This page concentrates on the MGs that make up part of our collection. The interest in MGs comes mainly from Jane's family.
Click on the links below to see the sections on each car
Click on the links below to see the sections on each car
This is the N-type which Mike Allison calls the NO. Its a supercharged NB with an NE body fitted and is the car that started Jane's racing career.
Jane Metcalfe leads Tim Metcalfe at VSCC Cadwell Park 2008 (photo Mark Ballard)
Below is a potted history of the car written by Mike.
MG Magnette, chassis number: NA 0995, Engine number: 653AKD,
Registration number: MG3694
The car was built on the last manufactured chassis frame of the NA Magnette.
This car was actually built as a four seat tourer, being completed in November 1935, and was sold to the noted trials driver, W.H. (Bill) Haden, who fitted a supercharger and used the car in a few trials before exchanging the car at the MG Factory for a trials prepared T-series car in April 1936. The car was originally registered BAD 698.
The next owner was W.F. (Walter) Furey of Bangor, County Antrim. According to his former mechanic the car was in lieu of factory support, having won the Bangor
200 mile race, which counted as the Irish Grand Prix in 1935, driving another N-type. He went on to win the same race in 1936, driving a supercharged car, at some ten miles per hour faster speed! It is understood that this second car was the one Furey had been given by Kimber at MG, but fitted with the two seater special body from the 1935 car.
The car was bought by Mike Allison from an intermediary who had bought it in Belfast. This purchase was in 1973.
In 1988 it was decided to rebuild the car as a racing special, along the lines of the NE racing cars, which had run in the Ulster TT races in 1934 and '35. One of these cars had been run with a supercharger and preselector gearbox in 1936/39 by F.W.Carr and others, and we have records of this car at Brooklands, and Crystal Palace, as well as a few photographs. This actual car is currently in the care of Peter Thelander in California, although now restored to its 1934 condition.
Since 1991, the car has competed in England and abroad. It is painted in "reverse" MG factory paint colours of brown and cream, rather than cream and brown. It also sports an 1100cc engine as Peter's car had when it ran in 1936/9.
MG Magnette, chassis number: NA 0995, Engine number: 653AKD,
Registration number: MG3694
The car was built on the last manufactured chassis frame of the NA Magnette.
This car was actually built as a four seat tourer, being completed in November 1935, and was sold to the noted trials driver, W.H. (Bill) Haden, who fitted a supercharger and used the car in a few trials before exchanging the car at the MG Factory for a trials prepared T-series car in April 1936. The car was originally registered BAD 698.
The next owner was W.F. (Walter) Furey of Bangor, County Antrim. According to his former mechanic the car was in lieu of factory support, having won the Bangor
200 mile race, which counted as the Irish Grand Prix in 1935, driving another N-type. He went on to win the same race in 1936, driving a supercharged car, at some ten miles per hour faster speed! It is understood that this second car was the one Furey had been given by Kimber at MG, but fitted with the two seater special body from the 1935 car.
The car was bought by Mike Allison from an intermediary who had bought it in Belfast. This purchase was in 1973.
In 1988 it was decided to rebuild the car as a racing special, along the lines of the NE racing cars, which had run in the Ulster TT races in 1934 and '35. One of these cars had been run with a supercharger and preselector gearbox in 1936/39 by F.W.Carr and others, and we have records of this car at Brooklands, and Crystal Palace, as well as a few photographs. This actual car is currently in the care of Peter Thelander in California, although now restored to its 1934 condition.
Since 1991, the car has competed in England and abroad. It is painted in "reverse" MG factory paint colours of brown and cream, rather than cream and brown. It also sports an 1100cc engine as Peter's car had when it ran in 1936/9.
Mike Allison, Peter Fenichel, Sarah Adams-Diffey, Jane Metcalfe, VSCC Donington Ladies Race, September 2009.
The N-type being driven by Sarah Adams-Diffey in this race
The N-type being driven by Sarah Adams-Diffey in this race
N Type VSCC Cadwell Park 2008
The two family N-types, MMM Register Summer Gathering 2009
JB 3852 in Sweden on the 1935 Monte Carlo Rally
This car has been in Jane's family since 1961 and is considered one of the Allisons! The following brief history was written by Jane's father Mike Allison.
MG Magnette, chassis number: NA 0307, Engine number: 553AN,
Registration number: JB 3852
This car was built in 1934, and first registered on 4 April of that year in the name of the MG Car Company Ltd. It was used as a demonstrator car, and featured in a number of works photographs as an example of a standard two-seat sports model. During June, it was stolen, but later returned to the Factory in rather worse condition than it had left.
