■ Alfisti Issue 154 ■ June 2013

Brooklands Spring Italian Car Event

May Meeting at the G&D

Classic Car Night

Curborough Sprint Experience

. . . and more

Alfisti is the AROC East Midlands Section

newsletter, edited and produced by

John Griffiths AROC East Midlands Section Secretary

Tel: 0774 8881317

e-mail: john.jhgcs@gmail.com

Our website for the latest news and more:

www.AROC--UK.COM/EASTMIDS

Alfisti production sponsored by

ALFISTI / EASTMIDS Price? IT’S FREE!!

AROC EAST MIDLANDS SECTION

Formerly Central & East Midlands

As per tradition, June will see our very popular Fun Concours night at the George & Dragon on A512 near Thringstone in Leicestershire. We had a terrific attendance of 34 Alfas and around 50 people participating last summer. Regulars will know the drill; all Alfas attending are automatically entered, and all people present get to vote. There are a host of categories, both fun ones and the more serious, including the prestigious Car of the Night, with prizes sponsored by our key Section supporters; Chris Variava Alfa Romeo Nottingham, Engine Services (Dave French) and IntaServices (Dave Knott) in Leicester. It’s always an enjoyable evening and I hope you can make it. Given value of prizes, if the weather is bad we will postpone the contest to our July meeting night. Please note though, very often though drizzle may be about we get away with it, so please don’t be deterred by threat of showers etc.

This summer is lining up to be one of the busiest on record, and April and May have been pretty busy to start with. At this time of year it’s always tricky to write our Section report for the June magazine as there are always around 15

Something different for early summer - a guided

tour of a small brewery in south Leicestershire,

The Langton Brewery started off in a shed at the

back of the Bell Inn in East Langton, but now

has its own special premises. We will have a

special tour of the whole operation followed by a

sandwich buffet at around 9pm. Cost is just £11

a head inclusive of refreshments, inc. proper

tasting glasses not thimbles! Be wary of course

of drink driving, but you can take away bottles of

the excellent brews.

IMPORTANT— there’s no deposit but you must

book your attendance via John.

Address: Langton Brewery, Grange Farm,

Welham Road, Thorpe Langton, Market

Harborough, LE16 7TU

A host of Alfas will join in at this interesting

regional event that always attracts a good

number of classic Alfa Romeos.

You can either go direct to Stanway House (from

11.30), a beautiful property with an impressive

fountain that is fired at various intervals, or take

part in the Giro Panoramico run that starts at

Twyning from 10am and ends there. See the

Cotswold Section’s website for info and booking

form. (Entry to Giro and Stanway £11, per

person, under 12s £3.50; Stanway only, £7.50

per person, under 12s free.)

Weds 12 June from 7pm at The George & Dragon

Thringstone

‘CAD’ 2012

events past and on the way to cover. Given the necessary restriction on wording, it’s very hard to make it much more than a list, so apologies for not listing many people’s names for example. Not so bad here in Alfisti thankfully. I always like to feature new joiners who actually make the step of coming along to one of our meetings in the Our Cars back page feature. After three 916 GTV owners last time we have owners of two classics this time; Phil Levell with his Bertone and Roy Matthews with his Spider S3. Great cars both of them and we hope to see them at a lot more gatherings in the future. They have both seen the wide variety of models owned by us, that being one of our club’s big plus points for me. Excuse me if it sounds trite, but Alfas are Alfas to me, be they fiery pre-war roadsters, sleek sixties style icons, the quirky, charismatic eighties machines, the excellent nineties and noughties models or the technologically-rich latest products of the brand. They all have style and all drive with true Latin spirit, so seeing 105 Bertones and Spiders parked next to 75s, 155s, GTVs, Breras, 159s, MiTos and new Giuliettas to me just works. Seeing a recent display of MGOC cars, with lines of the ubiquitous ‘B’ flanked by an MGF and a ZT (75) just looked, well, odd. Not as odd as if there was an MG6 there. Now that would be weird! (See ‘Scoop’.) Anyway, here’s to a gloriously varied array of Alfas at our Fun Concours. See you there! John

4 May 2013

Another fantastic Spring event at Brooklands saw hundreds of Italian cars gather in the superb surroundings. Morning showers did not deter the crowds and a several of our local members made the 120mile trip down to the iconic venue near Weybridge in Surrey.

