Paul Finn Rally Ascot

[chris lambert]

Mike Stubbings attended the Paul Finn Rally in Ascot today and captured a couple of images of this late 31 Cheshire Registered £100 Minor. I wonder if this is an original colour scheme for the car, blue apparently being available for this model, late that season. Perhaps chromed OHC rads were also fitted to these late 31 S/V cars? Also an interesting rad blind fitted - my Dad had one of these fitted to his 1937 Morris Eight.
I'll be honest the lure of the 998 cc V twin Vincent in the background would persuade me to part company with a large chunk of the proceeds from the bank robbery I am about to begin planning!
Chris

[Ian Grace]

Great to see Martyn Mogge out and about in his Minor - his late father was a VMR member and Martyn took over membership when he died. He and his Mum courageously brought the car to one of the VMR Prescotts and I drove it up the lane and back to check it out for him. Since then, he has kept his subs up but I haven't heard from him, so was wondering if the car had been laid up.

Thanks for the pics Chris, and count me in in the bank heist!

[Mike Stubbings]

Thanks for loading the pics Chris,Martyn was there but his uncle Bob was driving the Minor. He was telling me he has a later Morris 8 which came back from Australia and had been rebodied. The chassis was sent out and bodied out there. Probably Holden,it is a four seater and he is looking for any info on Aussie built Morris 8s. I did suggest he join the forum and put his wants on there,may get some help.
Which do you want for the gettaway Chris the Minor or the Vincent. I,ll drive Regards All Mike.

[Ian Grace]

Mike,

Thanks for meeting up with Martyn and suggesting he register for the forum. He is already a Register member, but, last time I checked with him (which was a few years ago), he didn't have internet access, and so I don't have an e-mail address for him. He may have now, of course.

This once again highlights the division between members who are, and who are not internet connected, which is rather a pity, as the register inevitably ends up being like two separate clubs. I am always looking for ways to include the non-internet members around the world more. More than just the one-way communication of the Magazine.

After all, the core of our club should be owning and driving our cars, not the internet, but encouraging members to drive their cars is, generally, extremely challenging - to say the least. Tomorrow's VSCC Light Car Summer Rally in Derbyshire has just two Minors entered, and I have so far received only five entries for our own Summer Rally. Five!!! Both statistics are record lows, and may at least in part be an indicator of the current state of the British economy, because rallies aren't cheap when you take into account accommodation, etc.

Which is why it is good to see reports of people like Martyn out and about with their Minors at local events.

Anyone else taking their Minor out this weekend - even to the pub tomorrow? Got pictures?

[Mike Stubbings]

I agree entirely with your comments Ian. The chap driving the car was Martins fathers brother Bob,as I said he is also a Morris owner. I had a long chat with both he and Martin. Bob uses the internet but I do not have an email address for him. Hopefully he will join the forum. I would have liked to have used the rally for my first run in the Minor but was unable to have the Minor ready in time. The Lynwood/Paul Finn rally is local to me.Not only did they have a beautiful day but had the pleasure of driving from Ascot racecourse through Windsor Great Park towards the castle and then special permission to drive up the Long Walk then out through the Blacknest Gate. I live locally and have walked the Long Walk many times in my childhood but to be allowed to drive up it would have been something special. They had a great turn out probably the most they have had but only one Morris Minor, 7Austin sevens.
I would just like to say thanks to Eric Mouser for bringing his delightful Minor over last week.Enjoyed the banter with Eric and his cousin. Regards Mike

[Ian Grace]

Hi Mike,

I know Windsor quite well - used to live in Royal Berkshire - Nine Mile Ride Finchampstead to be exact, reputedly a nine mile ride from Windsor.

Next year's VMR Summer Rally will mark the Register's tenth anniversary - ten years after it was founded at Prescott 2000. Our first Summer Rally took place in Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire in the summer of 2001 and attracted 13 Minors - all but one were OHC. We had just sixty members back then - now we have well over 200, and welcome SV Minors and M Types, but we have never exceeded that turnout in a decade. So the challenge now is to plan a tenth anniversary summer rally next year that will actually be attended. Over the years, we have made up numbers by inviting all sorts of other Morris and MG clubs, plus the VSCC, and our two Prescott rallies were great fun and attracted quite good numbers, but actually ran at a considerable personal loss to me due to the high cost of hiring the hill, which is only viable with about 200 or more cars. But we really shouldn't have to rely on outsiders to make our own events viable.

So, what to do in 2010? I am happy to organize something good, but I think, before putting in months of planning effort, I am going to need some form of provisional commitments as to attendance well in advance of the event, or it won't happen. Projecting from that first rally, and accounting for the growth in membership numbers since then we should be able to muster upwards of 50 or more of our sort of cars. Wouldn't that be a sight to see and be worth all the planning effort?

