VSCC eligibility of Minors
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:13 pm
Folks,
Below is an extract from the September VMR electric Newsletter, relating to a decision recently made by the VSCC committee which crucially affects our cars and our ability to compete in them. Please write to the VSCC secretary if you concur with the content, as suggested. And I would be interested to know the views of fellow Register members on the topic. Many thanks.
As many of you will know, the VSCC has expended a great deal of energy since the beginning of the year in reviewing their eligibility rules. A detailed questionnaire was circulated among its members in the spring, the result of which was that the club decided to expand the list of cars eligible to enter its events.
To set the scene, a bit of VSCC history. When the VSCC was founded back in 1934, the members decided that December 31st 1930 would be the cut-off date for eligible cars, the thinking being that, in general, cars of the twenties were hand-built, designed primarily for driving rather than mere transport and exhibited qualities of construction, design and handling not found in the majority of cars built after that date. Not long after the War, pressure from owners of the better quality cars of the thirties resulted in the VSCC introducing a Post Vintage Thoroughbred (PVT) list of cars, built up to 1940, which their committee deemed to have qualities reminiscent of the cars of the twenties and which would be eligible for the majority of club events. These included Alvis, Riley and the OHC MGs among numerous others.
The outcome of this year’s VSCC questionnaire was that a significant number of members wished to see the PVT list expanded, and many felt that the eligibility date should be moved to 1940, thereby bringing all pre-war cars under the club’s eligibility umbrella. One of the advantages for doing this would be to discourage the current trend of breaking up ineligible cars of the thirties to provide spares for eligible cars, or to provide the basis of eligible specials. However, a more compelling reason was to return the VSCC to an eligibility regime based purely upon date rather than quality, which is a subjective criteria and one which encourages marque snobbery and elitism which should have no place in any respected car club. This is the view of your Editor, for the reasons given in the M 128 Editorial. (Those traditionalists within the VSCC who fear a ‘swamping’ of thirties cars should remember that eligibility does not mean automatic entry into VSCC events, since every VSCC event has its own entry restrictions and these need not all be changed. For example, events which are open only to vintage cars could simply remain so.)
Now, the VSCC has an eligibility sub-committee who were tasked with sorting all this out and they reported back to the main committee on the results of the questionnaire in June. Their recommendation was that the PVT list be expanded and they were therefore tasked by the main committee with preparing a list of cars to be added to the list, in accordance with the wishes of the general membership. At this point, the VMR submitted a comprehensive and detailed proposal to the eligibility sub-committee, proposing five different options for including various Minors of the thirties in the expanded PVT list. These ranged from including the OHC SWB cars built between January and July 1931, and whose specification is identical to those currently-eligible 1931 season cars built before the New Year, through the SV scuttle tank models of 1931 which share the same chassis and bodies as their OHC and vintage contemporaries, through the later SV models, the LWB models, both OHC and SV, and finally the coachbuilt SV specials. Specifications, chassis numbers, build dates and photographs of every model were included in the proposal.
Presumably the Sub-Committee’s recommendations were further debated by the VSCC’s main Committee, which includes both strong supporters of admittance of all 1930s cars, as well as those who wish to see no change at all. It would appear that the traditionalists won the day, and from the types of 1930s Morrises presented, only the OHC Minors, which must include the long wheelbase models built up to August 1932, gained acceptance.
Apart from the apparent anomaly of including the LWB OHC cars while excluding the lighter and more sporting SWB SV cars of the 1931 season, this decision was not unreasonable. (It is doubtful whether the committee realized that they were including the LWB models – they were probably trying to include the ‘transition’ models – those cars built up to July 1931 and whose specification is identical to the cars built before the New Year. A better and more informed decision might have been to include the “1931 season SWB OHC Minors”. The decision is, however, good news for our members who own LWB OHC cars.)
However, what makes this decision completely derisory is what happened next. Left on the new list were all the chrome-radiator Austin Sevens – the pre-Ruby cars built up to 1934. Surely, if the Sevens built up to 1934 are included, then logically, the Minors built up to 1934 should also remain on the list? Nobody can argue that the Minor was not the better car. If the Sevens were included on the list only because they represented inexpensive entry-level cars for younger members (a demographic group we are all keen to encourage), why does a young member with a SV Minor remain specifically rejected! This disgraceful decision completely ignores and distorts our motoring history and is a slap in the face for a Register which has energetically promoted the VSCC since its inception. (And to make matters worse, it turns out that specials, built recently from cannibalized Austin 7 Rubies are eligible, but standard Rubies in original condition are not! Such idiotic rules can only encourage the wanton destruction of still more original pre-war cars, not to mention laying open the VSCC to considerable and justifiable scorn from the broader old car movement.) Let us be clear. The Seven is a wonderful car and holds a special place in the history of British motoring. But the Minor was the better car – OHC or SV – than the contemporary Seven and sales figures were not that disparate during the years that both cars were in parallel production.
