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 Midget, Magna and Magnette 1929-1936 |
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| MGNA N0541. History: The car arrived in a dismantled state in Cairns North Queensland whilst it was undergoing restoration in the hands of Peter Westerick. The present body was fitted after the war. Details of the car from 1934 to 1946 are unreliable. I have a letter that seems to be fairly accurate in that details therein follow closely other facts that I have gleaned over the years and a letter written in the 1970’s would be more accurate than now as the mind would have been fresher......the letter says in precis. “This originally belonged to John Snow then passed through a few hands then to Angus Robertson and then to Larry Duff after the war who removed the original body and fitted it to a 14hp Rover owned by Charles Stewart [brother of the writer]. The present body was built by Jim Elliott of Newtown NSW, the car was then sold to Len Golding who was a speedway driver who then sold it to Fred Elbourne who appears to have done most of the racing. Fred crashed in practice at Bathurst but it was repaired and driven for a few laps by Fred and the race finished by Ken Tubman [MG K3 driver]. I lost sight of the car after this.”
I have a photo of the car at the Sydney Showgrounds 1947 with the title "F W Elbournes MG typeN Magnette" with racing body and no mudguards. Elbourne owned the car for a number of years and it attended hillclimbs and circuit racing and I have no doubt that further research would uncover more history. The car reappeared in North Queensland probably in the late 1950’s or the early 1960’s and was driven at local races by the owners who were reported to be sugar cane farmers and they seem to have abandoned the car in a field or shed after some engine damage that they could not repair. Crystal Creek north of Townsville is where it ended up and it was acquired by Army Capt Lux. Anabel who already was restoring an MG TC but was persuaded to sell it to Peter Westerick of Cairns who was a marine engineer and who had the ability to repair the engine and complete the restoration during the 1970’s. I acquired it in 1982 and have used it quite a lot early on including Regularity Racing at Lakeside Circuit north of Brisbane. It has been in general use all the time and has had general maintenance such as main bearings rebuilt,new piston rings recently, new Blockley tyres.......still running 18 inch wheels. It is one of the few original Bathurst cars and attended the 2015 Pre War Register National meeting and completed 5 laps of Bathurst circuit. Price 160,000 AUD$ |
