24.06.03
Silverstone has just gone and there's already the next event. This
weekend we have the Z-Magnette-Day. I will bring some used parts for sale,
which don't fit my car. Should you need anything (especially ZA parts) let
me know. Anybody who needs a ZA rear screen or steering rack? See you in
Brügge!
18.06.03
I supppose some of you are already preparing their Magnettes for the
pilgrimage to Silverstone, the biggest M.G. event worldwide! The Z &
Farina Register will be there, so please visit us at the Register stand in
the main marquee. Perfect Magnettes should enter the Concours or POO, while
those with sports in their blood should enter the California Cup. You see,
there's something for everybody. So come along and say hello!
Also a last reminder for Brügge at the end of June. We now have 22
entries and I'm looking forward to seeing some you.
For now I only add some more cars to the Gallery:
#951, #14077, #27116 and #32652. Not only that #951 is a very early car,
but it's the first time we have moe UK cars than US! Now folks where are
your Magnettes? Please send a picture with some text to let the gallery
grow even more.
11.06.03
I just returned from wonderful M.G. weekend. The weather was
fine, the landscape beautiful and the people nice. The Magnette ran
perfect - until I was 50 km near to my home, when there was no pressure on
the clutch anymore. But I managed the way home without stopping in
third gear. And can you imagine that still in 3rd gear you have slow cars
in front of you? Well here are some
impressions of the weekend (text in German as it is for the German
MGCC - sorry no time for translation).
04.06.03
It seems Z-Magnette-Day in Brügge on the last weekend
in June will be another great event: 19 entries from seven different
countries until today! If you still think about it, don't hesitate to
register now! Eddy Lepez, the organizer, will be very happy to receive the
20th entry.
Also with this update: four new cars on the gallerie: #22287; #24596, #30983 and #37093,
which I found on the net, while surfin' around.
01.06.03
What do our Magnettes have to do with fairytales? Nothing you would say,
but that's wrong! After longlasting researchs in worldwide archives I
discovered the secret of Snow White and the seven midgets! All were in
involved with M.G. Magnettes.
June's Monthly Picture will show you Snow White and David Johnson
was lucky enough to get one of the seven midgets in front of his camera. Look here.
I'm sure the other six midgets own Magnettes, too...
A few weeks ago I asked you to sent your automobile biography. I received
- you guess - none. So why don't you write a few words, add some pictures
and tell us, how you got involved with M.G.s and Magnettes?
Unfortunetly I have not more news at the moment. Your input is very low
and I'm also running out of good pictures! So please look in your archives
or take some special pics. This site lives from your input!
21.05.03
John and Lou Shorten will be attending this year’s MG Car Club Silverstone event. They will not be bringing very
much stock with them though. If you are attending the show and require anything
from them, PLEASE CONTACT THEM AT LEAST TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE SHOW WITH YOUR ORDER. They will then box up your requirements and bring your box to the show with them.
16.05.03
Eddy Lepez, the organizer of the Z-Magnette Day 2003, asked me to make a
reminder that there are only 14 days left to enter the Z-Day! If you wish
to come please send the entry form asap to him. All information on our Events
page. You may also send him a short e-mail in advance. This akes
organising a bit easier and everybody who has ever organised an event
knows what I'm talking about. So please hurry up.
To wet your appetite I enclose a picture of Eddy's Magnette in Brugge:
07.05.03
Finally we hit the 150 mark on the gallery. It's a Swedish car # 3644.
Also added #11832, 22696 and # 23704.
I need your help!
From my stats I can see that very often the error page (the one with the
broken Magnette) appears, because the page you're looking for does not
excist. Would you please be so kind and write me when this page appears. I
will then fix it. Thanks!
01.05.03
Well it's already May and we missed the 3rd birthday of this website!
Meanwhile we have more than 90 MB(!) Magnette stuff. I never thought this
when I began with this website, because it was just only to learn a bit
about the web. Anyway. It's YOU that still keep me doing this job, as I
have a lot of fun and many nice e-mails nearly every day. Keep on sending
reports and pictures!
A nice example is this month's event
report from Laurie Scott, Australia.
I couldn't resist to "work" on a photo. The open bonnet of a
Magnette reminded me on this...
Also a new nice picture of the month.