Perhaps more significantly, the result of this decision is that the VSCC has now extended eligibility to certain makes of car, not based upon age or quality criteria (the twin kingpins of the original 1930 cut-off date and the subsequent PVT list), but rather on purely subjective prejudice. For a club which views itself as the leading worldwide club for early cars, such a decision can only be described as irresponsible and entirely indefensible. The fact that a LWB Austin 7 Box saloon is now eligible, but not a scuttle tank SV 2-seater is breathtaking, to say nothing of the original Minor specials of the ’thirties such as the 70 mph tuned McEvoys which remain ineligible, while a hacked up 1939 Austin Ruby is welcomed as a post-vintage thoroughbred!
An appeal was made to the committee which was reviewed at their August committee meeting - the result was that the decision stands. However, that is not the whole story. There remain within the VSCC numerous SV Minors which have been happily and successfully competing for many years. Many have MG radiators on them and purport to be M Type MGs - which they are not, and some claim to be specials based on vintage Minor chassis, but with exotic engines fitted, but have in fact been recreated from destroyed SV Minors. It remains to be seen whether the VSCC will make any move to clean up their act in the light of their recent decision. We think it highly unlikely. (As an amusing aside, there is a 1930 M Type in the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu which has been used as an originally standard for generations of M restorers. The car received a facelift a few years ago, when it was discovered that the number stamped on the chassis starts with SV!)
So where does this decision leave the VMR – a club which has consistently and energetically promoted the advantages of VSCC membership and its events to its members? Some VSCC committee members who strongly supported our cause feel that it would be ludicrous for us to continue to encourage VMR members to join the VSCC after the rejection we have received from the VSCC committee. On the other hand, numerous members of the VSCC have strongly supported the Register since its inception and the VSCC is able to provide a far greater range of high quality sporting events for our vintage Minor-owning members than the Register can hope to do with our relatively limited resources. In particular, the Light Car Section of the VSCC is a wonderful backwater and their committee supports us in every way possible in return for such support as we can offer them. So we will continue to support the VSCC in future, notwithstanding their apparent inability to make sound and balanced eligibility decisions.
If, as a VMR member or friend of the Register, you agree with the foregoing and believe that the Minor is being unfairly treated by the VSCC in comparison to the Austin Seven and other cars, may I appeal to you to write to the Secretary of the VSCC and make him aware of your views. He is Mike Stripe, The Secretary, The Vintage Sports-Car Club, The Old Post Office, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, OX7 5EL. Thank you for your support!
Below is an extract from the September VMR electric Newsletter, relating to a decision recently made by the VSCC committee which crucially affects our cars and our ability to compete in them. Please write to the VSCC secretary if you concur with the content, as suggested. And I would be interested to know the views of fellow Register members on the topic. Many thanks.
As many of you will know, the VSCC has expended a great deal of energy since the beginning of the year in reviewing their eligibility rules. A detailed questionnaire was circulated among its members in the spring, the result of which was that the club decided to expand the list of cars eligible to enter its events.
To set the scene, a bit of VSCC history. When the VSCC was founded back in 1934, the members decided that December 31st 1930 would be the cut-off date for eligible cars, the thinking being that, in general, cars of the twenties were hand-built, designed primarily for driving rather than mere transport and exhibited qualities of construction, design and handling not found in the majority of cars built after that date. Not long after the War, pressure from owners of the better quality cars of the thirties resulted in the VSCC introducing a Post Vintage Thoroughbred (PVT) list of cars, built up to 1940, which their committee deemed to have qualities reminiscent of the cars of the twenties and which would be eligible for the majority of club events. These included Alvis, Riley and the OHC MGs among numerous others.
The outcome of this year’s VSCC questionnaire was that a significant number of members wished to see the PVT list expanded, and many felt that the eligibility date should be moved to 1940, thereby bringing all pre-war cars under the club’s eligibility umbrella. One of the advantages for doing this would be to discourage the current trend of breaking up ineligible cars of the thirties to provide spares for eligible cars, or to provide the basis of eligible specials. However, a more compelling reason was to return the VSCC to an eligibility regime based purely upon date rather than quality, which is a subjective criteria and one which encourages marque snobbery and elitism which should have no place in any respected car club. This is the view of your Editor, for the reasons given in the M 128 Editorial. (Those traditionalists within the VSCC who fear a ‘swamping’ of thirties cars should remember that eligibility does not mean automatic entry into VSCC events, since every VSCC event has its own entry restrictions and these need not all be changed. For example, events which are open only to vintage cars could simply remain so.)
