Stories from the rear view mirror

YB 1022

Clive Ervill

Link to Ys on Parade

YB 1022 by Clive Ervill

One day, in the 1960s, I went going down to Toulmin Motors in my cousin's Ford Anglia 103 to get a couple of exchange hubs for my YB after I bought them, and on the way back someone hailed me as if I was a taxi. I stopped, and this rather than life character said he would like a lift down to a nearby pub. Once in there people kept coming up to him sort of grovelling and creeping, and kept looking at me as if I was some sort of special person too, which I emphatically was not.

I asked what was happening, and he said his name was Bernard Lee. I was completely lost at this, until he said he was an actor who played "M" in the James Bond films at the time. A bit embarrassing really since I didn't know him from Adam until he said. My one in a lifetime brush with a celebrity, but it must be very unpleasant to go for a quiet pint without being approached all the time.

Clive Ervill

A tale of two Ys (with apologies to Bill Shakespere)

or a History of Y Type MGs UMG 512 & UMG52

By Ted Evans

 When I finished my National Service in September 1959 I bought my first Y Type, it was a 1951 model. Registration No. UMG 512, I had until 1966 when I sold it to my sister who had for three years. In 1961 I took to Austria, ’63 to Spain and in ’64 to Italy. I rebuilt the engine once and re-sprayed it twice. We emigrated to Australia in 1973 and I forgot all about it.

In 1993 I was building in Bundaberg, travelling up from Eumundi each Monday morning and returning on Friday nights. One Monday morning whilst passing through Gympie, I looked left to see a new second hand car yard that had just opened up in a field, and sitting there was this Y Type MG exactly the same colour as I last re-sprayed UMG 512. As it brought back many memories I had to buy it. It was in pretty good condition and had been about 80% restored.

We moved up to Airlie in 1994 and I registered it as UMG 52. It was a 1949 model. I drove it around for a few years. It was not kept under cover for during that time and the weather got it. Two years ago I decided to completely restore it and having use of my sons’ workshop completely striped it down. Getting the engine balanced first. I made contact with NTG in the UK who are spare parts suppliers for MGs. I asked them was there any way I could track down UMG 512, and I was told to try the Y Type Registry in the UK.  I googled it and found this website.

I did this and came up with about hundred and fifty cars. It took a bit of time to look at them all. They were nearly all known by the chassis No. and engine No. I had no idea what it was.  So I gave up looking.

Two months my sister came over from UK bringing me new bumpers and hub caps. Late one evening I ask her would she like to see the cars on the registry and she said yes. So we spent an hour looking and were getting rather tired so I quickly scrolled to the bottom the list and the said we had enough for one night so I began to scroll back up quickly and suddenly my sister said “Stop, go back”, and there in big letters that stood out was UMG 512. So we read the history. It was taken by trailer across to Luxemburg in Jan 1989 and 3,300 hours was spent restoring it. As the addresses of the owners were not given on the list, I had to get the Y Type Registry to contact the owner and I had a reply within two days. He turned to be the Private Secretary to the President of Luxemburg!

He was pleased to get the past history of the car. Six months later Margaret and I decided go to Europe to see family and friends, one of which lived in north Germany, so we then planned on going down to Luxemburg about 150 km further south. Two weeks before we departed for the UK .the car was sold to a MG specialist in Eindhoven in Holland.  From the ferry at Ostend, Eindhoven was on the route to our friends in Germany so we called in to see if we could find it, which we did for a couple of hours: it bought back many memories. We also arranged time permitting that we would call in on the way back to England after two weeks holiday in southern Germany and Austria.

In Austria more memories were bought back as we drove over the same roads I drove the MG over in the 60’s. On our return we managed to spend another three hours in Eindhoven where I drove the car around the city, which bought back many more memories. Not a bad record 47 years after first driving it!