We plan to open a new series: "How I got involved with
Magnettes". Please write your stories/biographies how and when you
got infected with the M.G.-virus (not less complicated than S.A.R.S.).
Enclose some nice pictures and I'll do the rest.
That's enough for the moment, now it's up to you!
27.04.03
Just a small update before the next monthly update:
We have a short report of Magnettes
& Steam. Also two new entries on the Gallery:
#23540 and 30977. It seems endless until we hit the 150 marque..
Last week I had a picture of Magnette Close, a street we all would like to
live. But what happens after our live on earth? I can show you some
pictures how heaven could be. You only will ever see it, when you
restored and saved at least one Magnette... Look here
and here.
Maybe this purpose is more attractive than the 26 virgins waiting for
Muslims. But I'm not sure, 26 (!) virgins... Hmmmh.....
23.04.03
John Watson of the MGB Register sent me a nice picture. It shows a
street we all would love to have as our address...
Why? Look here. Magnette Close is in Abingdon, the building in the background is Abingdon Council offices.
14.04.03
Some of you surely are waiting fo another update. But instead of
updating I walked over Europes biggest Oldtimer faire, the Techno
Classica. As I expected I didn't find anything to buy except an old (and
not Jaguar-priced) Trico washer bottle.
And today my Magnette forced me for some attention again. This morning the
clutch didn't work as usual. I got worser and worser on my way to work and
ended with pumping before changing gear! I dismanted the brake master
cylinder this afternoon (without finding anything), replaced everything
and - it worked. I hope it still will do tomorrow morning. I'm not sure
but I assume it has to do something with the vibrations (not mine). The
day before I was running at 65 mph, and my engine vibrates a lot. I will
observe this...
While I put my head into the engine bay, you may read another older
article, called Magnettic Attraction. Hey how many articles are called
this?
09.04.03
A new technical tip has been added. This time we cover the stator
tube. Thanks to David DuBois, USA!
Also I received a comment about the Monthly pic
from Rutger Booy, Netherlands.
01.04.03
My intention was to conceive another April fool joke over the weekend. Instead of this I spent my time in my garage for "just
fixing the brakes".
All started when I recognized that braking was a bit bad and I had to push
the pedal very hard. Adjusting the brake shoes didn't help. So I decided
to get the drums off to have a closer look. But releasing the brake shoes
didn't work either! Anyway. I managed to get the drums off and everything
looked fine until I recognized that one brake cylinder wasn't closed. You
guess it, the cylinder was fixed. So this "just fixing" ended in
replacing the brake cylinders.
Now I sit here with black fingerails on my computer to announce this
months update. Well, we have a nice mixture:
-
Picture of the Month
-
Some more collectibles added
-
A nice Article from the US magazin Collectible Automobile
-
Warren Marsh of Zedparts asked me to publish a list of spare parts, he wishes to sell, as he has to clear his barn. -Sold-
-
A short report of the Mid Week run to Ballarat by the Geelong MGCC from Laurie Scott/Australia
-
A new entrie on the gallery #21130. Seems we never will reach the 150, as your input is very very low at the moment! So please send a picture of your car if you haven't yet.
I also repaired a few links, especially on the report
of reproducing the motifs. You now may open larger pictures. Sorry for
this!
More news over the month. I have to clean my fingers
now...
24.03.03
We have permission to show you the latest MG World article showing the
supercharged Magnette of Brian
Reeve(marked 
).
15.03.03
Regular readers may recall that some enthusiasts in the USA reproduced
the center steering wheel motif. We proudly announce a report
how these motifs are made.
And for a third time I have to recall Melbourne. Not only do they have the
season opener of the Formula 1 and a great Concours with more than a
dozend Magnettes. They also have a great Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, who
played with my favourite Roch Band KISS! Well this is in no way a M.G.
related news, but I'm longer a KISS-Fan than I own M.G.s...
10.03.03
Have you seen Melbourne? Eh, not the
Formula 1. I mean the pictures of
the first Magnette event in 2003! It looks as if they really have concours
cars. Couldn`t see any used cars (or they were hidden).
For you pleasure Paul Barrow made a new pdf-file. From Classic &
Sports Car 1983.
