(Continued from page 11)

This time I had more luck and I heard from a few more M-Type owners. And this is how we ended up with four M-Types, plus one in spirit, at MG 2016. The four M’s couldn’t be more different and provided a fantastic display of MG’s first Midget. The show was in a large park, downtown Louisville by the river front. The park was split in two by an overpass that was the only place providing protection from the +90ºF sunshine. On the Northside of the overpass where all the A’s, B’s Midgets etc., and the T-Series and MMM’s were located on the other side. The NAMMMR had about 20 cars along the overpass and the four M’s, positioned right by two food trucks, caught the eye of many people seeking shade or refreshments. I have never seen the M-Types getting so much attention, so much comments, so much questions, and so much interest. We heard “this how it all started and when we saw these four, we had to come over a take a closer look at the very first Midgets” all day long from the people who came over to see our cars. It wasn’t until the show was almost over that I had a chance to make a photo of our cars without any people.

From left to right, you see the 1931 of Dennis Klemm (2M2699). It was modified as a 12/12 replica in the mid-seventies and features a down draught SU and fish tail side exhaust. Next is James Hester’s (2M1996), built in 1930 as a fabric body with the early style, rounded, wings. But at some point in the past, it was re-bodied with a metal covered tub. Maybe, a previous owner wrecked the original car, went to a junkyard and found this newer metal body of one of the very last 1932 M’s to fix his car. A very unusual combination with the late, and rare, metal body and early wings. Then comes Emma, restored 2002 by Barry Dean in England. And all the way on the right was the Oxford built 1930 of Rob Orander (2M0475). It features a heavily modified race car style body, which was well documented with copies of newspaper and car magazine articles. Rob had albums with photos of the engine and chassis restoration preserving the ‘period correct originality’. Completed with an old racing helmet and goggles it was easy to Imagine an English driver in the fifties or so who finds an old MG and decides to hotrod it to race on the local fair grounds or hill climb. Based on the enthusiastic spectators everybody seems to agree that this was a great example of the times when MGs were still able to inspire young people to get in to motor sports and become gear heads. Not on the show field but present in thousands of detailed photos on Mike Jansen’s laptop was his 1932 under restoration. The tub has been finished and is waiting to be paneled before being shipped back to Indiana to finish the project. 

Rob had special T-shirts made for the occasion and we all wore them proudly when we made a few more beauty shots of the four Ms down by the by the river front when the show came to an end. The shirts had a small MG Octagon on the front and the back side showed a large MG Octagon surrounded by the words; M-Type, Oxford, Abingdon, and 1929-1932. 

The two Ms of Dennis and Rob easily drove up the incline to the trailer park, but James’ car experienced fuel pump problems and was towed back up behind the MG TD of my friend Gene Cooper and had to be pushed into it’s trailer. We drove Emma back to the MG 2016 convention hotel under it’s own power. 

Thanks to Dennis, Rob, James, and Mike, Emma wasn’t alone this time, and she is already looking forward to the 2017 NAMMMR convention in Akron, OH (together with the GOF Central). If you have an M-Type I hope that this story inspires you to set time aside to join us. If your M needs some work, then now is the time to start planning it. But let that not hold you back. The five Ms this year varied from original to heavily modified to 3.000 photos on a laptop and from driving to trailering to towing and pushing. It didn’t matter, we all had a great time and hope to see many more Ms in Akron. Look out for my email reminders when the time comes closer.

~~ Reinout Vogt