Club Manager Nick Wright and John Griffiths looked after signing up new members and selling some club shop items, whilst Stuart Taylor, 105 Series Registrar made sure that classic Alfas were parked tidily together including a superb row of Bertone Coupes and many Alfetta GTVs.

The Alfa Romeo dedicated parking was full by 10am so overflow parking on a big section of the original race track banking was used. The event always attracts some amazing Exotics, and with over 20 Lamborghinis and 70 or more Ferraris, this year was no exception.

The morning saw various special cars lapping on the Mercedes Benz World circuit, then the afternoon saw runs up the incredibly steep test hill, everything from De Tomaso Pantera to Piaggio Ape! Run of the afternoon belonged to a rather enthusiastic owner of a Ferrari 360, He ignored the course marshal’s instructions and kept his foot in right to the very top of the course, getting the car a good three feet off the ground! The Ferrari by all accounts was unharmed. There’s a ink to some camcorder footage of this flight of fancy on the club forum, it’s worth a look! Also see snaps on page 5.

This is a really good event , one all Italian car fans should go to. John

As you’ll see from the photos here, Brooklands is very much an air museum as well as having some indoor car exhibits. All pics are by John, and there are tons more in the gallery on our Section website.

Stuart Taylor, pictured above, is AROC’s 105 Series Registrar. Here’s a few words on the day from him.

“I’m delighted to say we had 22 beautiful Bertones parked in a long line (with several more spotted around the large sprawling Brooklands site) along with some really top quality classic Alfas – a lightweight Giulietta Sprint, Giulia SS, 2600 Spider and some stunning ‘Suds and Alfetta GTVs.

The gorgeous Blu Hollandese 1750 GT Veloce owned by club member Peter Knight took the MGS Coachworks award for the ‘Best Bertone in Show’. Peter received an elegant trophy and a bottle of champagne.” Stuart

Would you believe it? Two weeks of half decent weather, including some lovely evenings with clear blue skies, then the usual second

Wednesday comes and…. heavy showers. Blinking typical!

Still, we’re a hardy lot, and the early-arrivers parked in the freshly-mowed paddock area, happily with nice firm ground, and enjoyed a natter around the cars with brollies firmly up until a major downpour forced us inside!

Several of the regulars were away (or had submitted decent excuses!), including Dave Atkins, Bryan Alexander, Keith Krog and Leigh & Mandy Nethercot, but we still had around 20 people along. It was good to see Matt Strange along again with his blue 3.0 GTV, and also to welcome new member Roy Matthews from Evington in Leicester along with his classic-car-mad and previous Alfa-owning friend Jim. Roy had brought along his newly restored Spider Series 3. Strangely enough I’d actually signed him up as a member at the Classic Motor Show at the NEC last November - a place where he’d enjoyed sitting in Simon’s similar but different S4. Roy had with him some picture of the car pre and during restoration - it had been in a bit of a state, owned by a garage-owning Italian guy who’d probably caused more damage to it from storing rubbish on top! It’s certainly in lovely order now. See pic on the back page.

Also new in the car park was Sally Swinfen’s MiTo. All of us outside remarked how rich its Alfa Red colour looked, and how quite the 1.3 JTDm engine was too. Another MiTo also appeared, this time a Chris Variava loan one being borrowed by Steve Sembay who’s white Giulietta was in having some warranty work. I was also in a MiTo, Maria’s bright yellow one, borrowed as she was away at Torquay with work. (I love that little car!!)

Back inside we also enjoyed a good group natter on forthcoming events, something I’d like to make a feature of each meeting going forwards as its surprising what people don’t pick up from our communications - and it’s a great chance for some banter too!

So, another enjoyable evening there, please don’t miss the next one at the G&D - Fun Concours Night! John

WINDOWS. Glass not only looks better when polished to perfection, but also improves safety and visibility when well maintained. Yes, pretty obvious. Really, but how often have you followed a car in bright low sun and wondered how the heck they can see out? Regular washing will help the outside of course, but the grime soon builds up inside. What’s the best stuff to use to

get it crystal clean? Well, to start with household products are not a good idea - many contain Ammonia and not only pong that can damage plastics. Best use clean microfibre cloths, and even plain water, damping one cloth to wipe then a dry one to buff. If its streaky then a good car spray cleaner is advised like Autoglym Fast Glass. Autoglym also do a brilliant little gizmo, a microfibre Palm polisher, which fits great into tight corners like the base of the windscreen. For serous cleaning use Autoglym Glass Cleaner. Apply to some stockinet roll or microfibre and apply briskly in stripes, NOT allowing it to dry - quickly buff and it comes up great without leaving loads of dusty residue.

