22.12.02
************************
The MGCC Z & Farina Magnette Register wishes you all a
Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year!
***********************
I want to thank those who kept this site
alive with reports, pictures and ideas. Especially Paul Barrow, UK, who
never get's tired to create pdf-files from various magazines (see below)
and Laurie Scott from Australia, who writes down his experience in
Magnette-ownership and helps others.
Let''s finish this years updates with four new entries on the gallery:
#6538 , # 14816 # 20804 on a junkyard in Canada and #30080.
And something to read over Christmas: The
Laycock overdrive (pdf).
Have a Magnettic Christmas!
Günter
15.12.02
Christmas is coming closer and closer. So why not send a christmas card
to your friends?
You may use our free e-card service to send
special Magnette Christmas greetings to your friends.
I also added another "Paul - Barrow - work": an article from Popular
Classics 02/91. And we have the first French entry on the gallery.
Welcome #9600.
12.12.01
The link for Practical Classics May '95
now works. Please try again.
Then I received a nice drawing from Warren Marsh of Zedparts. It was sent
to him by one of his customers Magnette owner Jenny White Cooper from
Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria.
I found this cartoon so nice I thought I have to show it to you! Look here
for Santa's Magnette
.
The never getting tired Paul Barrow sent anvery early advert from 16.10.53
for the Magnette. It's a real nice one. Look at adverts
at the bottom.
More articles to come this month...
10.12.02
You may remember
Richard Axe's report about the Z Magnette he found near his home last
month. He sent another mail I include here:
"I finally met the owners this
morning to talk about it. They were unhappy about me telling other people about
the car because they are afraid that
they would be disturbed by visitors wanting to buy it or take parts off it. They are a man and his wife who are about 80
years old. The wife is not well now and her husband looks after her, so they want to be left in peace. However, she
owns the Magnette and rallied it when she was younger. I think she had a stroke a
long time ago and had to stop
driving, but wanted to keep her rally car to remind her of happier times.
I know that I asked people who wanted spares to contact me, but I now know that it
was wrong to do so without asking
the car owner first. The owner does not want to sell the car or let people take parts from it.
"
Richard Axe,,Ledbury,England,MGCC MGB Register
06.12.02
Most dates for next years events have been confirmed. So look at
events 2003 and make your diary now before you miss them!
Paul Barrow sent another nice article from Practical Classics May '95 and
Pete Wilson found three Magnettes on a junk yard in New Jersey, USA, which
are added to the Gallery (# 14303, #19082 and # 19640).
01.12.02
Last week my Varitone entered the catwalk for the second time after 24
years! Not too many models do that! My Magnette will be featured in a
buyers guide in the German magazine "OLDTIMER MARKT". I'm sure
we'll feature this article here later.
Well, the year is coming to it's end. But still your input is quite good to
keep this site fresh. Let's start with the latest news on the center
steering wheel motif:
" British Motor Heritage has referred us to LMI Licensing for permission to sell
motifs. We await their response. Phil & my dad made a
big discovery last night. Gotta mix the two resins together very well prior to degassing and pouring in the mold to get rid
of the last few bubbles in the motif. Phil also bought an airbrush to help
ensure a smooth
paint finish in the salmon and black areas. That's all for now. Chuck"
Loz Scott from Australia sent an article for those of you who want to (or
need to) refurbish the interior
wood.(pdf-file).
And Anthony C. Robinson sent a nice advert
from 01.11.54 showing the Magnette and a TF.
And of course a new picture of the month. Unusual
(again)! Also new cars on the gallery : #16142 #31929 and #32023.
Enjoy!
Günter
25.11.02
Here they are on the final leg in Ashton Court Bristol, as you can see the light was fading it was nearly 5.00 pm and they were one of the last competitors through with lights on and the digital camera only just made them visible. They hold the Magnette of the Year trophy at the moment.