When I got back to Australia mid last October I decided not do any work and spend nearly all my time restoring UMG 52.and was hoping to get it ready to go down to Maitland for the sixtieth anniversary of the Y Type, this I did not achieve but I flew down to Brisbane to drive my friends Y down whilst he drove his YT down. There were 17 Ys and13 YTs there.

My next target was to get it roadworthy to take her to Townsville for cars on the Strand on 22nd Sept, which by skin of my teeth and we took her up on a trailer. It has been hard since Easter I had to back to work building with my son. There a few things to finish but at least I can drive an MG again.

Sunday Run Dec 2009

 Ted Evans

UMG 512 1960, UMG 512 Eindhoven 2006

UMG 52 Dingo Beach 2006

Y 2866

Terry Ciantar

Link to Ys on Parade

And now

Y 2866 by Terry Ciantar

I have recently had the good fortune of making contact with the two surviving granddaughters of Reginald Richardson, the original owner of my Y type. Both were extremely excited and pleased to receive news of their Grandpa's car. Both ladies have fond memories of the Y. Learning to drive and getting their drivers licence in it, driving it into town to impress the boys. I have stories about fox and rabbit shooting, one driving and the other standing up thru the sunroof  blazing away. A disaster narrowly avoided when a bush fire on New Years Day 1975  just four weeks before the marriage of one of the girls, burnt thru the family property and their mother escaping with  the MG loaded with a wedding dress, two bridesmaid dresses, the family dog and two valuable paintings.

 Contact with the family was made thru a Mr George Brooks who has been a close family friend of the Richardson's for many years, George (in his eighties) is an avid motoring enthusiast/historian, and in addition to putting me in contact with the family, George also gave me 3 x 35mm negatives of photographs of the MG which he took in 1949 when the Richardson's took delivery of the new car. I have double checked with George about the date of the photographs, and he is positive that the pictures were taken in 1949 as he has all his films catalogued and indexed.

Purchased in 1949 by Reginald Filgate Richardson from "White River" near Port Lincoln, South Australia.  The vehicle was purchased as the family car. When Reginald died, he passed the car onto his son Hugh. During this time it was externally repainted in original colours. No other restoration was carried out since, other than general maintenance. In 1988 it was sold to Sandra Johnson of Port Lincoln where it was stored and maintained (unregistered) and used for car club events on permits. In 2001 "Emmie" was transported to Airlie Beach, Queensland where she was stored until 1st June 2003 when we acquired her.

Terry Ciantar

YT 4619

David Pelham

Link to Ys on Parade

YT 4619 by David Pelham

YT 4619 was imported into Switzerland by J.H. Keller AG  of Zurich, the official MG Importers and allocated the Swiss Government Registration Code of M 013 B (M = Military). All motor vehicles were registered in this way in case they were required by the military at a later date.

 In the UK a number plate is allocated to a car, whereas in Switzerland a number plate (Kontrollschild) is allocated to the owner. This has certain advantages where it is possible to run two cars using the same plates. Can you imagine this in the UK?

 YT had nine owners prior to my acquisition in October 1998. Whilst I have the full details, they are abbreviated below: 

Y 5270

Paul Barrow

Link to Ys on Parade

And now

Y 5207 by Paul Barrow

I do not know anything of the car's history other than it was first registered in Manchester on 8 June 1950, and remained in the area until I bought it at Silverstone, in the Jubilee year, 1997.  The first photograph was sent to me recently by David Mullen and (according to the back of the photograph) was owned by a Maurice Jones of Bolton, who also owned an MG ZB (registration RUX 106).  From the colours of the photograph, I believe this would have been sometime in the late 1960s.

The middle photograph was given to me by the previous owner to myself, Rev. John Kershaw and was taken shortly after he restored it in the early 1990s. The last photograph was taken by me outside the church in Awbridge, Hampshire UK, shortly after it current restoration to the body's original in 2003 just before I moved to the US ... with the Y naturally!

Paul Barrow