I would appreciate any help that members of this forum may be able to provide on the car (shown below) which I believe to be the J2-based, supercharged Geoff Coles Special. I am pretty sure that the photo shows Geoff Coles alongside the car. The photo was taken in the paddock at Great Auclum and I think it may be in 1958 but I can't be certain.
Can anyone give me some information about the car and Geoff Coles? I am compiling a history of the Great Auclum speed trial/hillclimb and would a) like to get my facts straight and b) do cars, drivers and builders there due credit.
MBK999: This is Geoff Coles' original 'J4 Special' although the only MG J4 parts seem to have been the engine which was built up from spare parts using a Laystall crank & rods. This car was built when Coles lived at Portsmouth hence the MBK registration number which dates from March 1956. Unfortunately I don't know who made the bodywork for this car. The chassis was of fairly standard design at the time it was built and had independent front suspension from a Fiat 500, and as shown in the first photo above Fiat wheels on the front. He later acquired the front brakes from a TR2 prototype and after making these fit the Fiat stubs wire wheels were fitted all round as shown in the second photo from the Kent & Sussex Courier in 1961. This is how I remember this car. It was broken up in 1964 when the engine (& gearbox?) was put into the first of Coles' J4 Replicas which was built on a J2 chassis which came from Ireland. Somewhere I have the chassis number of that J2. One day I'll get the file out and post it on here. Lots of information in there which you would all be interested in I'm sure! Does anyone know what happened to the remains of MBK999. I last saw it in the front garden of Coles' house at Southborough. It isn't registered with that number now. (Probably robbed as a 'nice number' at some later stage and not currently registered to a vehicle?) I don't think Coles retained the number himself.
MBK999
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Posted - 12/01/2015 : 14:38:37
