"It seemed like a good idea at the time", Judith and I were only recently married, we had met through the MG Car Club and both drove MG TDs until I sold mine to buy an MG C GT which cost more than a TD in those days. It was in 1975 when we saw the Safety Fast Advertisement ; "M type for restoration".

A telephone call revealed the advertiser was a doctor in South Croydon, which was not far to go. We heard the usual excuses, "never got round to it" and "we need the space". It later turned out there were three more previous owners who had "never got round to it". We collected it, four big cardboard boxes, chassis, wheels all different, a leather seat and blow up cushion, lots of odd bits of wood and canvas! I was to remember the doctors words several years later, "all a bit rusty". He tried to impress us with "Here’s the logbook"! That was December 1976.

21 years later in 1997, after several years as "spectator" members, we had become active again in the MG Car Club, and my conscience had said to me "If your’e not going to rebuild it, sell it to someone who will." After discussions with Judith , we decided to "Do it"

First it was the the homework; what have we got or not got? Chassis files from MG Car Club at Kimber House matched the engine, gearbox and chassis number to the registration number, DV 4449. ["DV", "Deo Volente", or "God willing".] Soon after buying the first of many consignments of parts from Neil Howker at Naylor Bros who must have put the word round, a previous owner contacted us. He had dismantled it to rebuild, in 1958. We received pictures of it prior to his dismantling and even then it needed rebuilding. "There were five big boxes" he said, but only four had survived the 40 years it had been dismantled. What was missing? the dash panel and instruments! Barry Walker , and Vintage Restorations produced a fine set of instruments, but no panel and no switches.

Meanwhile everything was persuaded apart, blasted, primed and painted. A lot was repaired using as much of the original as possible. Even the battered radiator badge was cleaned and refitted. A new honeycomb radiator was found, the cowl repaired and rechromed; the original shock absorbers cleaned off and painted with new wood fitted. New road springs and all new brake parts were needed and were readily available. Another leap forward involved a rendezvous with Ash Frames International at a service area on the M3, to collect the ply covered "12/12" M Type body which they had made for us and displayed on their stand at Beaulieu Auto Jumble over the week end. It actually fitted in the back of our Citroen estate!

I thought the "12/12" cars looked so much more fun, so although mechanically the car was as original, I thought I had ordered and was fitting a "12/12" body, whilst reversing the lamp brackets, fitting cycle wings, aero screens and bucket seats. I had rebuilt the engine to what I believed was the sort of modifications the "12/12" cars had. Alas when the engine and bodywork met, the outside "Brooklands" exhaust manifold fouled the body and would have burned the fabric covering. I turned to the MMM librarian Malcolm Green for help.

That is when I learned about the "12/12 Replica " cars produced by the factory to capitalise on their racing success early in 1930, when a team of modified production "M" Types won the team prize running consistently fast for the two twelve hour periods of the race at Brooklands. Basking in the unexpected glory, The MG Car Company uprated a dozen or so standard "M" Type chassis with body work, engine mods and exhaust system similar to the "12/12" Brooklands cars, and called them "12/12 Replica" M Types.

MMM library even supplied me with reproductions of the factory sales leaflets. When we eventually found drawings of the body and exhaust systems, we realised what had gone wrong. Without realising the significance of the word "replica" I had asked Ash Frames to supply a replica of a 12/12 body and the one supplied was to Replica dimensions. I am glad I did because the cockpit of a "Replica" is two inches wider than a real "12/12" and longer than a standard "M"Type; I needed all the room I could get. I had asked Peter Gregory , near Oxford, for a "12/12 exhaust manifold" and that’s what he supplied. Unfortunately, because of the extra width the manifold fouls the body. Peter Gregory willingly made me a manifold to fit.

I am really grateful too to all the MMM Register members, who gave their time so generously! At the same time as I was making mistakes with the body, I had had the head skimmed and hardened valve seats fitted. Everyone has agreed they will fall out, sometime.

Steve Gilbert at Staines had been fabricating the metal body parts over the several months it took, and soon I was able to pass these on to a paint shop near us in Guildford. I had had all the 6 volt starter and dynamo equipment reconditioned in Guildford at a works governed by yet another helpful "I had an ‘M’Type once" gentleman.

