’s strange that it all happened a long time ago – and I never really appreciated what my father had done.
She was keen to learn if I had any further information about her father and his company, but I said that I had published everything that I had been able to research. She understood, but was obviously disappointed because It’s my grandchildren who have taken the most interest of late. Asking me lots of questions, which I can’t answer.
UK members will know that the Government has decreed that no new cars with an internal combustion engine (I.C.E.) can be produced after 2030. The ban will not be extended to hybrids until 2035. From 2035 the only NEW cars for purchase will have to be electrically powered (EV). This legislation does not, for the present, apply to motor cycles, farm vehicles, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), aviation and ships.
A You-Tube video, well worth watching, presents some startling facts and figures on emissions. If you google ‘The End of Classic Cars?’ you might feel a little better after viewing this. Skip the adverts and settle down for about 20 minutes viewing. I must point out however, that as far as I know, the claims have not been independently verified.
You will have noticed that the legislation does not, for the present, apply to aviation; small wonder when it has been estimated that even with 30 times denser batteries, a medium size aircraft (A320) would only be able to fly one fifth of the distance and carry half the payload compared to what is achievable by power provided by current means.
The video presenter quotes the often-held view of Society in general that classic cars are bad for the environment. However, by using the average yearly mileage (1,200) of a classic car at 20 miles per gallon, it is claimed that the CO2 produced (651kg) is less than half of that produced if one uses a lap-top every day (1400kg).
Perhaps the most revealing (and comforting, if true) statistic for us is that it has been estimated that we can drive our classic cars for 36 years and only generate the same emissions as an electric vehicle emerging out of the factory before it has done even one mile. The stated reason for this is that the manufacturing process for electric vehicles is responsible for the lion’s share of its emissions, whereas we have no manufacturing process as ours were built over 85 years ago (for our oldest model) – sunk costs!
Later in this issue you can read the conclusion of my project to establish how many TAs are on the road in the UK. In broad terms, out of 600 cars recorded as being in the UK and identifiable from the DVLA search facility, over 300 (more than 50%) are taxed and on the road. I have worked with Stewart Penfound of the T Register and with Roger Muir of the MG Octagon Car Club and I am grateful for their assistance. The front cover ‘action shot’, taken by photographer, Mike Griffin, is of Bob Lyell in his TC on the VSCC’s Cheshire Autumn Rally. Thanks also to Jens Clasen from Hamburg for this wonderful seasonal picture.
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