[Mike Stubbings]

Hi Ian, Yes I know the Nine Mile Ride very well, it was a road where we locals used to test our cars in the fifties and early sixties. I can remember once I had restored a BSA scout and could not get the rear shock absorbers adjusted so with a friend driving and the seat and floor removed from the rear we drove up and down the Nine mile ride with me in the rear adjusting on the move. It was a bumpy old road then. I do not think I would try it now. It was part of Windsor Great Park at one time as the park reached almost to Newbury I believe.
Re the 2010 rally. It is one thing to get people to say yes provisionally but a different story when the time comes. How about putting out a questionaire and seeing what most people would like to do. Mike

[Ian Grace]

Hi Mike,

I lived with my parents at 168 - just west of Cresswell's garage, which has probably been there on the crossroads for ever. Not far from Arborfield and Paul Harris of course, which is how we met many moons ago. The house name, which will be familiar to you, was Milshieling - the mother-in-law's shieling. I started my working life at Sperry Gyroscope in Bracknell. I went to the Forest Grammar School in Winnersh - arriving there just after John Nagle graduated. And of course, Dave and Wendy Cooksey lived just up the road in Wokingham. I used to gatecrash the North Hants Austin Enthusiasts Club in those days - a good bunch - I even won one of their Nightjar Trials on winter in my SV 2-seater Morris, much to many 7-owning members' consternation! And then there was the VSCC Phoenix at Hartley Wintney for first Thursdays. Happy days and all good friends.

Re 2010, I'm open to suggestions. The criteria have to be July or August and somewhere fairly central - or at least near the centre of gravity of the UK membership. We have had the best turnouts around the Cotswolds (except this year!), the two rallies in Bath and in Dorset. The area also has to lend itself to our sort of motoring and be quite scenic, and of course there has to be a good supply of excellent ale hostelries. Picking a date is a minefield - too early and you end up clashing with other larger events whose dates are not available when the decision is made - too late and booking places for the weekend gets difficult. Also, the final nav rally tracings have to be with the RAC MSA, local liaison officer and the police at least 60 days in advance, and a good nav rally takes at least 3 or 4 months to develop.

[prharris25]

Old mans wanderings again, but just up the road on the other side of the cross roads from Creswells Garage lived an old chap by the name of Thomson.It was at his smallholding in 1966 that I discovered he was using the 1932 Olympia Show Morris Ten Special Coupe (RD 3784). Naturally I purchased....with the balance of licence and Norwich Union insurance cover for £12 !!! Lovely car, Thomson was the second owner...first owner was the local shopkeeper who lived across the road and bought it via Hewens Garages in Reading. Car now in Belgium sadly.
There was also the remains of what I now believe to have been an M type....only the instrument panel was worth having...I believe I swapped this with Ian for something in later years. There was always talk of a Bullnose Morris lurking in a shed down Nine Mile Ride (which is what I was looking for when I found the Ten)...never did find it !

Paul.

[halbe]

What's wrong with Belgium............................................


Regards ,
Halbe Tjepkema from the Netherlands

[prharris25]

Oh Lordy, mouth open before brain in gear. Apologies Halbe, no offence ! Nothing at all wrong with Belgium except that I would have loved to have been able to revisit and perhaps drive RD 3784 again a bit nearer to home !! I only hope that she has been able to retain her original number in case she ever returns to these shores.
Regards,

Paul.

[halbe]

Hello Paul,

Not easily offended and certainly none taken
I also ,sort of, agree with the sentiment that historically important cars are part of the national heritage and therefore should stay in their country of origin. This is however a thread i don't want to start on this forum.......
I totally agree about the reg. number, it seems such a shame to see those nice period numbers on modern cars. I remember cars by their reg number, so for me splitting the two robs the car of it's identity .


Regards,
Halbe

[Mike Stubbings]

Hi Ian,Did not know you were so local,suprised we never came to meet.A friend of mine worked for Sperry. Barry Gillies of Riley fame. Of course Iknow Barry through Rileys. I have known Paul for some years. Back in the 70s I think it was, I rebuilt his 10/6 tourer. Hope you are all well Paul. Very near where Paul mentions I found a Riley 12/4 Kestrel, I mentioned it to a friend who purchased it and decided to tow it home with me in the Kestrel. Any sign of a floor had long since disappeared. After the first hundred yards he always forgot he was towing something. We travelled down the Nine Mile Ride at a rate of knots ,an experience I would not repeat.As Paul says "old mans ramblings".Regards all Mike.

[prharris25]

Yes thanks, Mike, fine. Regards to you and yours too.

It seems in those days there were old cars almost down every turning....if only we had had the space and cash !!

It was through Barry Gillies that I eventually found the 10/6 tourer again in about 1977...it had gone to earth.....I first found it dumped behind the Telephone Exchange in Minster St, Reading when shopping with my grandfather one day in about 1957.

Paul.

[Ian Grace]

I found out years later that Barry Gillies worked at Sperrys. His son lives near Detroit - about 2 hours from our house in Grand Rapids.

By the way, who is (or was?) Paul Finn?!