Octagon January, 2016

coupe and spare engine #1773 for sale in 1981. I
heard about this advertisement a few weeks later
and was told by Ian that he had sold both to Tony
Enriquez of Sydney. Tony restored the coupe and,
as he was getting married, he advertised it for sale
in 1986. I saw the advertisement and went south in
pursuit of a Twin Cam (Refer information under Item
1 YD2306).
I purchased this coupe for $20,000 on the
understanding that the pistons were replaced as
it had a noticeable noise of piston slap. I retained
this coupe for 18 years and made a number of
improvements such as Heater/demister, Overdrive
Gear Box and later, soft carburettor mounts. This
coupe also caused me heartache when it burnt a
hole in piston No. 4 while keeping an Austin Healey
behind me on our way to a National MG Meeting in
Newcastle.
Rather than leave the coupe on the roadside, I
identified the problem, not the cause at that time,
changed the spark plugs (No. 4 plug was filled with
aluminium from the burnt piston) left the lead off
No. 4, and, as it would not start, took off my singlet
and stuffed it up the exhaust pipe and it fired up on
3 cylinders and ruined my singlet. Drove 100 odd
miles into Newcastle with a smoke screen bellowing
out behind us.
I sent the motor down to the Penrite Oil Racing
Team in Melbourne. Motor was re-installed and
once again a smoke screen. Motor came out again
and problem identified, so I had the bores honed
and a new set of 9.9/1 pistons and rings installed.
Problem solved (another bent wallet).
As I now had 3 Twin Cams together for a number
of years (1834, 2147 and 2415) it was decided that,
as I could not drive 3 at the same time, I should
downsize (Bad move, but there is logic in that
somewhere). In July, 2003, I sold this coupe to Lex
Franks in Toowoomba for $42.000. (Lex had a fine
MG Collection including a 1934 K3 replica which is
now in England.) He retained it a number of years
and then it ended up with “The Pit Stop” dealers
in Sydney and advertised for sale at $64,000.
Eventually John Von Hoff, of our Club, purchased
it (at a lower figure) and drives it with gusto, like it
should be driven. We must remember John had
a Twin Cam Roadster back in 1968 when he was
young and was a BMC trained mechanic with a
lead foot. (Old habits are had to break –
Thank goodness!)
YD2 #1911 (roadster) Originally Orient Red now
BRG. Early history is scratchy. A.M. Davis acquired
it in 1984 from someone named Paterson who had
raced it in Sydney and at Bathurst.
Graham Slade acquired it in 1990, later restoring
it and painting it BRG. Following that, he later
retired to Hervey Bay in approximately 1999 and
passed away there in 2005. His widow approached
George Leciej of BP Workshop (Hervey Bay) to
effect repairs for a roadworthy so she could sell
it. George, being not only a mechanic but also an
MGA owner, was so impressed with it that he bought
it on the spot. No hesitation (wise man) as I was
sniffing around trying to locate it. George initially
thought this was an American import (YD3 Series),
but records show it as an Australian delivered car.
(Does not bother me if they are L/H or R/H Drive
cars). Abingdon factory normally dispatched cars to
various locations (Agents) in batches of consecutive
numbers wherever possible, but not always. Eg,
YD2 1911, YD2 1912, YD2 1913, YD2 1918, YD2
1919 and YD2 1920 are on the Australian records as
are YD2 1928 and YD2 1929 to name a few .
YD2 #1912 (roadster) Originally Orient Red now
BRG. Lance Jolly (Kenmore) Bill Mann (Harvey
Bay).
Back in 1990, I had a call from Wayne Henman
(owner of House of MG) whom I consider a good
friend, to tell me that a green Twin Cam Roadster
had just come into his workshop on the back of
a truck from Blackwater (Central Queensland)
and was for sale as it had been traded in as part
payment on a Unit at Hervey Bay. I went over as
the Driver agreed to wait for me to check it out. It
previously had a racing history in NSW and came
with a hard top and 4 extra wide Twin Cam Wheels
(every improvement helps). He wanted $18,000
for it there and then. As neither Wayne nor I could
come up with such cash on short notice, he then
took it over to Rod Hiley (Abingdon Motors) who
paid him $15,000.
Rod later sold the car to Lance Jolly for $20,000,
and then sold off the hard top and wide wheels at a
later date. Lance sold the car to Bill Mann (Hervey
Bay, now) who in turn sold it to a young friend of
mine in Melbourne, Ben Rollo, who is presently
restoring it. (Ben is presently the only Australian
Twin Cam Owner under 40 years of age.)
To be continued next issue.
The Octagon - November 2015 21