The Arizona MG 'T' Roadrunner Club, formed January 30, 1976, is: Dedicated to preserving, using and enjoying all MG's - and to those who do so. Membership dues are $25.00 per year (March through February of the next year), members may advertise MG related advertisements free of charge.

Non Club member and commercial adds are $10.00 per issue.

Editor: Ken Martin: 602- 840-3554 Regalia: Danny Young: 602-218-460 TSO: Ralph Cacace: 480-419-7722

AAHC: Ed Battershell: 602-955-0489

Chair: Terri Bounty: 702-275-5561 Vice-Chair: Wyatt Tichenor: 480-434-5887 Sec: Susan McDonald: 623-414-3697 Treas: Bonnie Mater: 480-326-8586 B.M.A.L: Ginny Martin: 602-840-3554 Webmaster: Mike Grogan: 602-380-3188 The Octagon Wheel is the official newsletter

of The Arizona MG 'T' Roadrunner Club. Contributions from the members are encouraged, and every effort will be made to use appropriate material. The editors reserve the right to edit for length and suitability. Opinions expressed are those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the policy or philosophy of The Arizona MG 'T' Roadrunner Club.

JUNE 2020

FROM THE CHAIR'S SEAT

Okay. We are starting to open Arizona a bit, and now it is too hot to drive our little cars! Start thinking ahead to when we will all be allowed to resume group events and func-tions—restaurants, parties, and car events. I know Sherwood and Jane have The Memorial Rites of Spring Rallye ready when it cools back down this Fall. It seems like this has gone on forever, but hopefully soon we can resume our fun gatherings. I hope you are all staying healthy and safe.

We still have about twenty members who have not sent in their dues. I know it is hard to do when we don’t have events to attend. But the bills keep coming. We just paid our insurance so that we will have coverage when we do celebrate our times together again.

Stay Safe, Terri Bounty

AZ. MG T Roadrunners Website: www.arizonamgtroadrunners.org

The Arizona MG “T” Roadrunner Club is affiliated with The New England MG “T” Register

NO EVENTS SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME.

With the cancellation of our Board Breakfast & Event Planning Meeting, we have nothing planned beyond that date. The Memorial Rites of Spring Rallye has been postponed till a later date, probably after it starts to cool down after Summer. Whenever we are able to get together as a Club we will have to get some kind of planning com-mittee or a get together to plan for fu-ture events. Everyone stay safe and we will get through this pandemic!!

We have four members who sent in photos of their MGs under construction in this issue of the newslet-ter. So lets have some more pictures for the July issue of the Octagon Wheel. Ken Martin

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As of this date we have only received 52 of 73 possible renewals. Please review your records to see if you have paid your Club dues for this year, if not make a copy of the dues form in this newsletter and please mail as soon as possible. We would like to get a copy of the new roster out by the end of May. If you are not going to renew your membership this year please E-mail Ken Martin at kmartin410@cox.net and let him know. As a lot of us are staying home now, please take the time to check your records and send in your dues if due. If you have already paid your dues, you should have received an e-mail acknowledgement from our Treasurer. Thanks!

2020 Annual Dues Payment, $25.00 Make payment to: Arizona MG "T" Roadrunners

Mail to: Bonnie Mater 1848 E. Buena Vista Dr. Tempe, Az. 85284 Your name (s) __________________________________________________________________________ Your address __________________________________________________________________________

(as you would like it to appear in the roster) City________________________ State ___________ Zip __________ Home phone _________________ Cell phone __________________ MG "T" series owned, Type________________________ Year ________________ Type ________________________ Year ________________ Other MG's owned _____________________________________________________________________ E-Mail address ________________________________________________________________________ Any corrections or changes from last roster? _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________

PLEASE BE PROMPT WITH THIS SO WE CAN COMPLETE THE NEW ROSTER IN A TIMELY MANNER, AND GET A COPY TO YOU.

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1952 MG TDC Mark II

I received this car from my parents estate, Barbara and Orville Granquist. Orville bought the car on Sept. 17, 1973 from Charles Roush. It was restored by Dave’s Import Service to original condition inside and out September 6, 1990. Driven 205 miles. Kept in parents garage. Car returned to Dave’s Import by me on Nov. 9, 2017 to get the car back on the road. Service at Dave’s complete with mileage from restoration at 581. New tires all around. Although we love the car, a two-seater is just too small for our family.