04.03.03
Just a few hours after my last update I received a nice comment from
Carsten Wivel from Denmark:
In according to your newly statement about Mondeo brakes on a Magnette - I
tell you: The Danish police use Mondeos and they didn't dare to use
them... They were awful brakers!
So it's up to Don Lord, UK to show us that these brakes were made for the
Magnette and then we buy the Danish police cars very cheap to scrap
them.... (The Mondeo brake pictures are added now. See link in
previous notes).
Also I found a picture of a nice solution for missing steering wheel
motifs if you don't want to buy one of these newly reproduced motifs. Look
here.
This was done in the USA! " If I were a carpenter..." :-))
And to make this news really worldwide I'm happy to show you
the report and pictures from
Melbourne, Australia!
01.03.2003
A lot NEWS for the Magnette community this month.
Let's start with the reproduction of the motif for the center
steering wheel:
Last week I received an example of the newly produced motifs from the USA. My first
impression was that they sent me an old one! In fact you can't see a
difference to an original one! For me it's unbelievable how to reproduce
such a complicated thing. But we all will see it in a future report on
this website. Also I hope to show you a picture comparing old and new ones next
week.
On the technical side I had the information from
Don Lord, UK of a disc brake conversion: This uses Ford Mondeo ventilated
discs.He is running these brakes and is in the process of completing final
modifications. He is
pleased to answer any questions by e-mail that members may have. Perhaps
we do this via the bulletin board, so we all can (read and learn)? Click
here and here
for picture!
Henk
Kroese from the Netherlands reports of a show held by the MGCC Hollandin
January!
Amoung all Registers of the Car Club and other MG clubs the Z-Register
presented a (Varitone-painted) ZA to celebrate 50 years Magnettes. You may
wonder why there are no official celebrations from the Register in UK/Europe. It's true that
the Magnette was shown to the public in October 1953, but all cars built
in 1953 returned to Abingdon for modification. So no Magnette was
despatched before 1954. Because of this the celebrations in UK and Europe
will start in 2004.
But nevertheless also our friends in Down Under couldn't wait and already
celebrated 50 years of Magnettism (report & pictures to follow soon).
For our American visitors I added a new
supplier.
And finally look at the new
Picture of the Month and at the Gallery,
23.02.2003
We are comming close to the 150 Magnettes on the gallery!
Please welcome #3004 from Japan, #12466 from Uk and #22720 from Sweden (with homepage)
Also another pdf-file has been added. It's from Practical
Classics August, 1993.
There was a discussion about fitting an oil cooler on the Magnette
bulletin web recently. Don Lord, UK sent some photos which show how you can fit an oil cooler to your Magnette.
17.02.2003
Well it's quite a long time since my last news. But your input is
quite low at the moment!
So I only can show you some more Magnettes on the Gallery: #5307, #8495,
#25555, #34330 and #36079. This increases the number of cars to 143.
If you haven't sent a picture yet, please do so and help to hit the 150 soon!!
If you live in the Northern part of the UK have a look at the events
calendar. Our Northern rep. Greg Thornton organises two more Magnette
events
01.02.2003
Hello, here am I back again from a warm holiday in Thailand. I did not
see any MGs. That wasn't too surprising, as I was offroad with a Mountain
Bike most of the time. Well since I have been back for a
few hours now, I know what you are waiting for. So I will start with a little update. More
may appear over the month, when I have everything running again.
Let's start with another pdf from Paul Barrow. He comments: "Here is an article from the same Modern Motor as the
earlier advert. Of high amusement
value are the comments that it is "completely rust-proof" and that the ZA sported "an extremely large curved rear window". I am
not sure just how many XXXXs the journalist had before writing the article!"
Paul. Read yourself...
Also we have a new picture of the month and a new entry on the
gallery: # 35361.
And to wet your appetite for the comming season we have more
information about the Z-Magnette-Day in Belgium.
Some weeks ago I received an e-mail from a former Magnette owner:
Sirs,
I am delighted to have found your excellent web site while wandering the web
for photos of some of the cars I have owned. They have included such
oddities as a 1954 English Ford Consul sedan; ‘55 Hillman Minx with a
convertible top that tied back Cabriolet style; a Borgward 4 door station
wagon of mid 50’s vintage; and a Fiat Multipla also probably from the mid
50’s.
