Owning early pre-development MGs Clive Wagerfield used to own the early predevelopment MGBGTV8 (Glacier White 0096) and has sent in a note on his present early predevelopment MG - an MG TF. Clive Wagerfield says "the information on this webpage and the linked PDF document was compiled and edited from information I gathered over a period of time from Steve Woods who competed in the car for ten years before selling it to another fellow racer - Chris Gillie (who is mentioned in the MG Enthusiast article). It was then sold on to another fellow racer - Howard 'Howie' Cottrell who competed in it until just three years ago. So the preproduction TF I have has been a competition car for most of its life. Steve Woods was a development engineer working at Powertrain at the Longbridge site primarily with the K6 engine. He was also a test driver and spent a lot of time on the MIRA track testing MG Metros, Maestros and the like". Posted: 200819 Clive Wagerfield bought it from Norman Ward in 2008 Glacier White 0096 reported sold in July 2014 MG Power Girls at Friarsgate Dealer More Clive Wagerfield acquired Glacier White 0096 (alongside), one of the five early pre-production development MGBGTV8s built in late 1972 from Norman Ward earlier in 2008. Clive has the original receipt for the car when it was bought by Norman for £875 direct from Factory in April 1976. His father, Robert Ward, was Plant Director at the Assembly Plant at the time when the car came up for release. Clive is actively researched the history of this car, particularly during its 4½ years as a test car at Abingdon including some speed testing in France. There is a reference to this V8 in the book ‘MG by McComb’. Norman mentioned to Clive that the following excerpt from that book was verified by both his father and the late Geoff Allen: “Although no figure for maximum speed in overdrive was quoted, a perfectly standard car had been taken to France for tests by Alec Hounslow, foreman of the development department workshop and one-time riding mechanic to Nuvolari. He got a genuine 222 kph maximum and realised with some astonishment that he was travelling at 138 mph.” In the words of MG’s former chief, John Thornley, “the V8 was a quite stupendous motor car. From my own experience, when you were doing 100 mph in overdrive top and put your foot down on the accelerator, you got a push in the back. Now, that is motoring!” Clive carried out work on the rare V8 during his ownership including refurbishing the engine bay. He decided to sell the car and it was up for auction at the Silverstone Classic Sale on Saturday 26th July 2014 and was reported to have been sold for £9,315. Clive now says "although I sold my V8 a few years ago (with some regret), I now have another pre-production MG! This is at the other end of the spectrum, being the third pre-production MG TF built. It is also the earliest one in existence, as the two previous ones were scrapped after they finished their testing program. This car was saved from being scrapped and was instead prepared for competition use by MG Sport & Racing to help promote the new TF. See photos of the TF Competition history of this MG TF Three MG TFs prepared by MG Sport & Racing Clive Wagerfield adds "just a little more information. There were just three cars prepared by MG Sport & Racing in this particular livery. This one and two 'out and out' race cars. The attachments here are from the 2003 Mayflower MG Trophy. The black car (alongside) was driven by Mark Roberts and the red one (below) by Adrian Guyll who was a vehicle safety and protection manager with MG Rover at the time".