Asking $14,000 OBO Contact info: normajohansen@cox.net or 480-595-8120, our home phone. Ask for Dan. Car is garaged in central Phoenix at my parents home. Interested buyers can contact us to make arrangements to see and drive the car.

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1950 MG TD

Car Number TD 2870 Engine Serial Number XPAC / TD / LHX 3149 Body Serial Number 5225A 29559

Contact Jerry Gossen at 602-549-1142 or e-mail jgscottsdale@cox.net

This car was originally purchased and registered in Phoenix, Arizona in early 1950. It has had five registered owners, all residents of the Phoenix area. The current owners purchased the vehicle in December 1976. Com-plete ground-up restoration began shortly thereafter, and was completed by Barry Briskman, of Auto's Water Here in Scottsdale, on August 1989. Asking Price $20,000.00

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Scarab MK1

Chuck Schluter reports his work on the TC merely reflects an effort to remove grime, grease and fingerprints. I rarely turned a spanner, but I did use some excellent cleaning material. I worked (played?) on it 'now and then' and thor-oughly enjoyed the process. Chuck also reports that the Abington on the Thames MG Factory is still turning out T-types on schedule.

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From new member Ken Blaisdell. I expect to have the new tires on the chassis this week, so I can drop the engine and gearbox back in. The body is painted, and waiting in the living room.

Also, I built a spring compressor for reinstalling my front shocks after they were rebuilt, and I'd be happy to loan it to any club mem-bers in need. It made the installa-tion of the new springs and the shocks remarkably easy and safe!

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Barry Briskman is hard at work on his 1947 TC while stuck at his Phoenix home. He says this will be his last restoration!!!

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Dave Boyer reports he has been busy work-ing on Gretchen’s 1951 TD. Ken Martin came over and helped me bleed the brakes and various other little jobs that needed to be done.

While there we were able to see the Com-memorative Air Force fly their WW II air-planes to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe and salute to health care workers dealing with the COVID 19 public health emergency. We saw the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell Bomb-er and C-47 Skytrain.

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Cecil Kimber was born in 1888 and, after leaving school, became a sales-man for his father's printing ink busi-ness, He was an early motorcycle enthusiast, and he used damages from a crash which shattered his right leg to buy a light car. That crash left one leg 50 mm shorter than the other, he was unable to serve in World War 1. Instead, during the war years, he moved into the motor business, and worked for the Shef-

field Simplex and AC companies. He was involved in an early unsuc-cessful attempt to build a mass-produced car, and also worked on the design of the original Aston Martin. After the war Kimber became sales manager of Morris Garages. This group of retail garages was built up by William Morris as a side issue, at the same time as he was building his car manufacturing empire. Within a year the Morris Garages general manager resigned, and Kimber took over as manager under Morris. This was Kimber's lucky break. He could organize well and was good with figures, and he soon had the gar-age business under control. He began to occupy himself with a side is-sue, designing special bodywork for Morris chassis.

The Bullnose Morris

The 11.9 hp bullnose Morris in its Oxford and Cowley versions was the Model T Ford of England. Both versions were plain and uninspiring to look at, with the same stubby radiator, short bonnet, high flat wind-screen and big box-shaped body. That styling was outdated even then. Kimber saw plenty of room for improvement. He was in a fine position to experiment, with standard models to work on, a ready supply of parts, firms of specialist body makers on call and the backing of the profitable retail garages. He arranged to buy the Cowley from Morris in chassis form and fit bodywork to his own design.

The Morris Garages Chummy The first Kimber model was the Morris Garages Chummy four-seater, a cleaned-up Cowley, fitted with more elegant bodywork and with the handling improved. Kimber drove his own Chummy in the 1923 Lon-don to Land's End Trial, and qualified for a gold medal. The next model was a two-seater with a raked windscreen and a long flat tail. Only a few of them were built, and they took a long time to sell. In the mean-time the parent firm updated its cars. Kimber found his cars competing with cheaper Morris models, and selling Chummies suddenly called for a lot of time and trouble. But when production of Chummies slowed in 1924 and 1925, Kimber

was able to design and build a number of specials for individual buyers. These were still made from Morris parts with a few suspension and

steering improvements, but they were getting farther away from Morris in looks, with discs over the ugly artillery wheels, raked windscreens and plenty of polished aluminum. Another landmark came in 1924, when a nickname was turned into a trademark. In the May issue of

"Morris Owner", an advertisement for one of the Morris Garages two-seaters showed the initials MG fitted in an octagon. Presently the device

started to appear on the cars, flat cut-out letters on the radiator grilles.