In July, a car was needed for the journalist, Humfrey Symons to drive in the Alpine Trial. Accordingly the engine was tuned, raising the compression ratio, and fitting larger carburettors, and successfully completing the course of around 1000 miles in the Swiss and Austrian Alps, winning its class, and gaining a Glacier Cup. The car was then returned to the Factory, but Symons was so pleased he asked if he could use it again in the Monte Carlo Rally in January of the following year, a request which was ceded to in principle.
JB 3852 on the front cover of Autocar Magazine after winning the Glacier Cup in the 1934 Alpine Trial
JB 3852 trialing in 1934
Symons read the regulations, and in discussion with Kimber and Jackson at Abingdon, decided that a supercharged car was needed. Kimber pointed out that the K3 model had ceased production, and that there were no plans for a similar car, but Jackson said why not use the NA fitted with a K3 blower. This was planned, and the car was to be fitted with a preselector gearbox and sundry other minor modifications. It was decided that, in view of the rough terrain to be encountered, that the new 16” wheels, with large section tyres would be used, in place of the standard 18” wheels. All this work was undertaken, and then Symons said that he proposed to start from Umea in north Sweden. This was a problem, as with a supercharger, it was considered important to use Castor oil in the engine, and this tended to get very viscous at low temperatures.
The car was eventually tested on a circular route, from Abingdon, to Wantage, out to Newbury, and then back along the A34 to Abingdon (in the days long before by-pass roads were built). The drivers for this test were Reg Jackson and Fred Kindell, who was to accompany Symons in the Rally. The achieved, I was told, 6000rpm along the road between Venn Mill and East Hannay (roughly 2 miles) on loose surface roads: this equates to 100mph! The car also climbed Chain Hill in top gear, this in days when most cars struggled up in second or at best third!
Sadly the Rally was not kind! They reached Umea (That is the English spelling, losing the accents, which is pronounced UM-YORR, as near as I can represent it) without
drama. The oil and water were drained, and reheated in the morning over a stove, before pouring it back and starting the engine. Kindell was forced to lag the sump, as the air temperature was said to be -25 degrees C. However, with a couple of excursions they eventually reached Monaco, with a “clean sheet”, i.e. no penalties. One of four cars to do so that year, so Symons and Kindell were in with a chance of the outright win, with only the final driving test to decide who actually won. Two of the other cars messed the test up, and a Hotchkiss drove gently to record a time. The MG was well capable of beating this time, but it was not to be, for Symons crashed into one of the pylons, severely bending the front axle. It was said the steering box had failed, but the evidence eventually found that Symons himself was to blame, and that the broken steering was a result of the accident.
The car was eventually tested on a circular route, from Abingdon, to Wantage, out to Newbury, and then back along the A34 to Abingdon (in the days long before by-pass roads were built). The drivers for this test were Reg Jackson and Fred Kindell, who was to accompany Symons in the Rally. The achieved, I was told, 6000rpm along the road between Venn Mill and East Hannay (roughly 2 miles) on loose surface roads: this equates to 100mph! The car also climbed Chain Hill in top gear, this in days when most cars struggled up in second or at best third!
Sadly the Rally was not kind! They reached Umea (That is the English spelling, losing the accents, which is pronounced UM-YORR, as near as I can represent it) without
drama. The oil and water were drained, and reheated in the morning over a stove, before pouring it back and starting the engine. Kindell was forced to lag the sump, as the air temperature was said to be -25 degrees C. However, with a couple of excursions they eventually reached Monaco, with a “clean sheet”, i.e. no penalties. One of four cars to do so that year, so Symons and Kindell were in with a chance of the outright win, with only the final driving test to decide who actually won. Two of the other cars messed the test up, and a Hotchkiss drove gently to record a time. The MG was well capable of beating this time, but it was not to be, for Symons crashed into one of the pylons, severely bending the front axle. It was said the steering box had failed, but the evidence eventually found that Symons himself was to blame, and that the broken steering was a result of the accident.
Symons and Kindell on the 1935 Monte Carlo Rally
1935 Monte Carlo Rally
Kindell repaired the car, using spares from a local dealer, and drove it home, where it was given a superficial overhaul and sold to Eastbourne MG Dealer, Harold Parkinson. Parkinson picked the car up from the Boundary House, then Kimber’s residence, and drove back to Lewes, where he lived. Parkinson owned the car
until 1946, running it in the RAC Rally in 1936, 37 and 38, winning a gold medal each time, so he said. He also ran it in the Lewes and Brighton Speed Trials.