18.11.02
Another nice article from an old Car Magazine was sent in by
Paul Barrow (who else?). Look on the Articles
page marked 
Also two new entries on the Gallery:
#9147 #29734
Then I received the following mail:
I am sending this e-mail to report some details of an abandoned MG Magnette which I found while out walking this
morning. The car is in a field near the village of Castlemorton in Worcestershire, England and looks as if it has been
there a long time. The registration is PFX 500. Unfortunately I did not find the chassis
number as I did not know where to look for the identification plate. In my opinion, the car is beyond repair, as the driver's door fell off bringing
the front offside wing with it when I tried to open it. The floor and footwell bulkheads appear to have rotted away, but
the driver's seat and steering wheel look original. The dashboard instruments have been
replaced with those from an MGB, so it is possible that the engine is not original either. Having seen the state of the driver's door, I did not try to
open the bonnet to find out. The radiator grille, headlights and door handles are all intact. Most of the paint has come
off, so I could not see whether it had been a Varitone model.
Regards
Richard Axe
,Ledbury,England
MGCC MGB Register
Stop press news:
Due to a large backlog of orders and holidays, John and Lou Shorten will not be taking in any new
work now until the middle of January at the earliest. If your request is really urgent
please telephone them (at a sensible UK time please) or write to them (in BLOCK CAPITALS PLEASE TOO!).
12.11.02
Mike Lafflin, he of the the supercharged, disc-braked, 1800cc ZB has
been spending some more time tinkering and has passed on a number of
useful tips for those who may be contemplating similar activities.
His first suggestion relates to the fitting of an overdrive to ZA and ZB
Magnettes. Many have an MGB box and overdrive fitted, and an increasingly
popular modification is the installation of a Ford 5-speed gearbox, but if
it's originalityyou're after it's worth knowing that the aftermarket
option when the cars were new was a Laycock unit that was also used on a
number of contemporary Rootes products. Mike has such an installation in
his own car and reports that very little tunnel modification is required.
The overdrive unit mounts on the back of the excisting gearbox using a
purpose-built bell housing and is linked to a Sunbeam Rapeir prop shaft.
The verdrive unit is appearently fairly easily obtainable, having been
used on the Humber Sceptre until the mid-70s, and the prop shaft can also
be sourced though it requires a small modification to the input flangeto
the diff. The bell housing is, however, unobtainable and Mike has
suggested that, if there is enough interest, he can get a small batch of
these made up. He estimates that the total cost of the job, including the
overdrive unitand prop shaft, would be in the range GBP 500 - 600, which
compares favourably with a 5-speed conversion.
If you're interested in this, please send an e-mail to Paul
Batho (pbatho@aol.com).
10.11.02
Thankfully YOUR input is good at the moment so I can allow myself to
spread it over the month. Let's start with good news on the reproduction of the center steering wheel from Chuck
Reece, USA:
Hi, Gunter, well, here we are. Here's the latest replica motif update for
the Magnette web. Phil, Charlie, and I have finally succeeded. No more bubbles in
the plastic, paints colors are matching up, and the high gloss buff on the
outside really looks trick. Phil and I both have one of these on our ZBV's. I have contacted the legal department
at MG-Rover, and we await permission to use the MG logo to sell the motif replicas to the general
public. A short bio on each of us is listed below:
Charlie Reece started machinist work in the US Navy in 1955. He has 45 years of machine tool experience. He owned Reece Manufacturing
Co. for 33 years. Charlie supplied the mold technology to enable us to minimize
development costs, made the first mold, and continues to support the molding process.
Phil is an old submariner steam mechanic, chemist and long-time MG Enthusiast. Phil's first car was a 1959 MGA. He does all his own
mechanic work and drives them fast enough so as they need frequent attention. Phil
has worked on every aspect of this project, including painting and supplying a big, nasty vacuum pump to degas the plastic
prior to the motif pours. Phil's niece, Jessie, provided artistic consultation for MG motif
color matching.
