GX 8765 is a 1932 London registered Wolseley Hornet EW Daytona Special. The car is being driven here by F.S. Hutchens who at that time was the Sales Manager for Eustace Watkins (as well as being secretary of the Hornet Car Club) and who had seen plenty of competitive success at Brooklands and elsewhere driving his employer’s products.  Here, he is seen competing at the Brighton Speed Trials of 1932 and was to follow this up in January of 1933 by taking part in the Monte Carlo Rally, also in GX 8765. (Photo courtesy Motorsport Images)

The Triple M series of MG’s all belong to a family of models that commenced with the 1929 MG Midget and continued through to the mid-thirties via a long string of four and six cylinder OHC engined cars that forged the marques identity.

On 13th May 1933 a motor race meeting was held at Donington Park for just the second time, the 2.25 mile circuit’s inaugural meeting having taken place on 25th March that year. Here car no. 25, Eric Hall’s MG C Type Midget passes under a narrow ornamental bridge at one of the circuits ‘no passing sections’. Mr. Hall went on to win two of the seven events to be held that day, in front of an audience reported by Motor Sport to be in the region of 10,000 souls. Photo courtesy of Motorsport Images – source LAT archive.

McEvoy Hornet Specials frequently appeared high in the result listings of the well known trials of  the period. This 1931 model GK 4084, driven by A.J.G. Bochaton was one such car. Bochaton used GK 4084 exstensively throughout the period 1934-1937 and appeared in all the major trials excepting the ‘Colemore’, gaining a number of top awards. Here his slightly battered car is being driven through a Devonshire wood during the course of the 1934 Brighton-Beer Trial which was held in excellent weather on the 17th June that year.

The Triple M series of MG’s all belong to a family of models that commenced with the 1929 MG Midget and continued through to the mid-thirties via a long string of four and six cylinder OHC engined cars that forged the marques identity.

Following on from the MG PA depicted in Triple M corner no.124 is this MG J3 Midget (JB 1047) which was featured in a  road test article in the May 1933 edition of Motor Sport magazine. (pages 325/326) The 750 cc J3 reputedly had a top speed of 93 mph and was supercharged via a Powerplus 6A unit. A heavier duty crankshaft to that fitted to the J2 was required in order to cope with the forces associated with a power unit that could spin to 5500 rpm. The test was carried out at Brooklands in the early spring of that year in weather conditions that could not be described as ideal, neverless the reporter was fulsome in his praise of the car’s performance. (Photos courtesy of Motorsport Images)

The Triple M series of MG’s all belong to a family of models that commenced with the 1929 MG Midget and continued through to the mid-thirties via a long string of four and six cylinder OHC engined cars that forged the marques identity.

The final versions of the pre-war four-cylinder OHC engined MG Midgets were the PA and PB models. The PA model was introduced in late 1933, replacing the J series and now had an improved  three bearing crankshaft enabling the safer use of higher engine revolutions, while the PB of 1935 was endowed with a larger capacity 939 cc OHC engine, a further development of the PA’s unit. The car shown here, MG PA – JB 4157, was first registered in Berkshire in 1934. (Both photographs courtesy of Motor Sport Images)

The Triple M series of MG’s all belong to a family of models that commenced with the 1929 MG Midget and continued through to the mid-thirties via a long string of four and six cylinder OHC engined cars that forged the marques identity.

The 1931 Irish Grand Prix at Phoenix Park, Dublin was held over the weekend of 6th and 7th June. On a wet Saturday 6th, cars with an engine capacity of under 1500 cc took part, competing for the Saorstat Cup. The race was to be dominated by the new MG Montlhery C Type Midgets, fresh from their astonishing success at the final running of the Brooklands ‘Double-Twelve’ event which had taken place less than a month earlier. Motor Sport magazine carried an extensive report on the event which was won overall by Norman Black in an Earl of March entered Midget. They also published this photo in their July 1931 edition with the following caption. “Wet going in the first day’s race. Two MG’s in close formation, the drivers are (31) H.D. Parker and (35) R.T. Horton.” This restored photo courtesy Motorsport Images Ltd.

The value of tagging and captioning images stored away on your hard-drive, on in the cloud, becomes apparent when something triggers a ‘ringing a bell’ moment. In this case it was the the GX registration of this recently uncovered photograph of a 1932 Abbey Trophy Hornet  Special (GX 1827), found within the Motor Sport magazine images section of the LAT collection. A search of the Network’s archive revealed a later snapshot of the car with its probable owner alongside. Was he the first owner of the car? Did he compete in it? The search also revealed that the car was the subject of a Light Car magazine road test in May 1932, a PDF of which resides in the document archive on the Wolseley Hornet Specials page. This page can be found within the Member’s Area of the website. Sadly, the car is not a survivor but a little of its semi-illustrious early history is now known. (L/H Image courtesy of Motor Sport Images)

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The Triple M series of MG’s all belong to a family of models that commenced with the 1929 MG Midget and continued through to the mid-thirties via a long string of four and six cylinder OHC engined cars that forged the marques identity.

Yet another Bill Brunell photograph courtesy of Motorsport Images. This one was taken in the afternoon of 19th June 1932 during the course of that year’s running of the B&HMC’s Brighton – Beer reliability trial. Here Brunell captures T.A.W. Thorpe in his 1930 MG Midget GF 5503 cresting a gradient in a sunken lane near Fingle Bridge on Dartmoor. Thorpe went on to gain a second class award. The photo appeared in the 24th June 1932 edition of The Autocar on page 1055. (LAT photoscan)

The Triple M series of MG’s all belong to a family of models that commenced with the 1929 MG Midget and continued through to the mid-thirties via a long string of four and six cylinder OHC engined cars that forged the marques identity.

MG 768 was an MG 12/12 Midget owned and driven by Viscount Curzon. This photo was taken by well known motoring photographer Bill Brunell during the course of the 1931 Inter -Varsity Trial, along an unmetalled lane in the Chiltern Hills, near Marlow, Bucks.

The Triple M series of MG’s all belong to a family of models that commenced with the 1929 MG Midget and continued through to the mid-thirties via a long string of four and six cylinder OHC engined cars that forged the marques identity.

1930 MG Midget VR 9032 was first registered in Manchester in 1930. However, establishing just when this photograph was taken is not quite so easy to ascertain. A good bet is the thirties decade, in that the car looks to be in excellent condition and in particular, the Dunlop three stud tyres appear to be almost new. What can be seen of the driver’s clothing doesn’t provide much assistance although the beret is a very sensible choice of headgear, fashionable at that time and which will at least remain on if caught in the car’s slipstream, unlike a peaked cap. The tax disc informs that the photo was taken prior to 1959 when a major design change to that document took place (http://www.britishtaxdiscs.co.uk/tax-disc-history.php) although the rear view mirror appears to be a motorcycle type of a type popular during the fifties and early sixties.