Welcome to Issue 41, April 2017. Profuse apologies for the unavoidable delay, but the June issue will not be far behind – just like the proverbial London bus you wait ages for one and then two turn up together!
I recently had my bus pass renewal and see that the expiry date is 2023. For the benefit of overseas readers, when you reach State retirement age in the UK, you are issued, together with your retirement pension, a bus pass, which entitles you to free bus travel in your local area (which can be quite large).
So, what’s the significance of 2023? Well, of course, it’s the centenary of MG sports car production which commenced in 1923. The first cars were the six Raworth-bodied MGs advertised as the M.G. Super Sports Morris, one of which was first registered on 16th August 1923 as FC 5581 and delivered to John Oliver Arkell on 5th September 1923. Already there seems to be a head of steam building up for a centenary celebration in 2023 with a recent mention in the MG Octagon Car Club’s Bulletin and a proposal from The Pre-War MG Register of Australia to be put to the delegates of all the MG Car Clubs in Australia at the MG National Meeting in Adelaide on 18th April. Full details were reproduced in the April issue of Enjoying MG, the monthly magazine of the MG Owners Club.
The front cover features Jean Vignau’s TB0592 with, in the background, the castle of Saint Jean-Poutge, built during the 13th century when the kings of France and England were fighting for the sovereignty of Gascony. Jean has penned a fascinating article about his MG experiences, going back more than 50 years.
Michael Sherrell has published his sequel to TCs Forever! which is aptly titled TCs Forever-More! I have written a review of the book, which you will find later in this issue.
We enjoyed a most successful Stoneleigh event in February, both with the sale of books from the T-Shop and with donations totalling £90. Since we launched THE MG ‘T’ SOCIETY LIMITED our donations total is £311. This total includes a couple of novel ways of making donations with a collection of UK stamps sent from the USA and some TD spares sent from France; both raised useful sums. We do, of course, rely totally on donations for our existence and we now have a PayPal account to receive these. The account is [email protected]
Peter Cole tells me that he now has entries from 35 drivers for the TTT 2 Tour which is based at the Chichester Park Hotel, near Goodwood in Sussex. In addition, he has received 5 requests from drivers in the local area to join the Tour on a daily travel basis.
It is not too late to book for the Tour but it might be a good idea to first check with Peter. His e-mail address is as follows: pcoleuk(at)gmail.com {substitute @ for (at)}.
I have received notification of a couple of events in May. The first takes place on 6th May at Albury Village Hall (between Ware and Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire). It is a film show with a guest speaker and the theme for the day is The Jaguar Car Company History. Full details are given in the ‘Bits & Pieces’ section of this issue.
The second takes place on 28th May in Scotland. It is a pre-’56 event, organised by the Caledonian Centre of the MGCC. Full details are given in the ‘Bits & Pieces’ section of this issue.
I made two mistakes in the last issue. I referred to Brad Purvis’ car as a TF. I ‘pray in aid’ that the ‘F’ and the ‘D’ are next to each other on the keyboard. I also referred to Sergio Pagano’s car as a TA Tickford. It is a TB Tickford (TB0362). I apologise for these errors.
Since the last issue, Sergio has sent me a selection of photos of the rebuild. I’ll reproduce some of these in the next issue, along with a few more pictures taken by the professional photographer, Daniele Bilotto from Marano Principato (Cosenza) – Italy.
Now for some ‘domestic’ issues. I recently learnt that Orange UK is to ‘wipe’ the ‘fsbusiness’ e-mail addresses by the end of May. This means that my well known [email protected] address will be no more. In due course I will change to [email protected] and expect to do this by the end of April.
I have received reports of difficulty in adding details to the T-Database. After inputting your car’s chassis number a new screen appears with the prompt “Edit this car’s details”. The first click on this prompt invariably fails, so the solution is to click again and it should work fine.
Finally, we notified you in the last editorial that we intended to wipe the old registration process from our website, this included the facility to receive an automated e-mail whenever a new issue of TTT 2 is uploaded to the website.
This has been actioned and only members who have signed up for membership of the MG ‘T’ SOCIETY LIMITED will now receive this automated e-mail. Joining the Society costs nothing and there is no annual membership fee, nor will there ever be one.
To join now as a member please go to https://ttypes.org/ttt2/join – it only takes a couple of minutes. On receipt, we will process your application and confirm your membership.
JOHN JAMES