Chuck Reece is a Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer and short-time
MG enthusiast. Phil has provided an immense amount of support and help to Chuck in bringing his MG's up to snuff. Charlie, his
Dad, taught Chuck a lot about machining, molding, and tool production prior to Chuck attending
University. Chuck has been working with MG-Rover legal to obtain permission to sell the motifs, and assisting
Phil and Charlie in the molding process.
We have not yet established a price for these motif reproductions. We estimate that each one takes 3-4 hours labor to hand mold, 150 F
post-heat cure, clean, hand paint, and hand buff prior to being ready for sale.
Labor is the most significant cost, and will determine the final sale price.
Please contact me, Chuck Reece; bnglow24@theriver.com or Phil White; subman@theriver.com if anyone would like a reproduction
motif. Thanks,
Chuck
(See attached file: close
motif.JPG)(See attached file: motif.JPG)
Some more articles to come over the month.Watch this space!
01.11.02
Can you tell me where the time is running? It's just that the season began
and now we already have winter. But I hope our friends from the southern
hemisphere will provide us with articles and pictures over this time.
So what's new this month?
Paul Barrow found this
subscribe form 
and I thought some of you might be
interested? (Click on image for larger picture) Surely some will. Thanks Paul.
On the articles-site I added a short report about the Z-Day from the Dutch
magazine "British Car".
We have a nice new (animated) Monthly Pic and
some more close-ups.
Seems the ZA owners want to beat theZBs: two new ZA-entries on the gallery
#13502 and #14846.
There are also more news on the motif reproduction from Phil White: "Hi Gunter,
Just a quick update. Chuck Reece and his new wife Bettye, have been on thier honeymoon, so his Dad (Charlie) and I have been
continuing the work. Go figure - skipping out on such a great project for a honeymoon? We're having a little trouble getting all the air
out of the plastic because the mold's so thin and the plastic so viscous. This weekend I'm building a good vacuum chamber to
degass the clear urethane before it's poured and hopefully solve the tiny bubble problem. Otherwise, the new pieces come out
beautiful. Better news is that we've succeeded in mixing the correct salmon, and translucent red over gold colors (had a little help
from an artistic niece on the salmon - tough color). Duplicating the high chrome luster perfectly, with paint, is impossible. Alternatives
like real plating or leafing are either very expensive or difficult (unless someone knows of something we don't). I have come up with
some chrome paint that is a very presentable second. Despite the minor setbacks, progress is good. We've had enough experience
with it now, to be reasonably sure we can produce a satisfactory replication. We've decided that when we get going, we'll provide
prepainted ones or clear "do it yourself"ones and provide paint recipes for those who want to get theirs chromed for real. I'm a bit of
a stickler, but the chrome paint is good enough to satisfy my sense of "right". I can hardly wait to see a pretty motif in Maggie. As
soon as we get one poured clear and painted, I'll provide a good digital photo. We'll keep you posted.
Phil White"
24.10.02
Please find some pictures from the Victorian Magnette Register in Australia.
They are planning a big Magnette birthday party at Easter 2003. (see events
diary).
Have you heard of the Cornish Magnette Hunter? I haven't yet. But he's
hunting, be aware! Latest victim is # 22005 on the Gallery.
No there are 120Magnettes on the Gallery with exactly 1/3 ZAs and 2/3 ZBs.
So were are you ZA owners??
20.10.02
News on the center steering wheel motif from Chuck Reece:
First half of the mold came out very well. My Dad and I molded the second half ( back side of the motif & most detailed
part) tonight. It will be ready for inspection Thursday evening. My dad and I engineered some changes to the
mounting tabs underneath the motif. We're adding additional plastic to one side of each tab to strenghten them, in
hopes the tabs won't break off as time goes by.
My Dad and Phil White will cast the first clear plastic motif sometime next week. Phil is hunting down the correct paint
colors right now. We will forward you digital pictures of the finished product as soon as
possible.
There's also another entry on the gallery: # 22519. This car is for sale.
Information were on the bulletin board or can be obtained from me.
16.10.02
Just a small Update to keep you surfing:
I finished another category on the close-ups.