A group of MG company staff, taken at the inaugural luncheon in 1930. Cecil Kimber is pictured in the front row, third from left, and Sir William Morris is standing to his left.

Cecil Kimber's personal transport was a drop-head coupe on a supercharged Magnette chas-sis. The bodywork was by Corsica.

Kimber climbs Bulehills Mine during the 1925 Land's End trial with his specially built overhead valve car, often wrongly referred to as "MG Number One". He won a "First Class Award".

A picture of the old mews garage in Alfred Lane, Oxford, where most of the early MGs were built.

Cecil Kimber

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Old Number One

The car Kimber later said he regarded as the first real MG was an 11.9 hp model registered as FC 7900 in March, 1925. This was Kimber's first real try at a car for use in a sporting event. It was built from Morris parts again, but it was the greatest deviation from standard yet. Kimber lowered the chassis, fitted a special Hotchkiss ohv engine and designed a stark, narrow two-seated body with no provision for roof, tonneau or windscreen. The car cracked its chassis frame on a test run, but otherwise it proved fast and roadworthy. At Easter, 1925, Kimber took it on the Land's End Trial and quali-fied for another gold medal. Strangely, from the get-go Kimber was unsentimental about the car. After the race he sold it to a friend in Lancashire, and it passed through other hands in the next few years. But in 1932 it was bought back by the MG Car Company, fully restored, and hailed as "Old Number One", the first of the MG line. Demand for MGs rose sharply in 1925. Kimber made a distinction between MG specials, on unmodified Morris chassis, and MG sporting models on modified chassis. More sports car features were creeping into the range of bullnose MG designs. One 1926 catalogue told of "the deep mellow note increasing to a dull boom when the throttle is opened".

Flat Radiator Morris

By 1926 Morris headquarters had to admit that their bullnose cars looked painfully out of date. In September that year the first Morris models with flat radiators came out. Because of the parts tie-in MG had to follow suit, and redesign all their models for the shorter, wider and heavier chassis they were getting. One early MG driver described his bullnose four-seater as "the prettiest motor-car I had ever seen, a scaled-down three-litre Bentley at one-third the price". The flat-radiator 14/40 models were a bit of a comedown. They were large, rather high, slabsided cars with Rolls-Royce shape radiators and octagon badges in front of the filler caps. The same early MG man changed his bullnose for a 14/40 in 1928, although he was put off by its ugliness at first. "Closer examination..." he wrote, "...made me forget all about looks. Here ... was every improvement I had ever wanted on my earlier MG, and at a price a few pounds lower than the 1925 figure." Meanwhile, in 1928 news came of the first MG race victory, in Argentina. A 14/40 tourer led the finishers home at 100 km/h (62 mph) on the San Martin track in Buenos Aires. This gave Kimber's thinking another push toward competition cars.

Demand Grows

Demand for MGs was increasing, and Kimber planned to build 10 a week. The garage premises were short on space, and he persuaded Morris to build MG a new 16,000 factory at Cowley. At the same time, Kimber's branch of the Morris empire was changing from colonial to dominion status. In 1928 the MG Car Company was founded. By now Kimber was decorating his cars all over the MG octagon badge. An octagonal instrument panel replaced the oval one, hubcaps with MG badges were made, and little octagons appeared on engine parts and the accelerator pedal. Kimber hated hear-ing his cars called "re-bodied Morrises", and he was ready to go to any length to show the difference. People later joked that he would have fitted octagonal pistons if he could. MG was still only on the fringe of the sports car world. But in 1927 events in other parts of the Morris domains were opening the way ahead. Morris was envious of the success his rival, Herbert Austin, was having with the tiny Austin Seven. He decided to produce a baby car too, and when he took over the Wolseley company he found they had already designed the right engine. The 847cm3 Wolseley engine, based on Hispano-Suiza aero engines, had to be detuned for use in a family car. But Kimber learned of it and took over one experimental Minor chassis and original engine, and fit-ted a light two-seater sports chassis. This was the first MG Midget. Very few changes to the chassis were needed. The suspension was lowered, the steering rake was increased and the gear-change and pedal layout was changed a little. The body was very simple, fabric-covered plywood panels on an ash frame with a pointed boat-tail for luggage and the spare wheel. The Midget's windscreen was fixed and pointed with a centre strut. The roof was basic. The wheels under the fixed cycle guards were standard Minor wire ones, with MG hubcaps. The whole thing weighed just over 10 hundredweight (506kg) The Midget first appeared at the 1928 Olympia Motor Show, the first where MG had a separate stand, beside the new 18/80 MG Six. The Six was a large sporting model with a heavily redesigned 2468cm3 six-cylinder engine, twin carbu-rettors, and knock-on wire wheels. It could approach 130 km/h, and out-accelerate a three-litre Lagonda Six. The Midget and the 18/80 were the first MGs to carry the classic MG radiator shell, low-peaked, tapering slightly to the bottom, with a fine centre rib.