DREAMS CAN COME TRUE! John and Maria’s son Dave (here with his 147) has been playing guitar for 11 years now and performing in bands since 15. Now his noisy ‘Hardcore’ rock band ‘Surrender The Coast’ have achieved their dream by getting on the bill at the huge Download Rock Festival at Donington

in June. They entered a Red Bull contest and were delighted to come in top 100 out of 700+ entrants, and then made final 15 on the judges’ vote. After recording a live video at the superb Red Bull studios in London, it all went to public vote. 90,000 ‘Like’s ‘ later and they made it!! Big thanks from Dave and proud parents for everyone who supported the band including Chris Variava who posted on their website news page and Facebook. As they say, dreams can come true! (John promises to stop nagging by email now!)

Brolly practice for the summer?

George arrives, but the rain defeats us!

Sally Swinfen’s new MiTo Mark Sangster’s 147 DC John was in Maria’s Yellow Peril

Dave McFarland’s GTV in the pit complex. (OK, it’s not Monaco.) John G’s Giulietta with Go-Pro video camera on the roof Leigh in his MX5 with Go-Pro on the door!

StJohn’s Punto Evo: you would not believe 1250cc could go so fast! Our happy band Brian Smith in charging Brera...

Thanks go to Curborough Sprint Club member

George Cole, aka ‘El Presidente’, for organising this

superb day’s entertainment again.

Designed as a taster for the whole Sprinting scene

it certainly works too! 11 varied cars assembled on a

damp morning that was to mercifully dry out by

around 10.30 allowing a good run through to the

necessary lunch break at 1pm.

George had brought his trusty 156 tow-car with

covered trailer containing his prized Terrapin single-

seater Sprint machine, complete with much-modified

1380cc A-Series engine. His son Edward is still sans-

Alfa but very much enjoying his MX-5, and that was

paired with Leigh Nethercot’s similar fun

machine. Somewhat wisely, Leigh left his M3 V8 at

home! Otherwise, we had Keith Davies with his TV-

star GTV TS, Dave McFarland with his superbly track-

modified GTV 3.0 (complete with new AP-racing

aluminium discs (2.5kg lighter per item than

standard!), Performance Friction pads, smart grey

ultra-light Team Dynamics alloy wheels and sticky

Yokohama rubber, me in my trusty Giulietta ‘170’

JTDm2, Mark Sangster also flying the powerful diesel

flag with his much-modified and fiercely re-mapped

147 Ducati Corse, Brian Smith also with remapped

Brera 2.2 with very fruity exhaust sounding great,

then Keith Krog and son StJohn in 159 1750 TBi and

Punto Evo respectively.

Suffice to say we had a superb time on track in 3 or

4 lap bursts, sometimes longer if nobody was

queuing. People could push hard at times but the

standard of driving was extremely good with no

serious ‘moments’ - two or three spins admittedly,

but all safe and low speed with no barrier action!

The rain began exactly as predicted at 1pm and the

afternoon session turned very wet - this was an

interesting challenge. No doubt that the MX-5 boys

enjoyed themselves most, with much

rear-drive slidiness going on.

Passengering Leigh in his Japanese

machine I was whooping with laughter

as extreme understeer turned to

serious tail-out drifting—just hilarious

fun.

People enjoyed swapping drives

during the day, experiencing the

different talents the cars had to offer.

It was remarkable how close in overall

speed the different cars were—most crossing

the normal finish line at around 80mph—

plenty quick enough as the track then dives

down hill. StJohn had a wail of a time pushing

his sensibly modified Punto, its wide

Yokohama Advans really coming into their own

on its lowered suspension. As a young guy it

was his first true track experience and he

revelled in it—also when allowed to drive his

Dad’s 150 with well over twice the

horsepower!

Sadly the Terrapin only managed a few laps

before a niggle occurred so our planned

lappery in it couldn’t happen. Another time we

hope.

With the rain really coming down. Leigh’s

daughter Laura appeared late on with her

500, and Leigh took her for a spin in that (not

literally!) - Not really for her she decided!

