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THE MYSTERY OF THE "EXTRA CAR" by Tony Giordano PART 2 (Editor's note: Tony Giordano is an avid MGC enthusiast from New York. He is a regular contributor to the American MGC Register newsletter ÏCÓNotes, and a source for everything MGC. This article will be continued in next month's Driveline) In late 1986, after completing about 90% of the restoration, another car bearing the Reg. no. RMO 699F surfaced from, you guessed it, California. The chassis no. was ADO 1059 (not 1061) . This car caused a great deal of controversy but was proved to be an "as raced" car from Sebring. It had more claim to the RMO 699F registration, for it was as complete as a time capsule. Graham received a great deal of bad press and humiliation. However, in doing research, Graham began to show through letters, articles and anonymous testimonials (calls from factory workers who were to afraid to give their names for fear of reprisal -you might be surprised how tight the English MG community really is) that there was evidence to support the existence of an additional car at Sebring in 1969! The factory was under enormous pressure to win in 1969 and a 'backup' car was used in preparing for the races. A common practice before a race was to use an "extra car" or " mule" to get the drivers familiar with the racetrack (registration no.s were switched to save time and red tape) and to have more items to sell at the end of the day to pay for the huge costs of racing. The publicity surrounding the 2 " RMO's" continued to grow. The people "in the know" were denying that there was ever a practice car or a need for switching chassis no.'s or reg. no.'s before, during or after a race. I've been told that it was common for the factory to make a car be what was needed in time for a publicity shots etc. And in original tape recordings of John Chatham and Graham Wiseman, John Chatham clearly says " there were a lot of funny things going on at the factory, including a BGT with a V-8 that went burbling by and disappeared around the back of the factory and when I tried to get some facts on it I got the putoff").. Could this be true? Let's not forget- SIX completed shells were assembled and delivered: 2- Race Cars Car no.1- MBL546E no.ADO052-1060: raced with 4cyl(under disguise) & 6cyl engines Car no.2- RMO699F no.ADO052-1059: raced with rear hinged and front hinged bonnets-note-(one would also think the works would have started with 1059 as the first car but I was told it was just the first car they grabbed) 3-Shells bought by John Chatham. A total of 5 shells. (continued next page) Page 1 - Page 2

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