Now, the VSCC has an eligibility sub-committee who were tasked with sorting all this out and they reported back to the main committee on the results of the questionnaire in June. Their recommendation was that the PVT list be expanded and they were therefore tasked by the main committee with preparing a list of cars to be added to the list, in accordance with the wishes of the general membership. At this point, the VMR submitted a comprehensive and detailed proposal to the eligibility sub-committee, proposing five different options for including various Minors of the thirties in the expanded PVT list. These ranged from including the OHC SWB cars built between January and July 1931, and whose specification is identical to those currently-eligible 1931 season cars built before the New Year, through the SV scuttle tank models of 1931 which share the same chassis and bodies as their OHC and vintage contemporaries, through the later SV models, the LWB models, both OHC and SV, and finally the coachbuilt SV specials. Specifications, chassis numbers, build dates and photographs of every model were included in the proposal.
Presumably the Sub-Committee’s recommendations were further debated by the VSCC’s main Committee, which includes both strong supporters of admittance of all 1930s cars, as well as those who wish to see no change at all. It would appear that the traditionalists won the day, and from the types of 1930s Morrises presented, only the OHC Minors, which must include the long wheelbase models built up to August 1932, gained acceptance.
Apart from the apparent anomaly of including the LWB OHC cars while excluding the lighter and more sporting SWB SV cars of the 1931 season, this decision was not unreasonable. (It is doubtful whether the committee realized that they were including the LWB models – they were probably trying to include the ‘transition’ models – those cars built up to July 1931 and whose specification is identical to the cars built before the New Year. A better and more informed decision might have been to include the “1931 season SWB OHC Minors”. The decision is, however, good news for our members who own LWB OHC cars.)
However, what makes this decision completely derisory is what happened next. Left on the new list were all the chrome-radiator Austin Sevens – the pre-Ruby cars built up to 1934. Surely, if the Sevens built up to 1934 are included, then logically, the Minors built up to 1934 should also remain on the list? Nobody can argue that the Minor was not the better car. If the Sevens were included on the list only because they represented inexpensive entry-level cars for younger members (a demographic group we are all keen to encourage), why does a young member with a SV Minor remain specifically rejected! This disgraceful decision completely ignores and distorts our motoring history and is a slap in the face for a Register which has energetically promoted the VSCC since its inception. (And to make matters worse, it turns out that specials, built recently from cannibalized Austin 7 Rubies are eligible, but standard Rubies in original condition are not! Such idiotic rules can only encourage the wanton destruction of still more original pre-war cars, not to mention laying open the VSCC to considerable and justifiable scorn from the broader old car movement.) Let us be clear. The Seven is a wonderful car and holds a special place in the history of British motoring. But the Minor was the better car – OHC or SV – than the contemporary Seven and sales figures were not that disparate during the years that both cars were in parallel production.
Perhaps more significantly, the result of this decision is that the VSCC has now extended eligibility to certain makes of car, not based upon age or quality criteria (the twin kingpins of the original 1930 cut-off date and the subsequent PVT list), but rather on purely subjective prejudice. For a club which views itself as the leading worldwide club for early cars, such a decision can only be described as irresponsible and entirely indefensible. The fact that a LWB Austin 7 Box saloon is now eligible, but not a scuttle tank SV 2-seater is breathtaking, to say nothing of the original Minor specials of the ’thirties such as the 70 mph tuned McEvoys which remain ineligible, while a hacked up 1939 Austin Ruby is welcomed as a post-vintage thoroughbred!
An appeal was made to the committee which was reviewed at their August committee meeting - the result was that the decision stands. However, that is not the whole story. There remain within the VSCC numerous SV Minors which have been happily and successfully competing for many years. Many have MG radiators on them and purport to be M Type MGs - which they are not, and some claim to be specials based on vintage Minor chassis, but with exotic engines fitted, but have in fact been recreated from destroyed SV Minors. It remains to be seen whether the VSCC will make any move to clean up their act in the light of their recent decision. We think it highly unlikely. (As an amusing aside, there is a 1930 M Type in the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu which has been used as an originally standard for generations of M restorers. The car received a facelift a few years ago, when it was discovered that the number stamped on the chassis starts with SV!)
So where does this decision leave the VMR – a club which has consistently and energetically promoted the advantages of VSCC membership and its events to its members? Some VSCC committee members who strongly supported our cause feel that it would be ludicrous for us to continue to encourage VMR members to join the VSCC after the rejection we have received from the VSCC committee. On the other hand, numerous members of the VSCC have strongly supported the Register since its inception and the VSCC is able to provide a far greater range of high quality sporting events for our vintage Minor-owning members than the Register can hope to do with our relatively limited resources. In particular, the Light Car Section of the VSCC is a wonderful backwater and their committee supports us in every way possible in return for such support as we can offer them. So we will continue to support the VSCC in future, notwithstanding their apparent inability to make sound and balanced eligibility decisions.
If, as a VMR member or friend of the Register, you agree with the foregoing and believe that the Minor is being unfairly treated by the VSCC in comparison to the Austin Seven and other cars, may I appeal to you to write to the Secretary of the VSCC and make him aware of your views. He is Mike Stripe, The Secretary, The Vintage Sports-Car Club, The Old Post Office, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, OX7 5EL. Thank you for your support!