So, as I said at the start, tremendously

enjoyable, and another massive benefit of

being a club member—you simply would not

get this chance otherwise. Big thanks again to

George of course. We are alrady looking

forward to next time! John.

(Lots more photos on our Section website.)

George’s Terrapin Sprint car Keith Davies was smiling all day! Keith Krog takes to the track

Mark Sangster’s 147 DC with George’s Terrapin

Keith Krog’s 159 turbo flying in the wet

Dave McFarland’s cracking GTV 3.0 V6

Classic Car Night at Beedles Lake

FAST & FURIOUS 6

Oh yes the height of ‘take your brain out’ cinema returns, but this time with an Alfa in the cast! The 8C Red Giulietta was there at Leicester Square for all to see in May looking surprisingly at home among the other star cars (including 1972 Escort Mexico??). Here’s a shot from Alfa Romeo UK’s Facebook page. Product placement at its best,,,

Why is it that every time we go to Beedles Lake the weather is rubbish? No thunder this time, but it was really grey and miserable, and, as usual, after a nice dry run of days too. The Law of Sod. Still, 10 Alfas made it along and about 16 people so thanks to those who came along.

The Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club Leicester Region were very good hosts again and had some lovely cars along - some fantastic Series 1 E-Types in particular, and the South Leicester Region of the MG Owners’ Club were there too with some well presented cars including a delightful red MGA, plus a smattering of other classics - including a rather excellent Dolomite, GT6 and a wonderfully 80’s Lotus Excel.

In the ‘classic’ Alfa corner, joining Brian Smith’s Spider S4 was new joiner Phil Levell from Nottingham with his superb 1300 GT Bertone (pictured centre page), complete with 1750 engine and GTA look-a-like parts - a real beauty.

The JEC always have a fund raising raffle which adds an extra element once people have retired to the bar and conservatory for a natter, and this time the star prize was a framed print of an Alfa Disco Volante race car, and that was won by Phil! We weren’t jealous, much!

A good evening anyway, and thanks again to the Jaguar guys for their hospitality. John

Great cars to see… Above, Lotus Excel, Jaguar E-type Series 1, 1957 MGA twin cam. Right; variety of Alfas Below, V12 E-type and a straight six E-type engine bay. Bottom right, yes, Roger from JEC is a HUGE chap, here presenting Phil Levell with his raffle prize - framed Alfa print!

All photos by John Griffiths

Ferrari gets Airborne! Continued from the Brooklands feature, here Nigel Rayner from AROC has captured the Ferrari 360’s moment of flight, and hard landing, perfectly. Quite an amazing sight! The driver realised that car’s brakes don’t work so well with wheels off the ground . . .

Summertime Classics 7 July at Stanford Hall Auto Italia Magazine’s ‘Summertime Classics’ event at Stanford Hall – incorporating the traditional Italian Car Concours event will be interestingly different this year. The Maserati Club has moved its Concours traditionally held there to Prescott, so Alfa Romeos will have their usual prime spot near the River Avon.

Our Section will once again be marshalling that area, and we plan to create special model displays. If you can spend an hour or so on the day to help with this please let John know ASAP and he will try and secure a free admission ticket for you. Admission is normally £12 per person.

So, we’ll have some fascinating Italian cars again, some other ‘classics’, plus a tribute band and a display by the Abarth-sponsored stunt plane. Make sure you bring a picnic and a chair as we will all meet up at around 1pm at our Section Shelter.

Fantastic new Giulietta deals at Chris Variava (and see advert below too!)

If you are looking to purchase a new Giulietta - on top of the ‘up to £2250.00 deposit support’ and the low rate for Personal Contract Purchase (PCP), Chris Variava is also offering an additional £1,000.00 loyalty bonus if you part-exchange ANY Alfa Romeo against a new car. (The exceptions to the loyalty bonus are the lower list price models, i.e. Giulietta Turismo and Collezione which do not have the additional £1,000 discount, and the high-spec Sportiva which attracts an additional £860.00 support package.) Speak to Paul Jones or Richard Chadwick NOW on 0115 855 3060.

AROC East Midlands Section Events 2013

Gazetta News Snippets

The Small Print: ‘Alfisti’ is published primarily for the enjoyment of members of the Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club East Midlands Section. Chris Variava Alfa Romeo Nottingham supports the cost of Alfisti’s printed production carried out at cost rate by a Section Member’s company. Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club UK ltd cannot endorse or recommend services or products advertised in its publications. Any opinions published in ‘Alfisti’ or its sister website are personal ones. Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club Ltd registered Number 01106134. Please contact John Griffiths if you have any queries about the club or our active local area Section. See cover for contact details.