In about 1965 I acquired a used red MG Magnette ZB with tan leather seats
and the manumatic shift. The leather and body were in good condition and I
never had a problem with the shift.
But the wood dash was warped. I remember it as the color of oak though you
mention walnut. With no experience in such things I decided to fix it. I detached the dash and set it in a tub of water to soak
and soften. After several days I removed it from the water and clamped it to a flat surface to
straighten it. The wood dried perfectly straight though the grain raised a
bit.
So I sanded it a little and then oiled it with several coats of linseed oil
until it glowed. Against much advice I applied two or three layers of varnish over the oiled wood which brought up an even deeper luster.
When reattached I remember it looking even better than it could have on leaving
the factory. Pure luck.
Within a year or so some engine problem occured and I, without the funds to
repair it, let it sit undriven until a buyer appeared. I have kicked myself
ever since and even harder recently having found photos on the internet to
stir my memory. Your historical article says the electric shift was only installed between September 1957 and October 1958 so that
must have been the model year I owned. I couldn’t remember and wouldn’t have known without
your story.
Thanks for providing an enjoyable and informative web site. Gee I wish I had
kept that car.
Philip Aives
11.01.2003
Again I forgot to upload the pictures! So here we are now with the new
close-ups.
As I will have a two weeks holiday I give you two more old articles from
1989 to read.
The next update will be on 1st of February. So enough time for you to make
nice pictures and write stories! But please do not send large files to my
e-mail during the next two weeks. Thank you all !
Günter
10.01.03
Lou Shorten has a new price list which can be downloaded from the
supplier page. She also advices the following:
"New Lines from Lou Shorten are Radiator Grille Centre Bar - as original
- £90.00 each, Passenger and Rear Exterior Door Handle backing plates (Chrome on Brass) - only £8.50 each, Vertical Window
Channels in Stainless Steel (Front and Rear) - £25.00 each, Front Curved Window Channel - £53.00 each, Rear Curved
Window Channel - £60.00 each. These have been previously unobtainable and
represent valued additions to the excellent service already offered to
Magnetteers by John and Lou Shorten.".
09.01.2003
Uuups! Yesterdays update didn't work. So here's a new try. The advert
surely is worth a look!
I also added some pictues of the heater box unit to the close-up section.
Wray Lemke from the USA kindly sent these to me.
08.01.2003
Here is something more to see! This time it's a wonderful contemporary
advert from an Australian magazine from 1954. Needless to say that it
was Paul barrow who sent it.
He also provided me with lots of pdf-files from various magazines. So
here's another: In at the deep end
from1995.
I'm very happy that Paul does this lot of work for us, but what are YOU
doing to keep this site alive? Have you sent a picture of your car for the
galley at least? Or a nice story or something else you think it might be
of interest to all?
02.01.2003
Happy New Year to all Magnetteers all over the world!
Just returning from a trip to Belgium , where I visited this years
organiser of the European Z-Day. I can tell you that it looks as if we
again will see a superb event! Eddy Lepez is a Magnette-nut like we all
are and is doing a great job! More over the next months...
Well let's start with a new (sweet) Picture of the month.
The following mail may be of interest for somebody in the USA. If you
recognize your car, contact me:
"I didn't know where to put this information, but maybe someone
"out
there" would be interested.
In 1958, my husband and I bought a new 59 MG Magnette in Lincoln,
Nebraska. It was maroon with tan leather interior. We kept the car for
about 10 years and ended up selling it in Kansas City, Missouri.
Unfortunately we do not have any registration numbers. What we do have is
the original Purchaser's Invoice (new price of the car was $2,891.00 - a
lot of money in those days!!) We also have a tag from Lykes Lines Agency,
Inc. - Dock Department from Houston - the location where the car was
driven from to the Lincoln, Nebraska dealer.
The car was repainted (due to an accident) to the blue-gray color which
was a stock color then. The maroon had faded miserably.
Although the Purchaser's Invoice says it is a 59, it may have been a
58.
If anyone out there feels they know anything about this car and would
like the items mentioned, please E-Mail the webmaster.
Connie.Stockmyer"
I will upload more stuff over the net days. If you still have time to surf
around and you are the proud owner of an MGA visit my new website at www.mga-register.org.
But don't panic. I still will keep this site alive as long as you provide
me with pctures and stories!
Günter