Harold Parkinson Lewes Speed Trials [1937]
After the war a chap called Collins drove the car, eventually buying it. He ran it at early Goodwood race meetings in handicap events, but in 1949 Derek Davis of Hove
bought it, and he ran it until 1953. He used the car in rallies and Sprints, especially at Brighton, and sundry airfield circuits which had sprung up after the war. The car was fitted with a lightweight aluminium body in 1952, to keep the old car competitive in the two-litre class it was forced into by the rules of the day. However, he declared to me that he never liked the aesthetic results, and sold the car to Ken Rudd in part-exchange for an AC Ace. It passed to an RAF pilot called Peter Hills, who raced it in suitable events, without real success. The someone called Buchanan had it for a year, before a naval Officer, called David Layard bought it, overhauled it (losing the preselector in
the process!) and ran the cars in VSCC meetings for a number of years, until 1959. The car by this time was called an NE, which it never was!
bought it, and he ran it until 1953. He used the car in rallies and Sprints, especially at Brighton, and sundry airfield circuits which had sprung up after the war. The car was fitted with a lightweight aluminium body in 1952, to keep the old car competitive in the two-litre class it was forced into by the rules of the day. However, he declared to me that he never liked the aesthetic results, and sold the car to Ken Rudd in part-exchange for an AC Ace. It passed to an RAF pilot called Peter Hills, who raced it in suitable events, without real success. The someone called Buchanan had it for a year, before a naval Officer, called David Layard bought it, overhauled it (losing the preselector in
the process!) and ran the cars in VSCC meetings for a number of years, until 1959. The car by this time was called an NE, which it never was!
Collins Brighton Speed Trials 1947
Layard sold the car to Stan Richardson, the MG Dealer, who had just moved to Staines. Richardson was loath to sell it at first, as it had excellent acceleration, and
was good to impress customers in! I saw the car, and fell in love with it, and eventually bought it from Richardson in December 1961.
I ran the car in a March Brands Hatch Sprint, but the engine was tired, and a piston collapsed. The engine was rebuilt, and then I ran the car for three years with some good results, but then the Triple-M Register, in which the car is listed as Number 1, was trying to encourage owners to restore to original. The car was taken off the road, and completely rebuilt, using a body of a scrapped car (NA0357) as pattern for a new body. At this stage, no one had undertaken a rebuild of a Magnette body, but with help from my father, who rough cut the timbers, and Jack Herring of MG, we got the frame rebuilt. Billy Wilkins of MG then was persuaded to panel it, and to make a new blower cowl, the latter in Works time, although I cut the metal sheet out for him to weld up. The body was then trimmed by Arthur Archer, and I painted it with advice from Jackie Butler, the MG paint foreman. The rebuilt car appeared at MG Silverstone in May 1969.
was good to impress customers in! I saw the car, and fell in love with it, and eventually bought it from Richardson in December 1961.
I ran the car in a March Brands Hatch Sprint, but the engine was tired, and a piston collapsed. The engine was rebuilt, and then I ran the car for three years with some good results, but then the Triple-M Register, in which the car is listed as Number 1, was trying to encourage owners to restore to original. The car was taken off the road, and completely rebuilt, using a body of a scrapped car (NA0357) as pattern for a new body. At this stage, no one had undertaken a rebuild of a Magnette body, but with help from my father, who rough cut the timbers, and Jack Herring of MG, we got the frame rebuilt. Billy Wilkins of MG then was persuaded to panel it, and to make a new blower cowl, the latter in Works time, although I cut the metal sheet out for him to weld up. The body was then trimmed by Arthur Archer, and I painted it with advice from Jackie Butler, the MG paint foreman. The rebuilt car appeared at MG Silverstone in May 1969.
JB 3852 National Motor Museum 1973
It was then raced, sprinted, trialled and rallied consistently and year on year. It was the only car in the family for a short time in the seventies, so took me to work many times, Up to 1990, I was able to put hand on heart and state that I had covered over 100000 miles in the car… exactly how many I could not say, as the speedometer did not work.
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In 1991 I built up another car, and once that was complete carried out a mechanical overhaul of JB3852. I decided not to replace the crankshaft, which was a mistake, as two years later it broke, which resulted in another expensive overhaul! While “doing” the engine, I had the blower overhauled by Derek Chinn, and relined the gearbox.
In 2001 I ran the car for the last time at the MG Car Club Silverstone finishing not far behind my daughter Jane in the “newer”car, and then passed it to David, my son, who ran it until 2008, and passed it to his sister.
The car is a wonderful machine, with a good road performance, although the brakes require an appointment to work efficiently! In a straight line it will keep up with all but the hottest MGBs, and corners well. It will still take Chain Hill in top, but I have never been brave enough to try for the “ton” on the East Hannay straight: Reg Jackson was a braver man than I Gunga Din!
Engine: Single OHC MG, six cylinder, 1271cc, supercharged, producing well in excess of 100 bhp at 5700 rpm.
Gearbox: Four speed and reverse preselector, made by ENV Gears of London.
Rear axle: Bevel gears, 4.875:1, giving 16.5 mph per 1000rpm. (6000 rpm = 99mph)
Wheels: 16” well-base, at least two are believed to be original Monte Carlo wheels! 550 x16 tyres used.