BACK TO MORGAN Morgan Cars at Malvern is a popular venue for car club visits. In past 15 or so years our Section has run three - but we’ve not been for a long time (2006?), and a lot has changed there - if not the basic make up of some models. Anyway, we’re looking to go back there, probably in October. It would be a mid-week visit incorporating a pub lunch and numbers are likely to have to be limited, though depending on demand we may have a morning and afternoon ‘shift’. Lots more nearer the time. MALLORY PARK QUESTION MARK As this goes to print AROC is still uncertain as to whether the AROC race day on 4 August will be going ahead. There are issues with the circuit’s operation but more importantly on having sufficient cars to make it financially viable. The club has to pay an advance fee, but traditionally the racers don’t sign up to a grid until 3 or 4 weeks before, so you have to go on assurances. We certainly hope it does happen as the 2011 event in particular was great fun. Info will be posted on our website as soon as known and will be in the July edition of Alfisti of course. TYPO APOLOGY Our July ‘Summertime Spin’ has to date been incorrectly published as 11 July, when actually it is on 10 July, i.e.our usual ‘second Wednesday of the month’ meeting night. The proof-checker has been shot (again.) Brian has some cracking ideas for a route with a difference “It’s slow in parts” he says. Yeah, right.. ;0)

Come on! Fly the flag!! AROC East Midlands Section Merchandise Polo shirts with full colour embroidered logo, in mid or dark blue. All sizes - Just £15 each. Fleeces from £25 and Soft-Shell waterproof jackets from £30

All items are genuine high quality and an absolute

steal at the price.

TO ORDER contact our man Brian Smith at

Ridiculous feature of the Month

You cannot miss the hype for the new Peugeot 208, desperate to capture the magic of the 205 GTI through whatever tenuos methods. The interior takes the biscuit though; MASSIVE non-removable (and unintelligible) touch screen and a tiny doughnut sized steering wheel that blocks all the dials. Quite bizarre...

Date Event

2 June‘13

AUTOKARNA at Wollaton Park, Nottingham. A very easy going Classic Car show; our Alfas park in mixed general parking, but Section meets at the Chris Variava hospitality area at 12noon. (Free drinks and nibbles!) A great day out in 2012 repeated again,

12 June ‘13 Fun Concours Night at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7pm. All Alfa Romeos automatically entered and all present do the voting! Stacks of categories and terrific prizes from our Section’s supporters.

23 June ‘13 Cotswold Alfa Day - Including the Giro Panoramico run that will finish at Stanway House which has the highest gravity-fed fountain in the world. More details on cover.

26 June ‘13

Brewery Tour - The Langton Brewery, Thorpe Langton, Leics. 7pm start, £11 a head to include sandwich buffet. Please contact John to book you space! Attendance must be booked via John. Address is: Langton Brewery, Grange Farm, Welham Road, Thorpe Langton, Market Harborough, LE16 7TU)

7 July ‘13 Auto Italia Italian Car Concours and ’Summertime Classics’ - Stanford Hall near Lutterworth. Includes special Section parking area and picnic.

10 July ‘13 ‘Summertime Spin’ at the George & Dragon in Thringstone. from 7pm.

4 Aug ‘13 AROC Racing at Mallory Park – Lots of Alfa racing as part of the Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s event. Special Alfa parking area and track parades!!

11 Aug ‘13 National Alfa Day – Chatham Historic Dockyard, Kent. We will again have a convoy run to the event. It’s a nice run down on a Sunday, especially after a good breakfast.

14 Aug ‘13 Spider Night – at our regular Monthly Meeting at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7pm. (All Alfas welcome of course!)

18 Aug ‘13 MITCAR 2013 - Midlands Italian Car Day at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. The 13th edition of our Section's flagship event will be one not to miss. Incredibly, admission is still just £5 per Italian Car!! HELPERS REQUIRED—Please contact John.

8 Sep ‘13 Leicester Aeroclub Open Day - at Leicester Airport (aka Stoughton Aerodrome), including air displays, special Alfa display and potential free pleasure flights too! Starts at 10.30am.

