Lost & Found

TD9712 (AFL 972)

AFL 972 has been featured before in TTT 2. This time Nick Martin contacted me about the car as it used to belong to his father. I was pleased to be able to put Nick in touch with current owners, David and Sue Barnes. Nick has sent them some period photos from the time Nick’s dad owned the car, one of which is reproduced here.

TC0678 (BAG 322)

BAG 322 was owned in the late 1960s by a young school-teacher. He paid £160 for the car which needed some work. After two new back springs, and new tyres, he left a local garage £70 lighter. The story of the car was featured in the London Evening Standard in 1972 and I would have loved to have reprinted the article and the picture, but having contacted the newspaper it seemed that there might be too many hoops to jump through, and talk of obtaining a licence sent pounds, shillings and pence flashing through my eyes.

Such a pity because the article mentioned the time when the exhaust dropped off in the City with the owner holding up the traffic whilst lying underneath to re-hitch it with the help of two plumbers, who had supplied the all-important jubilee clip. Also, when a half-shaft broke in Islington and a young man in a hearse came to his rescue – no jokes, please!

The car is now owned by John and Sally Reay who purchased it in 2004. The pic shows John with the car, minus its 1960s style chequered grill.

BAG 322 underwent some major restoration in 1990 by its previous owner, and John has continued with some running restoration works since.

TA???? (EXR 443)

This is EXR 443, thought to be a TA, with Les Belcher at the wheel in his younger days, when in the early 1950s it was his daily driver. Les is 96 and is now in a care home. Paul Albért, who visits Les, managed to find this photo.

The story goes that Les wanted to go to America where he knew job prospects in the early 1950s were better than in England. However, he needed to raise some funds to get there. The opportunity presented itself while Les was in Oxford at a cricket match. He was approached by an interested buyer for the car, but having agreed on a sale price (the sale price is lost in the mists of time) the buyer did not have all the money on him. Apparently, no problem for Les… he took all the money the chap had on him, including all the loose change in his pockets as he reckoned that this would be sufficient to get him to America.

Who was the mystery buyer? Any leads to the contact form on the website, please.

TA2404 (FNU 90)

The May issue of Enjoying MG contained a couple of paragraphs and a photo of this car. Rick Eckersley was seeking information about his father’s old TA. I don’t know if any leads were forthcoming, but it is probably worth giving it an airing under Lost & Found.

It is taxed and so must be on the road. It is XPAG’d and probably still has its Shorrock supercharger.

Any leads to the contact form on the website, please.

Editor’s Note:

This is, sadly, the last ‘Lost & Found’ in TTT 2. It has been enormously successful in tracking down ‘Lost’ cars and has ‘Found’ quite a few. I know that readers have enjoyed the feature and they particularly like the period photographs. The good news is that I am hoping to run the feature in the Octagon Bulletin and will consult with Roger Muir, the Editor, about this.