The Editor

Welcome to Issue 73 – August 2022.

There doesn’t seem too much to laugh about these days in the UK, but a note in the post from Martin Franklin made me grin. Martin is the TC owner (I’d better say ‘supercharged TC’) who sent in the Warning! “This machine is subject to breakdowns” etc., etc., which appeared in April’s TTT 2. His latest ‘pearl of wisdom’, which is situated on the passenger side dashboard of his TC, was gleaned from a newspaper article over 30 years ago and is as relevant today as when it first appeared. Here goes….

Drivers of vintage cars tend to be Bulldog Drummond types, who regard rain, hail, sleet, snow, fire and freezing fog with cavalier contempt.

“Put the hood up? – you must be joking old chap!”

In their world, the thrill of thundering along in the open air is measured by the number of flies lodged between teeth clenched tighter than the doors of Fort Knox.

These wind-blasted road warriors maintain the belief that he who suffers in this life is guaranteed freedom from speed limits, contra flows and traffic lights on the motorway to Nirvana.                                                                                

Ed’s note: Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond is a fictional character, created by H. C. McNeile and published under his pen name “Sapper”. Following McNeile’s death in 1937, the novels were continued by Gerard Fairlie. Drummond is a First World War veteran who, fed up with his sedate lifestyle, advertises looking for excitement, and becomes a gentleman adventurer. The character has appeared in novels, short stories, on the stage, in films, on radio and television, and in graphic novels.

Nirvana (in Buddhism) a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth. It represents the final goal of Buddhism.

(Nirvana was also an American rock group).

Accreditation is due to Wikipedia to whom a small donation will be sent.

We had a visit in July from Douglas Wallace and his friend, Derek Simpson. Douglas lives in Bali, Indonesia and it was his first trip back to the UK since 2019 – Derek looks after Doug’s cars (TC, TD and MGA) over here. They were on their way in Doug’s MGA to his native Scotland, via Brian Taylor’s garage in Shropshire where Doug is having work done on his PB. It’s always good to welcome them both and there’s always so much ‘catch up’ to do that the time flies by.

Also in July, I called in on Charles Penny in Malvern.

I have a standing invitation from Charles to call in for coffee whenever in the area, but until now I haven’t been able to make it. Happily, I needed to collect my rebuilt J2 carburetters from Ed Biddle, who is also in Malvern, so it was a ‘fuel efficient visit’. From Malvern, I motored up the M5, across the M42 and down the M40 to the Fosse Way and Brian Rainbow’s house in Harbury (just off the Fosse) to collect the cylinder head for my TF1500. The journey back home, free of motorways down the Fosse was quite delightful.

For the benefit of our overseas readers, the Fosse is an old Roman road, which was built to link Exeter in the south west to Lincoln in the north east via Ilchester, Bath, Cirencester and Leicester.

This issue’s front cover features Ron Ward’s 90 bhp TC, which is advertised for sale as ‘last article’. Ron is also advertising his spare engine in the ‘Bits & Pieces’ section. Also in this section, Digby Elliott is advertising a TC rolling chassis.

Returning to my visit to Charles Penny, I took the opportunity to have good look at ‘Tizi’, his TA and also his TF1500, which is being recommissioned for the road. Whilst we were discussing getting things done, Charles came up with the following:

The Doers Do. The Dossers Don’t.

The Denigrators denigrate the doers.

They are the most Dangerous as they prevent progress.

The Delegators are determined that others, any others, do the doing.

Dreamers dream of being Doers.

The Destroyers destroy all that the Doers do.

They are the Damned.

The Determined press on.

Oh, to be a Determined Doer! It is but a Dream.

As many of you know, I do registration work for the MG Octagon Car Club. You’ll also know that I have locked horns on many occasions with the DVLA. The latest contretemps was over an application to recover the original registration number for a YA. The case had been ongoing for several months (I won’t bore you with the details). Just as I was giving up hope, I received an email from the member saying that a V5C had been received for the original registration number, but it wasn’t for a 1947 MG YA ….it was for a 1947 Wacker Neusone!

JOHN JAMES