11 Sep ‘13 Twilight Drive at our regular Monthly Meeting at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7pm. Drive at 7.45pm followed by optional pub meal.

TBC Sep ‘13 KARTING NIGHT at Sutton Circuit, Broughton Astley. Fantastic outdoor track, Endurance style mini-team event. Racing followed by drinks and supper.

9 Oct ‘13 AGM & Alfa Quiz at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7.30pm

TBC Oct ‘13 Visit to MORGAN CARS in Malvern. See note in ‘Gazetta’ column.

13 Nov ‘13 Regular Monthly Meeting at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7.30pm.

15 -17 Nov ‘13 Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham, AROC display featuring historic Alfa Romeos

11 Dec ‘13 Regular Monthly Meeting at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7.30pm.

Please keep an eye on our website as things can change!!

And don’t forget the

AROC SHOP! Danielle has some excellent items in stock including a new batch of the brilliant ’2013’ Tee Shirts at just £13!

See www.arocshop.co.uk

■ Alfisti no.155 will be out in July

- SCOOP! - Unusual news from the world of motoring

Roger is still very much enjoying driving his 260bhp all-wheel-drive 159, that still looks as good as new. He’s toyed with the idea of replacing it with another marque (Oh! The Heresy!), but is still holding out for a new powerful Alfa Romeo Saloon. Hopefully soon his prayers will be answered!

■ Alfisti’s production is kindly sponsored by Chris Variava Alfa Romeo Nottingham

Spider Series 3 - Roy Matthews As mentioned on page 3, here’s a photo of newly joined member Roy’s Series 3 Spider. He was desperate to arrive hood-down at our May meeting but sadly a heavy shower spoiled that. The car looks in great condition, the product of a lot of Roy’s own work, as we could tell from the ‘before’ phot os he brought with him. (It’s a Bell and Colvill converted RHD ‘ U K ’ c a r incidentally.)

147 Ducati Corse - Mark Sangster Mark’s 147 ‘DC’ goes from strength to strength. His latest modifications prove what tremendous sporting machines these Alfas are. After recent bodywork-fettling, Mark has now done some further mechanical modifications, specifically: replacement of dual-mass flywheel with a single mass unit and upgrade of clutch to GTA standard. The ‘DC’ has the mechanical Q2 diff as standard, and coupled with its remap around 205bhp and 400NM of torque the Alfa certainly doesn’t hang about! The remap allows the car to drive very smoothly at low speeds, with no jerkiness that can be found with plug-in tuning boxes, and it will still readily beat 40MPG. (Not so good after a track session!)

147 1.6TS Collezione - Alan Askey Alan’s 147 is going strong and were all pleased to see it, him and Gill along at Beedles Lake in May. Stromboli Grey is classy and understated and the Alfa Turbine alloys suit the car’s ‘facelifted’ design to a tee. The classic Alfa Romeo script on the front wings are a great touch too, and the leather trim is first rate as well. A great Alfa all-round.

1300 GT Bertone - Phil Levell Phil is brand new to the club—and Alfa owner of old (CV’s customer), and now with this lovely ‘60’s classic. The Giulia Sprint has had much work over the years, including 1750cc engine transplant and fibregalss wings (should we call it composite nowadays?). With its mesh grille and ‘Alfaholics’ alloys it looks every inch the GTA! Phil hails from West Bridgford and we look forward to seeing him and his terrific Alfa at future events. Right - Neil and the guys check out the engine bay… it’s tidy.

159 3.2 Q4 Lusso - Roger Smith

1750 GTV - Jim Domleo From an email to John: I purchased my 1750GTV BJD751H in 2000, partly dismantled, as a 'restoration project' (heap of rust ! ) with a collection of various repair panels from an ad in the Owners Club magazine. The only good part was the engine which had been recently rebuilt be Clover Leaf Trans-missions. I completely rebuilt and re-sprayed it myself and it has been in continuous use since 2002.

MG Sales go into Minus Numbers

Some shock and surprise in May as Chinese-owned MG’s UK sales turned negative. The cataclysimcally unsuccessful MG-6 sold zero, and the Longbridge assembly line actually started to suck-in MG ZRs and MG ZTs off the street. When you take that into account, the company’s May sales were minus 17.

“MG6? MG6? What the hell is an MG6?” Said a man who later turned out to work for MG.

An MG6 not being sold yesterday