This time it's the engine bay. We also have a new entry on the Gallery
from Sweden: #22519.
There are also news about the steering wheel motif, one of the
unobtainable Magnette parts: One of the American Magnette owners is trying
to make new ones.He has molded the first half of the production mold for the
motif and will know the results of this work later today when they take the
mold out and inspect it. I'll keep you informed about the progress.
09.10.02
Some really good news:
You may remember the Magnette with the Trike on the roof.
Colin Pratt now informed me that "the once bent and mounted
Magnette from the 30th June incident in Belgium is now back home, at last,
and looking (and feeling) a lot better."
There was a misspelling in the Northern Representative's e-mail. I
changed it below.
There are also new entries on the gallery. This time very early ZA's which
Marty Cutler in New South Wales, Australia brought to light after sleeping
in a shed near Sydney. Look at the Gallerie
at #1297 , #2048 and # 2480. These pictures are a good (or bad?)
example to see how Magnettes survive beside the road.
01.10.02
You might wonder
why I put this picture on the left. Well I thought I should personalize
this site a bit and change it to a kind of "Günter's column".
So people know to whom they are writing and who's writing all this stuff
here.
Already October, but Magnettiers all over the world are very
active! Some even find time to send reports and pictures. So enough
material to keep you visiting over the next days (I hope).
Let's start with a nice short report from
America: Phil White &
Chuck Reece appearently had some fun when they caught up a Maggie as
parts car 1,200 miles away! Here are
some pictures and words.
The other article
comes from the other side of the world: Laurie Scott from Geelong MGCC in Australia should be known to you all.
This time he sent an article about the Lucas
headlamps (pdf).
And three new entries
on the Gallery: #27252, #27577, #30223.
For the Uk residents in Northern England
the Register now has a representative:
Greg Thornton from the East Yorkshire is your man to contact. You
reach him at jill.t@breathemail.net.
Jill is planning to do some events for those living a bit far north of London.
Have some nice days out in your Magnettes!
Günter
22.09.02
Just a short notice for our American and canadian visitors:
There's an article about Magnettes in the October issue of Collectible
Automobile (it shows a Lincoln Convertible Coupe on the cover). There will
be a pdf file to download on this site, but this may take a while. So
hurry up.
19.09.02
Here we are again! As I said some days ago I have a lot of material to
show you and it doesn't stop! Laurie Scott from Geelong MGCC in Australia
is very hard-working at the moment. His first result is a report about the
B Series Engine Oilpump
(pdf).
Tom Webb from USA sent some interesting statistics:
"Unlike most MGs - the vast majority of Z Magnettes never came to the USA.
Whereas almost 80% of the sports cars came here (some years even more than
80%), fewer than 10% of all Magnettes built were ever imported to the USA -
although the total for all of North America is perhaps slightly higher - 10
or 11% maybe! Jeff Powell, who has a sort of "unofficial" register of cars in the USA,
says that perhaps fewer than 125 of them are in road-worthy condition over
here. Now that's 2.5 cars for every state in the union. The average state size is 70,748.82
square miles. So, over here, on average, there is one Magnette every 28,299.53 square miles! The are roughly 285 million people
in the United States, or about one Magnette for every 2,280,000 people!!!
As you can imagine - seeing a MGB on the road over here, isn't that unusual
- but I can guarantee you that seeing three Magnettes at a British car show
is quite an event! "
Thanks Tom. I will try to find out how many Magnettes per square mile we
have here in Germany or perhaps Europe. But the result is the same.
Normally I'm alone at an event and you never meet another on the road
(except on the Z-Day).
And a short note that I had contact to an owner in Malaysia. Hope to get
more information and pictures.
Ah, I also split the Gallery into ZAs
and ZBs.
Enough for today!
Bye.
Günter
16.09.02
Andy Dear, UK sent a technical article about the temperature
gauge. This may be useful to you, as this is one of the items that
cannot be replaced with original items. I included this article to an
older one of the same topic. So please sroll to the bottom.
