Annual Concours D'Elegance
MG Car Club of NSW - SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Malcolm Robertson reports on a Grand Day Out…
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Alison in Sydney Just to prove that she actually made the journey, here is Alison with the city of Sydney and the famous Harbour Bridge in the background. |
In October every year, the MG Car Club of NSW, headquartered in Sydney,
Australia, holds a Concours D'Elegance at picturesque Gladesville Reserve
over-looking Sydney Harbour. Being a large club, the turnout of MGs is always
splendid and the 200 or so cars cover just about every make and model of MG. If
ever you are in Sydney in October, it's definitely worth the effort to visit
Gladesville. It's unfortunate that the Club is languishing behind other clubs in
Australia and globally with an up-to-date calendar on its website, so finding
out exactly which Sunday in October the Club has chosen can be problematic, but
I believe moves are afoot to redress this.
The trip to Sydney is about 300kms from Canberra, the national capital and my
home town, so I don't go every year, but I have for the last two years. In 2004,
I attended in my 1937 SA Coupe and despite a marvellous showing of MGs, there
was only one Magnette, Peter Baldry's well-used, red ZB.
This year, I was determined to make the trip in Alison, for her maiden voyage.
Despite the restoration being not quite complete, she had been declared fit for
the road by the Australian authorities and was itching to try out her new
five-speed gearbox on a long highway trip. I still hadn't fitted the dashboard,
some of the carpeting was also unfinished, and the boot (trunk) was a shambles,
so although outwardly she looked beautiful, she wasn't really going to be a
contender in the Concours. But I didn't mind, as the plan was to meet up with
some of the other Magnetteers from the Bulletin Board and the local Sydney
owners.
The long and the short of it was that Alison made the trip uneventfully
(thankfully!), cruising the Hume Highway at a steady 110 kph with her engine
running at some comfortable revs yet to be worked out. We arrived in Sydney on
Saturday evening, with enough time and daylight to spare to give her a wash and
a polish. The next morning she turned a lot of heads as she made her entrance to
the Concours grounds and wound her way through row after row of MGBs and MGAs to
the far corner of the reserve. There she was delighted to find four other
Magnettes already lined up, already a better roll-up than in 2004. A sixth car
arrived soon after we did, and thus began a marvellous day of discussion,
chatter and note-taking under the shade of some tall eucalypt trees over-looking
a sea of MGs.
The cars present were Ken Campbell's Island Green ZB, freshly restored and
ultimately declared the best Magnette present by the Concours judges. Next to
Ken's car was Peter Baldry's ZB and then the freshly painted Carnation Red ZA of
Brian Woolmer. Brian's interior had also just been completed and was a picture.
Next in the line was Ray Jacka's Steel Blue ZA, a previous winner of this class
at the Concours, then Alison, the only Varitone present on the day. The final
car was Marty Cutler's well-campaigned Birch Grey ZA, gleaming following a
recent repaint after being involved in an accident (the price you pay for every
day use, as Gunter will sadly agree!).
David Overington from Wollongong, and Tony Oliver from Gloucester also made the
journey to join the group, to tell us how their restorations were progressing
and to promise to be there in their cars next year! And several other Magnette
owners made themselves known to us during the course of the day, so we are
likely to see more cars in the future.
Malcolm Robertson
October 2005
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| Brian's Carnation Red ZA Brian Woolmer's Carnation Red ZA was an eye-catcher both inside and out. | Six Magnettes Six Z-type Magnettes line up for the Sydney MG Concours'd'elegance in October 2005 | Ken's Island Green ZB The engine bay on Ken Campbell's Island Geen ZB was immaculate. |
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| Tony and Marty Tony Oliver (on the left) waits to see if Marty Cutler really can fit into a Magnette, especially with his dodgy leg following the motorcycle accident which laid him up for a few weeks. | Brian's dash
to die for The dashboard and interior of Brian Woolmer's ZA were absolutely
beautiful. Brian refinished all the timber himself and also made the wood
rim for his steering wheel. Alison's engine bay Alison was pretty pleased with her own engine bay and hopes that her dashboard looks as good as Brian's in due course. |
Marty and Ken Marty Cutler (on the left) and Ken Campbell relax under the shade of the gum trees |
