The TC was brought back to the U.K. a few years ago as a basket case and was reassembled by the previous owner to me. He readily admitted that it was not a thorough restoration and that he "may have ruined it by painting it". In fact the car turned out to be in far worse condition than I had realised and so I embarked on a total rebuild.
Part of the fun in a project like this is finding out the car's history. As it happened, the last Australian owner - Alan Gallard - paid me a visit while he was here in the U.K. He told me that he had bought the dismantled remains from a Les Johnston who had inherited the project from his late brother Don who had competed with the TC in motor sport of some kind. No specific details were given although he did mention that there is a photograph somewhere of Don with Stirling Moss! Alan was of the opinion that Les was too old now to be of any help with further details.
One or two interesting traces of the car's history remain. There was a Peter Lloyd Sydney dealers plaque attached to an original body timber (along with the Abingdon brass body plate.) This led me to think that the car had been sold new out of Sydney...however there is also a NSW licence sticker from 1960 still adhering to the windscreen which shows the registration number to be BGZ 773 which dates the NSW registration from 1957. This would suggest that the car had been originally registered elsewhere. But where?
The hunt was on and I had the great good fortune of hearing from Chris Taylor on the MG Experience forum who happened to mention that his Grandfather - Jack Bond Taylor - had bought and raced a new clipper blue MG TC in 1950. He apparently competed at Lowood and Leyburn with some success; despite the TC being completely unmodified. This was most unusual as by this time specials were more often to be found rather than merely stripped down "square riggers".
In October 1950, while racing at Lowood, JB (as he was known) lost control on a bend while in second place and the TC collided with some hay bales before flipping over and skidding upside down before righting itself. JB was seriously injured but survived. The Toowoomba auto club of which he was a member repaired the car but JB never raced again. In 1951 Jack Taylor drove the TC to Sydney where it was sold.
Could this be my car? There are too many coincidences to ignore including evidence of an historic accident such as a race circuit rollover. The left rear wing, for example, had been crushed at some time and repaired yet the windscreen and front wings - which would have been removed for the race - are undamaged. Chris still has the original radiator shell which took a hefty impact and there are some remarkable photos of JB at the wheel and even one of the car following it's accident.
What is also unusual is that my car retains it's original engine which had not been modified in any way apart from having the ports shaped; just as JB might have left it.
If this is my car I am still missing the period from 1951 to 1957 but there may be a simple explanation for that. There must be more information out there somewhere. Who was Don Johnston? and where did he race?
TC 10,030 was dismantled in 1960 with the intention of rebuilding but it was not to happen ...until returning to the U.K. over 60 years later.
If anyone has any information I would be delighted to hear from them.
Thank you for your interest.
Ray.
