Geoff
Allen - obituary
Geoff
Allen - a cheerful and generous person with advice on MGBs and V8s Geoff Allen's fondness for MG and his willingness to help fellow enthusiasts was legendary. His knowledge and experience of maintaining post war MGs came from working in Rectifications Department at the MG Factory at Abingdon for 27 years where a team of up to 60 people worked on more than 200 cars a day at one stage. So he was well used to a variety of fault finding and curing challenges which he clearly enjoyed. Geoff particularly liked the MGB which he had felt "looked exactly right" from his first sighting of the new model at Easter 1961 and later when the MGBGTV8 model came in he felt that was the "dream MG" - "as soon as I knew about them I wanted one!". He eventually had two - one was the first rubber bumpered model (Teal Blue 2101) owned by his wife Jean and the other a V8 Roadster he built himself from a 1974 MGB Roadster which had been used for door tests and subsequently as a Factory hack. Geoff was a founder member of the V8 Register in 1978 and has been the V8 Historian & Archivist throughout. His archives include a handmade copy of the V8 Factory production records which demonstrates the much quoted figure of 2,591 as the total production is understated since the true figure is nearer 2,600 or just possibly 2,601 as there is a mystery V8 - nothing is ever completely certain with MG archives as Geoff knew very well! Geoff had very many friends through the Club and MG world and those who met him will recall his sense of humour and good cheer. In fact some of his stories, recounted with that gentle Berkshire burr and gleam in his eye, were both extraordinary and real. One came up spontaneously during Don Hayter's talk on the conception, development and production of the V8 in 2002 when a question was posed about top hat battery connectors and their irritating habit of unreliable electrical contact! In a moment Geoff was off recalling the time when he was working just at the end of his apprenticeship at City Motors, a Vauxhall dealer in Oxford. On a Sunday morning someone rang in and said "we are coming down from Coventry with a Morris Oxford and, as the battery was flat when we left, we put a new one on and now we have just pulled up at the traffic lights in Oxford and went to move off and stalled and can't start it again". Geoff turned to some of the longstanding former Factory colleagues in the audience and said "do you |
 Geoff
Allen speaking at the V8 25th Anniversary Dinner at the BRDC in 2003 with Jean
alongside. (Photo: Gavin Bailey) remember Harry Ridell, well I was the "boy" with Harry then who was a cockney, so we jumped in the tow wagon and went out. The motorist had said "we will pay you anything to get this car going again!" We got there and lifted the bonnet and it had these top hat battery connectors so Harry just got a hammer and just went bonk, bonk on the terminals and it started. So the chap said "that's brilliant how much is that?" So Harry says "a pound for the turnout" - you have to bear in mind this was around 1949. The motorist replied "Well that's daylight robbery - you only hit it with a hammer!" "Yes" said Harry, "six pence for hitting it and 19/6 for knowing where to hit it!". After the sad closure of the MG Factory, Geoff set up in business on his own and found V8 enthusiasts beating a path to his door for the special knowledge and TLC he could apply to servicing and repairs. His wife Jean acted as bookkeeper and spares collector, regularly driving the 90 mile round trip to Moss in Richmond in the V8 Roadster. Jean loves the V8 too and was taught by Geoff to drive it with enthusiasm - and still does! Their partnership reached 50 years in 2004 when their wedding anniversary coincided with the Club's Silverstone weekend meeting. Geoff in his gentle way set aside their usual plans to attend the meeting and whisked Jean away to Ludlow for a long weekend! They were also motor cycle enthusiasts and only a few years ago recalled how they had each ridden pillion around the Manx TT course touching three figure speeds in a remote section - Jean seemed to think that was quite a normal experience even at that stage of life! Geoff was also a courageous man who on learning he had cancer several years ago underwent treatment with a fervour that even the specialists at the Christie Hospital near Manchester found inspiring. Geoff won through and we had more years of his good company and sense of fun. But sadly, as is often the case with that wretched disease, recently secondary difficulties came back as brain tumours. Geoff is survived by his wife Jean whom he regarded as his best friend - a truly wonderful partnership. He died peacefully on Saturday 10th June 2006 age 76. |
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reflections of Geoff
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