Andy also sent some pictures which I included on the Interior
close-up
I have more technial instructions to come during the next days! Watch out.
And two new entries on the gallery: # 21251 and 33951. Also #14464 that I
spotted on ebay recently has found a new owner!
Günter
12.09.02
There were some problems with the new close-up
site, which should be resolved now. Pictures you sent to me will be
included later.
05.09.02
I'm a bit late with the update this month, but I just came back from
the Norwich event. It was nice to meet so many people and to hear
you love this website. Special Greetings go to Sweden and East
Yorkshire!
My Magnette did over 1,000 miles without any trouble. At relaxing 4,000
revs we travelled with 65 miles for hours and hours only stopping for
petrol. It really was and still is nowadays "motoring in
luxury".
Find a short report and many pictures here
and also the new Pic of the Month including a nice biography
on a ZA.
I have more material for other updates this month. So watch this space!
Günter
28.08.02
Some bad news for Magnette owners in America:
John and Lou Shorten deeply regret to announce that due to a) the changes imposed by US customs post 9/11/01 and b) trade embargo sanctions placed on US imports of products, they are no longer able to sustain
selling into the US. If there are any customers wanting goods in the US, all goods will only be supplied, henceforth, on an ex-works basis i.e.
US customers will have to arrange and pay for all their own shipping and packaging and collection from John and Lou's premises. Costs, and
inconvenience have now all become far too burdensome for them to continue as previously.
Very sorry, John & Lou
26.08.02
Just a few days until the Norwich event. I still have to check my car,
but my mailbox was full of pictures and enquiries, so a short update makes
sense:
We have some pictures from Silverstone
2002 and
a new entry on the Gallery: # 2211 a very
early car
Also I managed to get the first part of the Magnette close-ups online.
This is for the majority of our visitors, who are still restoring their
cars. This gallery will live from your input. So everybody might help
other owners by sending detailed pictures. Let me know what you think
about this new gallery!
Another technical tip comes from Buckey in Arizona. He shows how to repair
the reverse lamp cover lenses.
And finally I was informed that John and Lou Shorten
are
suspended there email account and will also no longer be accepting orders
by fax until further notice. In future would anyone wishing to place
an order on MG Specialists please either write to Lou (using a large FONT
SIZE), or telephone her (address and phone no can be found on the
suppliers page).
08.08.02
After I published the postcard I received the following mail:
"Günter,
Thanks for the Spanish postcard. As I might have told you, I'm a general practicioner (family doctor). So
many young children visit my practice every day, and the things I have to do aren't always that nice.
But the children start smiling afterwards, when they obtain a nice "drawing-picture". So today I enlarged the postcard, made it
black-and-white and now it's beautiful for the children. They can give it the color they like (of course they prefer
the two-tone green option !!!!)(Look
here what he means-Webmaster). Soon my office will be full of nice colourful
Magnettes !
Yours, Radboud
I found this a nice message and thought you all might like it, too.
Before I leave for a holiday I added two more cars on the Gallery: #19988
and #33819.
Please keep in mind that THE Magnette event will start in a few
days on 31.08.! I hope to see many of you in Norwich. Hopefully we have
better weather than last year!!! See you!
Günter
05.08.02
Our first entry on the Gallery from Spain! Welcome Brian Pollard with #
26898. he also sent me a nice postcard
you all will like.
I also received an e-mail from Pat Gadney that he sold his all
award-winning steelblue ZB. Normally it's not worth to be mentioned here
when a Magnette is sold, but those who have seen this car know why it was
outstanding. It has been bought by Lord Harris who has a private collection of some 40 -50 classic cars of all makes and sizes but only those which he
considers to be the best examples available to him of any one type.
All other owners now again have the chance of winning the MGCC Z Register Concours Championship Trophy,
after Pat having won the first
two rounds at Stanford Hall and Silverstone.
01.08.02
Since three weeks
the Magnett-e-shop is open. And
the best selling item is -who wonders- the Modification Manual! I hope you
all enjoy it and you like the shop. (I received no comment so
far).
