Tag Archives: Shepton

Last British 2 Seat MG – MG TF

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When MG Rover face lifted the mid engined MG F sports car in 2002 they gave it the same TF name as last seen on the 1955 MG TF Midget. Little did they know at the time that this would become the last new British 2 seat MG to reach market.

MG TF, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

Many of the face lift details were carried over from the MG TF XPower 500 Concept Car first seen at Le Mans in 2001.

MG TF, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

Despite it’s overall styling which dated back to 1995 the MG TF matched it’s rivals from Mazda (MX5) and Toyota (MR2) in handling, performance and held it’s own in the domestic sales league.

MG TF, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

However the TF’s mid mounted Rover K series motor was subject to numerous head gasket failures until a new multi layered item was designed which cured this particular issue.

MG TF, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

Production of MG TF’s ceased when Rover MG went bankrupt in 2005 but restarted in the UK from Chinese supplied Complete Kockdown Kits (CKD) in 2008 after new owners Nanjing had transferred all the TF production assets to China. 906 CKD TF’s were built before production ceased for good in 2011.

Thanks for this “Last British 2 Seat MG” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Pick Up Man – Hillman Imp Super Pick Up

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Bob has a passion for Hillman Imps which can be traced back to learning to drive one. Since then he has owned many more and become something of an expert on the model.

Hillman Imp Super Pick Up, Bristol Classic, Shepton Mallet

Living out in the country not far from Bristol he has need of an all purpose run around and one day Bob had the good fortune to be in his autocross racer friend Philip’s garage when Philip was poking holes with a screw driver through an Imp he had just acquired.

Hillman Imp Super Pick Up, Bristol Classic, Shepton Mallet

Philip agreed to give the Imp to Bob for nothing and before Philip could change his mind Bob got the car home and chopped the roof off with an angle grinder and then strategically added some steel to maintain structural rigidity.

He then matched up the C pillars and tailgate with the remaining roof behind the door frame which allowed the seats, rescued from a Peugeot 205 GTi, to be moved all the way back on their runners.

Hillman Imp Super Pick Up, Bristol Classic, Shepton Mallet

Bob has made a few mechanical improvements to the car including removing the original transverse mounted radiator and installing one from a Nissan Micra longitudinally which improves cooling of the alloy engine.

With five years on and off work completed and expenses that “didn’t run in to thousands” Bob took his Imp Pick Up to an Imp Club meeting for it’s first run and came home with second place prize in the modified class.

Best of all his wife finds the pick up far more comfortable than his other car, a Sunbeam Imp but with out the Peugeot seats. Which all goes to show as Joe Diffie observed there is something women like about a pick up man.

Thanks for joining me on this “Pick Up Man” edition of “Getting a li’l psycho on tyres”. I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to came back now !

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Buried And Covered In Concrete – MG 14/40 MK IV Sports

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Towards 1927 production of MG’s moved to a new factory in Edmund Road, Oxford and production of the MG 14/40 MK IV commenced, with MG Car Company becoming a legal entity in 1928.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

14/40’s were built around bare Morris Oxford chassis, unlike earlier MG’s that were built from completed frames that were striped and rebuilt to MG specifications, as the MG 14/28 had been but were now given MG chassis numbers, MG badges and motors, optimistically, estimated to produce 40hp.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

MG publicity at the 1928, London, Motor Show mentions Land Speed Record Breaker Malcolm Campbell as an owner of a 14/40, a model which was struggling to sell at the time in part due to the age of the Oxford chassis and side valve motor underpinning the car.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

MG founder Cecil Kimber went to great lengths to differentiate his cars from their Morris inheritance before fitting MG bodies, his alleged obsession with octagons is said to have been frequently overdone.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

This Mk IV Sports is one of 135 such vehicles built in 1928 and the only survivor in the UK of a total of just four that are known to exist.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

The winner of Best Vintage Car award at the Bristol Classic Car Show, where it is seen in these photo’s, has no history prior to 1999 when it was found beneath a ripped up concrete base of a shed in Gloucestershire.

MG 14/40 Mk IV Sports, Bristol Classic Car Show

The disassembled car was found carefully preserved beneath a further layer of gravel complete with it’s guarantee plate and original number plates apparently ready for it’s ground up restoration.

Thanks for joining me in this ‘Buried And Covered In Concrete’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be going Dutch with a Daf. Don’t forget to come back now !

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