By now I had procured all the padding and fabric to cover the ash body, I bought "Everflex" at the MG Day at Sandown Park, "Rolls Royce use it for their folding roofs, Sir". At Beaulieu the previous year another MMM member had convinced me I could do the covering myself, and it turned out to be very therapeutic after a day photographing small hyperactive children!

At last the day came when re-assembly could start. The straightened, blasted, primed and painted chassis was lowered from the garage rafters. Suspension, axles and wheels went on, the engine and gearbox dropped in and coupled up to the back axle. The body, resplendant in British Racing Green, was offered up to the chassis, many, many times!

I remember the day we started the engine and it ran so sweetly even though I had confused the plug leads on cylinders 2 and 3! It took me several drives round the block before I realised. By now of course the satisfaction was enormous. We had done it; and the car passed the MOT in December 1998.

My first venture was the 9 miles to my local natter at the Talbot, Ripley and what a welcome they gave me. "My peers" overlooked that it was a special and not "original". It was a taste of the fun to come.

After an exiting 20 miles to Brooklands for that year’s "MG Day", we disgraced ourselves by losing lots of oil through the engine’s ill fitting rocker cover; Malcolm Green, who had been so helpful in the early stages, sympathetically took photographs from the other side of the car!

As I got used to the satisfaction of having rebuilt an M type MG that had been off the road 40 years, I realised that I did not want to just sit and look at it in a car park, so off to Fleet autotests where I teamed up with two other "M" Types, and was so grateful for the encouragement of John and Jenny Morgan of South East Centre. Then it was Silverstone and the California Cup autotests. I came last because I could not remember the tests, but what fun. My daughter, Robbie and I were going to share the "M Type" in the California Cup this year but a trip to hospital has delayed that until next year. Look out you Vintage and MMM types next year!

Last year, Morelands, the brewers of "Old Speckled Hen", invited a dozen or so cars to make the run from Cecil Kimber’s house in Abingdon, now one of their pubs, down to the Goodwood Revival Meeting in 1999, and Robbie agreed to ride as navigator for me in the "M Type". Rain sheeted down all the way to Basingstoke where I decided I had had enough, realising I was about 20 minutes from a hot bath and tea at home. When I got out of the car she jumped into the drivers seat and took off to Goodwood. I had to follow in the family Citroen that just happened to be following with the sandwiches and drink so generously provided by Morelands at the start. "Dad", she said, "I didn’t get up at the crack of dawn in the pouring rain to give up now!" What a great day Morelands gave us in our MGs. At Goodwood the rain stopped and we even had a free tea with Magnums to eat whilst watching the celebrities play cricket with Lord March.

My most ambitious expedition so far was to drive almost non stop to visit my cousin, Edward Bird, at St Just in Roseland in Cornwall. He had stopped me buying an Alfa Romeo in 1961, persuading me to buy an MG TD that Christmas, so starting my life with the MG Car Club.

I had told my cousin in Cornwall we would meet on the Thursday evening, but with a tank full of petrol that I had been told would do me for 150 miles, I cautiously set out on the Wednesday, in driving rain, giving myself time to get there even if I had to turn back, change to a more sensible car and start again. From Guildford I reached Farnham in good time, then Basingstoke passed uneventfully, the rain unrelenting. At Yeovil I was seen stopped at the traffic lights wringing out the towel I kept on my lap to catch the rain off my jacket. By Exeter I was becoming quite the intrepid "Vintagent" motorist. Round the M5 on to the A 30 bound for Bodmin Moor. Then , disaster!

The car began to lose power, recovered momentarily then died again. I thought of water in the ignition, checked oil pressure but by now I was stationary on the hard shoulder. It is true that if you keep going the rain passes over you but if you stop..... The petrol tank was absolutely bone dry; the milometer indicated 150.9 miles! I called the RAC who asked me to spell "MG" and the "M" of "M Type"! The helpful patrol man sold me some pwtrol and I was off to Bodmin, St Austel and St Mawes, where my cousin greeted me with the welcome "Surely you did not drive down from Guildford in that? ?".

7 hours on the road and even with a bad back, bad hip and 6 ft tall I was still comfortable. I did wear a simple motorcycle helmet and visor, certainly to be recommended for fast "M Type"motoring in the driving rain. The journey back a few days later in fine weather, only took 6 hours. As I have said before, if you spend all that time and money, don’t just look at it, use it!