MG Car Club of South Australia

The MG Car Club Library is managed by the Librarian:

Harry Dickson , Phone 0403 901 299, email htb57@hotmail.com

If you would like to suggest additions to the Library please contact the Librarian.

Library Report
From the humble desk of Comrade Harry Dickson

Have you ever noticed that countries, which have the words “People’s Republic” and “Democratic” in their titles, usually are dictatorships or Communist States.  Just something I have noticed in my travels through life.

Anyway, this month in the Peoples Democratic Republic of MG Land we have some very good MG titles, all of which have been donated by our Dear leader, President Wayne. I attended a Saturday Morning Historic Registration recently and was given this great collection at no cost to you, the proletariat of the MG masses. Hence we have no pictures of the covers, so I had to borrow some from the internet thingey. (OK, so I couldn’t get my grandson to come around and work the scanner for me.)

Our first title is titled MGB – MGB roadster & GT; MGC; MGB V8 by F. Wilson McComb.  McComb spent 10 years running the specialist PR Department at the Abingdon factory and was there when the MGB was developed. More than a decade after he left the Company, he was invited back to view the last car to come off the production line and he managed to obtain a few photos which also appear in the book. So this story is therefore the inside story – from start to finish, about the car he knew so well.

So anyone looking for that obscure fact to stump Curley, will probably find it in this book, perhaps in the caption of one of the many unique photographs.  Such as, did you know that the Renault car company claimed the MGB was based on their 1959 Floride model, and demanded a fee from the British Motor Corporation?

Continuing in the McComb theme, the next title is “MG by McComb”.  This edition published in 1981 explains why MG has come to mean sports car in the English language, just as Coca-cola means drink! With authentic intimacy McComb tells all. We read of the founder’s life, the first MG, the great racing and record breaking years of the company pre war and of the life in the Abingdon factory. All is presented in great detail with comment which is sometimes irreverent, often outspoken but always substantiated. There are many original photographs and some exclusive to the author which makes it an interesting read.

The next title is “The MGA, MGB and MGC – A collectors guide” by Graham Robson. (The cover is not the same as our modern updated edition) Ours is the new edition, including new data (published in 1982, so good luck finding something new). The inside jacket cover tells me that “never before have these three famous MG sports cars been the subject of such exhaustive description and analysis.” It starts with the YA, the TD and the TF and moves forward into the MGA and includes a look at racing and rallying including Le Mans cars. There are tips on buying an A, B, or C, and what little extras to look for. There are annexes on specifications, Chassis number sequences, Production and deliveries and a Performance summary for the different models. All in all, a good little reference book.
“The classic MG” by Richard Aspden is a great big coffee table book with lots of colour pictures of lovely sports cars in superb detail. There are only 2 old photographs in the book, one of Cecil Kimber and the other of a racing 14/28 Bullnose and hundreds of glorious new pictures of old masters. Well worth a look.

Beloved Comrade ‘Big Daddy’ Wayne has then donated a copy of “Great Marques – MG” by Chris Harvey. We already have several copies of this in the library, but why more people do not borrow it is a mystery. Filled with many great pictures from Bullnose to Metro, it also contains quite a few facts about the Company and the vehicles.

Our last title is “The enthusiast’s guide to British post-war classic cars” by Jonathan Wood. (Ours has a different Cover) Containing only black and white photographs, this 1980 book delves into what post war classic cars an enthusiast should be looking to purchase. The photographs took me back to my childhood, when my father borrowed a mate’s Vanguard Standard to drive us to England to visit my Grandparents. They owned a Ford Prefect and while we were there, my Uncle’s visited in their Morris Minor and Austin A40.
Thank your Dear Leader for the memories, and in return for your valued donation, I pledge a glass cabinet to entomb your body when you decide to leave this mortal coil. It shall be displayed in the glass trophy cabinet in the hall under the Knox Trophy—‘cos it won’t have to be that big.
Keep on flashin’