You really kept me
busy. Since the last update I received several mails with pictures to
show. Let's start in alphabetical order:
Peter Bonthrone, UK,
sent a nice contempory advert. One of
the few with a bit colour! (marked )
Andy Dear, UK, sent a
picture of his current ZA, which was entry no. 100 on the gallery
! He also sent some pictures of his first
ZA which was scrapped in the '70s. And there are two more entries from
Gobby (Cornwall, UK) and Marty Ray (USA).
Please welcome Magnettes no's #23916, #25173, #30862 and #35934.
Dieter Otten from Düsseldorf in Germany sent some pictures of other
collectibles and another contempory advert (both are marked ).
And of course a "Picture
of the Month". Very unusual this time...
I think that's enough
for the moment. During this month I hope to bring some Magnette close-ups
to light. If you have pictures from your restoration that show areas which
are normally hidden, or pictures that might help reassembling, please send
them to me!
Enjoy driving in the airsmoothed syle
Günter
21.07.02
99
cars on the gallery!
Please welcome #5650, #14464
and #18582. Who'll be entry no. 100 ? Come on send your pictures!
While a lot of you
will have been in Silverstone over the weekend, it's still winter in Australia.What
means enough time to write an article. This time about fitting Magnette
gearbox to 5 bearing B-series engine. Thanks go again down under to Laurie Scott!
I
also uploaded some videos of the Z-Magnette-Day.
I hope you like 'em.
And finally Paul
Barrow asked me to make a notice that just a few reproduced
tool rolls are available.
10.07.02
Eddy Lepez from Belgium sent more pictues from Z-Magnette-Day
2002.
09.07.02
Your input is quite good at the moment. I have several pictures,
reports and stories in the background for the near future. Seems the
Register needs a full-time webmaster.
So what's new?
I think the headline is:
The Magnett-e-shop is open now!
I
created a small shop that allows you to order the Register Regalia online.
It's very easy to order and the prices include p&p worldwide! For your
safety we use a secure server and we now
accept credit cards.
I hope you like the shop (and buy a lot) so that it was worth my
work Don't hesitate with comments and suggestions or questions.
Then the last poll is finished. The question was: How many miles do you
use your Magnette per year? Here are the results:
This shows Magnettes are used regulary if not under restoration. It also
shows that 29% of our visitors are restoring their Magnette and surely are
looking help. For those I'm creating a new section with pictures of
original cars to help you assembling your Zed. This will still take a few
days, so watch this space.
We also have no. 95 on the gallery. It's # 22319. Come let's get the 100
soon!!
Lou Shorten has a new
price list and she asked me to publish the following:
"Would all customers please note that
all exchange units will carry a surcharge until old units have been
returned. Please return items as soon as possible as many parts can no
longer be replaced. If parts are not available for reconditioning they
will soon run out. If you have any old unit that should have been
returned, please return them now as certain items have run very low
because of the failure of some to return their old unit."
Lou Shorten
05.07.02
Hello again!
During the next days I have to repair the damages from last weekend. First
I lost one of my Ace Mercury wheelcovers on the motorway, which was badly
damaged (Anybody has one in spare?). Then I again had trouble with my
new(!) coil. And finally the wind flushed my door which was stopped
by a big flowerpot. You may think I was the most unlucky person over the
weekend. But all this is nothing against Colin Pratt's accident. A trike
(one of these bastards between Beetle and motorbike) drove up Collin's car
and the front wheel landed on his roof! I hope I can show a picture in the
near future.
We are also hunting the 100-mark on the Gallery! Over the last days I
received seven new entries so that the 100's car should be seen in a few
weeks (or days?).
Please welcome # 9337, #13072, #22988, #23266, #26866, #31962 and # 36756.
Günter
01.07.02
The Magnette engine is still hot from my return from the
Z-Magnette-Day in the Netherlands and the pictures are just uploaded!
Enjoy the first impressions of the Z-Magnette-Day
and our Monthly Picture.
More to follow the next days.
