Two early
MGBGTV8s - Glacier White 0096, a pre-production development
car which has been recently re-registered with its original
registration number MMO 229 L and Denim Blue 0111. (Photos:
Clive Wagerfield)
Clive Wagerfield has recently got his MGBGTV8 back on the road
after a lengthy refubishment and took it to the Abingdon Air
and Country Show where he found another early MGBGTV8.
Harvest
Gold 0111
Looking back at the copy of the Factory production records
made by the late Geoff Allen in his tea breaks at Rectifications
Department in the few months before the Factory closed,
this MGBGTV8 was commissioned on 22nd December 1972 and
mounted on the line on 3rd January 1973 but is recorded
as being despatched for Production Control at the Factory
on 27th September 1973, some nine months later. It is
recorded as the first 1973 Model Year car and was a Pre
Production UK photographic demonstrator which was loaned
to Special Tuning. Geoff knew this car and it was registered
with the V8 Register many years ago, including the change
from the original body colour of Harvest Gold to Denim
Blue.
V8 Registrar (25.5.09)
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"MMO
229L is back on the road after an eight month lay off. During
that time the entire rear bulkhead and all that sits on it was
refurbished. I took my car to the Abingdon Air and Country Show
on May 3rd and made an amazing discovery. Parked opposite my
car was a metallic blue V8. As I walked past it, I spotted a
fact sheet on the windscreen. The information stated that this
particular car had been designated to be one of the early Press
Cars, but the Special Tuning department, impressed by the engine
performance re-designated this car for speed testing, as mine
was. Also to my amazement, Terry Grimes who owns the car, told
me that it was originally registered as MMO 226L. I know that
both these cars were tested together as there is a reference
to this fact from the late Geoff Allen in David Knowles' book
– MG V8 Twenty-One Years On.
Like the late Geoff Allen, Terry Grimes also worked at MG Cars
for thirteen years until it closed. I intend to visit him at
some time in the future to learn more about his special car.
By the way this car is GD2D1 111 G but does not appear in David
Knowles' comprehensive list in the aforementioned book. This
would make sense as it was neither an official development car
nor a press car. This then must be a ‘lost car’, now
re-discovered!"
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