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Abingdon-on-Thames

In the year after it appeared, the Midget accounted for about 60 percent of MG's sales. Production, which had peaked at about 400 in 1927 and dropped to just over 300 in 1928, tripled to 900 in 1929 and doubled to more than 1800 the year after. The company had outgrown its new factory already, and Morris found it a new home at Abingdon-on-Thames, where it has been since. Kimber sent 18/80 Sixes and Midgets to race at Brooklands in 1929, in the Double 12-Hour event. He may have hoped the big MG would lead to heavyweight sports success in the Bentley style, but its engine failed after two hours.

The M-Type Midget

The original M-type Midget was followed by the smaller-engined C-type for sports racing, the D-type, based on the C-type with the M's 847cm3 engine, and the long-wheelbase F-type Magna. In the 1931 Double 12, a C-type won outright at 105.5 km/h (65.62 mph), and six finished behind it to take the team prize again. For the next several years the MG story is complicated. There were too many models and too many victories. The J-type, appearing in 1932, had cutaway doors, cycle guards all round, headlamps squeezed in between the guards and radiator shell in front, and a cut-off tail with a big external tank and the spare wheel strapped on behind. The windscreen folded flat over the twin-humped scut-tle. This car was the MG archetype. It was based on the Montlhery Midget record-breaker and the racing C-type, it cost only

15 more than the old M-type, it was capable of nearly 130 km/h (80 mph), it looked beautiful and it set a pattern for design which MG only gave up in the 1950s. From this point on you can only make lists. There were the "super sports" J.3 and racing J.4, several series of sports-racing K-types made between 1932 and 1934, 576 L-type Magnas, mostly closed four-seaters, about 2500 PA and PB Midgets, mostly open two-seaters, the handfuls of Q-type Midget sports rac-ers and R-type single-seater midget Grand Prix racers, a few other letters of the alphabet and then the neat, fast, efficient TA of 1936 which started a long line of development lasting beyond World War 2 and into living memory.

Race Victories

There were countless race victories, such as a first and second in class and team prize in the 1933 Mille Miglia that went to George Eyston and Lord Howe in K3 Magnettes, first in class in the 1934 Le Mans race, first in the 1934 Grand Prix of America, first, second, third and fourth in the 1935 Australian Grand Prix, two class wins in the 1936 Brooklands 500, dozens of class victories in hill-climbs. "By the mid-thirties," one MG historian wrote, "the name MG had become as much a synonym for sports car as Kodak was for camera or Hoover was for domestic vacuum-cleaner . On one of Morris' many trips abroad, shortly after he became Baron Nuffield in 1934, he was introduced to an assembly as the man who made Morris Cars.

This was greeted blankly; Morris cars had never made much impact overseas, but broad smiles broke out when someone chanced to mention that he also owned MG. Nuffield made up his mind next year. Kimber had too much independence and too much power. As part of an internal financial deal in the empire, Nuffield installed a new managing director of the MG Car Company. Kimber was demoted to director and general manager. Lord lasted only a year before Kimber took charge again, but by then the damage was done. Kimber's influence on design was limited. Morris headquarters made sure all MGs used more standard Morris parts, and Kimber was left responsible for bodywork.

