| Mystery
of two MGBGTV8s When Zhong Zhang from Kent registered his MGBGTV8 with the V8 Register as Damask G75D002372 in early 2008, the V8 Registrar naturally contacted him seeking the Car Number (or Vehicle Identification Number or VIN) as the number he had quoted is a Commission Number. The reply from Zhong began a fascinating thread of enquiry into the mysterious background of not only his V8 but also of another mysterious V8! Here Victor Smith (V8 Registrar) begins to unravel the mystery with the help of Peter Beadle (a founder member of the V8 Register in 1978). (3.1.08) How had Zhong Zhang acquired the V8? Zhong explained he had bought his V8 from Nigel Wagstaff in 1991 and from the papers he received at that time could see the car was first registered on 7th May 1974 with the number plate (now the Vehicle Registration Mark or VRM) VLC 123 M. Those papers show that just over four years later Nigel purchased the car on 30th September 1978 from JR Hall who lived on Epsom Downs. It is believed that gentleman was the first owner and that the V8 had been serviced at the local MG distributor, University Motors in Epsom. Shortly after buying the V8, Nigel set about a thorough refurbishment of the car and frequently visited University Motors in Epsom for spares. In the mid to late 1970s, a longstanding V8 enthusiast, Peter Beadle, was the parts manager there and knew Nigel well. When I contacted Peter to discuss this mystery V8 he said he could not recall reading the Car Number of that V8 on the plate fixed to the offside inner wing adjacent to the oil filter on that V8, but knew Nigel had sold the V8 soon after the end of the 1980s. From the papers in Zhong's possession it was clear that after purchasing the car Nigel had changed the VRM of the vehicle to a personalized number plate - NTW 1. When later he sold the car to Zhong, Nigel retained the distinctive plate and the car was given the new VRM XGF 171 M which it still has today. Then Zhong reported he had found, amongst the papers that had come with car from Nigel, an old V8 Register "application for registration form" that gave the following details: "Car No: GD2D2D 100G". He wondered whether the identity of his V8 was Damask 0100? But that would odd because V8s with a Car Number with the prefix GD2D2 DUD are LHD whereas the more usual GD2D1 V8s are RHD. But on checking photos of the car it was clear the V8 had been a RHD car from new so a GD2D2D prefix would be wrong. In fact Nigel registered the V8 with the V8 Register as Damask 1471. From the late Geoff Allen's archives, Damask 1471 is recorded as being dispatched from | the
Factory on 27th March 1974 and going to the main MG agent in West London, Kennings
Car Mart on the Uxbridge Road in Ealing. That V8 is also recorded as having a
Commission No G75D0002732 and not G75D0002372 which is uncanny but of course there
might easily have been a mistake in transcribing that number at some stage. The
Factory records did have the odd mistake here and there. Another MGBGTV8 and it's a LHD car As Peter Beadle had known Nigel Wagstaff and Damask 1471, I contacted him to discuss the puzzling information turned up by Zhong. It was then he reminded me that Nigel had in fact owned two MGBGTV8s, the second of which was a LHD car which has been registered with the V8 Register as Flame Red 0100. Peter recalled that Nigel had sold Flame Red 0100 in the late 1980s and it had gone to Switzerland. From the V8 Database I could see it was later registered by a Swiss member, Eric Prasse. Geoff Allen had always been puzzled by Flame Red 0100 Geoff had commented in his V8NOTE300 (Exactly how many MGBGTV8s were built at Abingdon?) that Flame 0100 was not listed in the Production Control or Despatch books he had seen when he was at the Factory and had copied meticulously in his tea and lunch breaks before the Factory closed in 1979. Geoff was also well aware that in any case it was custom and practice at Abingdon to start production runs of MG models with the number 01. In the case of the MGBGTV8 model production started with GD2D2 DUD 101 G and later the two rubber bumpered production batches started at 2101 and 2701. The Development Pre-production cars were from Car Number 0099 to 0095, so where had 0100 come from? That was a mystery and one that Geoff often discussed with me. There were some Extra Development cars Well Geoff knew there were some "Extra Development" cars which were not recorded in the Production Control or Despatch books, nor were they traditionally counted by the Production Control department at Abingdon as production cars. These "Extra" cars were on a list compiled from the individual car history books maintained by the Foreman of the Development department at the time. Geoff had identified four of these cars from those Factory records - ADO75 413, 414, 424 and 425. Of these cars ADO75 414 has not been heard of since it was sold on by Development department as a secondhand sale in the late 1970s and no details of the body paint colour are known. ADO75 425 was sold to Morris Garages by Development department as a secondhand sale and was finished in Damask Red but no other details are known and nothing has been heard of it since then. ADO75 413 and ADO75 |  Geoff Allen spent 27 years at the Abingdon Factory in Rectifications and was the V8 Historian & Archivist from 1978 until 2006 when sadly he passed away. 424 are known to exist and have been registered with the V8 Register. One slightly odd fact is three cars produced as MGBGTV8s were subsequently sold off with MGB 1800 engines fitted - they were the early Development Pre-production car GD2D2 DUD 0098, ADO75 414 above and another Development car GD2D1 0993. So what is the real identity of Flame Red 0100? Could it be ADO75 414? Well that is certainly what Geoff Allen thought as he has noted his reasoning in his archives as "ADO 414 G is a Pre Production Left Hand Drive reputably fitted with rubber bumpers by Abingdon Development department at one time and later sold on to an unknown person. The body colour of this car is unknown and nothing more has been heard of this car - could this be GD2D2 100 G?" When you look at the archive all the usual information for this V8 including engine number, body and trim colour, progress dates down the line and dispatch date is simply blank with the agent receiving the vehicle shown as BLMC Austin/Morris, MG Development, Abingdon. So where do we go now? Well let's hope we can clarify the real identify and maybe verify Geoff's belief that the V8 registered as GD2D2 DUD100 G is in fact ADO 414 G? I am contacting our Swiss members to enlist their help and hope to see Flame Red 0100 during the European Event of the Year 2008 which will be held in Switzerland next August. Copyright reserved: V8 Register and Jean Allen See the sequel to this note. More |
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