Philippe Prigent from Brest, France constructed his 1929 ‘sporting’ Two-seater Minor (CR-328-EW) from the remains of a fifties homebuilt wreck he imported from the UK. For the past three years he has attended the Montlhery Classic event where he has raced the Minor on the circuit’s steep banking. This paddock shot was taken in early May 2019.

This internet sourced museum image of what is almost certainly a 1933 Minor 5 cwt van, (despite the 1934 season car front wings) is very peculiarly liveried. Zentis are a German jam manufacturer and yet the vehicle’s owner may has elected to signwrite the words Royal Mail above the Zentis logo, perhaps in acknowledgement of the van’s origins?

Morris Register and Network member, John Whalley is the relatively new custodian of this handsome  1932 Minor Two-seater EV 5204 which first surfaced on eBay in May after a protracted period of hibernation. John’s car was first registered in Rochford, Essex on 1st April 1932.

For those intending to enter, please note that the schedule for the forthcoming 2019 POTY competition is as follows: Entry opens – Monday 4th November. Entry closes Monday 18th November. Results declared Saturday 23rd November. (This great photo of Morris Minor Four-door Saloon AAO 463 was entered for the 2018 competition by Peter Brock and pictures the car against the backdrop of Wastwater, Wasdale in the English Lake District.)

Barry Robinson is seen here (centre) with his newly acquired 1932 MG M Type (DG 4888), a car that was last in his care almost sixty years ago, and an reunion that was facilitated by Sam Christie, a website member. A very happy ending to a long quest.

Alan Dennison and Peter Brock both own Minor four-door saloons and have recently and quite independently, visited two interesting examples of Victorian architecture, as these images show. The buildings in question are located some 240 miles apart and exist at opposite ends of the style and functionality spectrums, despite being built within eight years of one another. The Mansion House at Old Warden Park in Bedfordshire was designed by Henry Clutton, a famous Victorian architect, for the Shuttleworth family and was completed in 1875. The coastal ‘Rocket Garage’ structure in Cullercoats, North Tyneside was built in 1867 to house hazardous materials, in this case fireworks, or more specifically rockets. The rockets were fired from the shore towards  floundering shipping off the coast. Attached to each rocket was a long length of twine which in turn was attached to ropes or cables back on shore.  The stranded crews, then dragged the ropes or cables on board which helped to facilitate their rescue.

When Barry Robinson was a very young man in the late fifties/early sixties he acquired his first car, a 1932 MG M Type Midget (DG 4888).  His new pride and joy had originally been built as a Sportsman’s Coupe but at some point in the intervening period the original body had been replaced with something closely resembling that of an MG J2, including a fuel tank at the rear. When other necessities of life got in the way the car was reluctantly sold, a fact that Barry has always regretted. A while ago he shared his story (and some photos) with M Type guru Sam Christie. Sam archived the photos on his hard drive and the story to his grey matter. On the 8th October a ‘Buy-it-now’ advertisement for an MG M Type appeared on eBay and was subsequently reported on the network’s  ‘Cars for sale’ sub-forum. Sam immediately recognised the car as that owned by Barry some 60 years previously and rang him to pass on the news, the end result being that the surprisingly little changed DG 4888 now has a new home in the West Midlands. Congratulations Barry!

The Jolvial Sailor,  Ripley was the venue for the Home Counties group pub meet recently. The occasion was marked by the welcome arrival of Philip Butland in his newly recommissioned 1934 Eustace Watkins Wolseley Hornet Special (AXC 115). The recomissioning road has been a long and bumpy one but the car proved its credentials with an uneventful run from deepest Sussex to leafy Surrey and back. Here, the eight attendees gather round the Hornet for the mandatory pub-meet photo.

Vintage motoring is not always a fine weather, wind-in-the-hair experience (for those lucky enough to have some!), as can be seen by this photo of Bob Howden‘s beautiful MG M Type Midget JY 8840. The shot was taken on a very damp Saturday morning, during the 2019 Network rally weekend, just prior to the commencement of the day’s tour. Bob had driven the 20 miles from his home in Newbury to Marlborough dodging puddles along the way, his fixed tonneau testament to the threat of rain, which kept the passenger compartment dry but left him exposed to the elements. Thankfully, the weather greatly improved as the day wore on. (Photo: Louise Martin)

M12504 started life as a 1929 Minor Fabric Saloon and at some point in its history made its way to New Zealand. Here it received a new steel panelled body, perhaps from a defunct Coachbuilt Saloon. In 2009 Orchid Cars in Somerset imported the car from NZ along with the remnants of another Minor. It was then purchased by Lee Robertson who restored and rebuilt the car, registering it with the DVLA  it being allocated the age-related mark BF 5452. The car passed through the hands of two further owners before being autioned by Matthewsons in March 2014 and going to ground. It transpires that the car is currently owned by a funeral director in Herefordshire, the car being spotted last July at a garden party in Bredwardine.