Private owners still raced MGs, but their cars became uncompetitive and there were no new ones to replace them. Kimber stayed with MG for some years more and saw out all MG's pre-war production. He left the company, and the Morris empire, in 1941. Dur-ing the war Kimber kept in touch with British sports car design, but he disapproved of its future. There were positions open to him, but he talked about retirement. He died in a railway accident at Kings Cross station in February 1945, before he could decide. The golden age of MG was over by then.

Kimber was killed in the King's Cross railway accident on Sunday 4 February 1945, having boarded the 6pm express to Leeds. Shortly after leaving the station, the train wheels started slipping on a newly replaced section of rail inside Gasworks Tunnel. How-ever, in the darkness, the driver failed to realize that the train was no longer moving forward and had in fact started to slip back down the hill at a speed of some 6 or 7 mph. A signalman, attempting to avert a collision with another train, switched the points, but unfor-tunately the train had already slid too far back down the track. The only effect was to derail the final carriage, forcing it onto its side and crushing it against the steel support of the main signal gantry, entirely demolishing the first-class compartment where Kimber had been sitting. He was one of only two casualties.

Cecil Kimber married twice, first to Irene (Rene) Hunt with whom he had two daughters, Lisa and Jean, and after Irene died in 1938 to Muriel Dewar. He was elected as President of the Automobile Division of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

(Thanks to Mickey Saperstein for this article.)

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ROADRUNNERS RECOMMEND

Below are services that our members

have used and recommend.

Who: Advanced Distributors What: Rebuilds and Recurves our Distributors. Comments: Reasonable price, fast turnaround, Jeff really knows our engines. Recommended by: Sherwood Parker Contact: www.advanceddistributors.com From the Frame Up: Club member Doug Pelton’s com-pany. He specializes in the hard to find TC parts. Con-tact him @ 602-690-4927 or www.FromTheFrameUp.com Arizona Brake and Clutch. 602-256-7966, 2211 N. Black Canyon Highway, (that is on the east side access road). Take in your old shoes and they will be done in a week. Smart money says take in a drum and they will arc the brakes to your drum. I have found very reasonable pricing and service for powder coating at: Affordable Powder Coating. They did a mesh grille for the TC for $40. They have a sepa-rate company at the same address for Ceramic coatings (like Jet-Hot). They did my Header, Header pipe Muffler and tail pipe for $212 and it was ready in 5 days.

Affordable Powder Coatings & Extreme Coatings 2111 W. Fillmore St. 2111 W Fillmore St. Phoenix, AZ 85009 Phoenix, AZ 85009 602-272-7646 602-272-0268 Copperstate Alternator 3807 N 35th Ave. (35th Ave and Indian School) 602-253-4155 Sherwood had Starter and Generator done. Reasonable turnaround. Reasonable price. Sherwood had a good experience getting 2 crankshafts cleaned and Magnafluxed with these people. It took about a week and the cost was reasonable at $49.00 for 2.

Continental Diesel, Inc. 2734 W Palm Lane. Phoenix, AZ 85009

Jim McGhee is California Wire Wheel. If your wire wheels are worth saving he can do it. Reasonable labor costs. The only down side is he is in El Cajon, Califor-nia. But it was worth it to take my Borranis to him. Jim McGhee C: 619-733-4946 Sherwood

Sherwood Parker also recommends. Tichenor Coachworks

650 W. McKellips, Mesa 480-434-5887

Doug & Carol Pelton 1948 TC Jan & Carole Rons TA “Encore” Special Sherwood & Jane Parker 1955 Arnolt Coupe Terri Bounty 1955 MG TF Randy Copleman 1953 MG TD MK ll Barry Briskman 1947 MG TC Mark & Bonnie Mater 1953 MG TD Danny & Barbara Young 1958 MGA Coupe Dave & Gretchen Boyer 1951 MG TD Mickey Saperstein 1913 Malcolm Jones cycle car

CLUB REGALIA FOR SALE

WHITE T SHIRTS WITH COLORED LOGO VARIOUS SIZES $16.00 LARGE COLORED EMBROIDERED LOGO PATCHES 8"X 6" $5.00 SMALL COLORED EMBROIDERED LOGO PATCHES 6 1/2"X 5" $4.00 ENAMELED CAR BADGES $35.00

Contact Danny Young at

602-218-5460

MG 'T' Roadrunners "The Octagon Wheel" 4846 E. Indianola Phoenix, AZ. 85018

FIRST CLASS