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MG TD TF 1500 - MG/Pavlova signs

A friend just got back from Silverstone and while in Britain, stopped at Abingdon... he showed me some photos of the old plant...
Would someone who lives close go and 'save' the signs that I was told were being restored a year ago by the MG Club... sheesh???????
And, if no one there wants them, just steal the damn things and put them inside somewhere... honest to god!!!!


gblawson(gordon)

Gordon - We were taken aback by that when we visited several years ago. That, by the way, is a single sign.
Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

It was mentioned a year or so ago to 'the powers that be' and one of the directors was having them taken inside.... seems to take a long time? They are certainly worse then the last photo I saw!
gblawson(gordon)

Bit of history


gblawson(gordon)

Hello Gordon,

It is in fact one sign (the two are joined together). The T Register is getting quotes to have the sign restored and we shall know in the next week or so whether we are going to proceed (we hope we will be able to).

Regards,

JOHN JAMES


John...

I'm going to book a flight over and drag the thing inside somewhere... at this point preservation rather then restoration is important.

gordon

gblawson(gordon)

The crime is they need to be restored, rather than conserved. Come on Dick K. Get it done.
Paul
Paul Gaynor

Gordon B., Is the building the signs are mounted on, of any significance that you know, and have you any idea when the picture was taken. It is an interesting group shown in the picture.
George Raham
TD 4224
G. L. Raham

Sorry George... just grabbed it from a 'search'... didn't know it had been on a building. I knew the Abingdon factory had been the original Pavlova Leather works and they moved next door (or stayed in another building)... all the other photos of the sign i have seen had been leaning against that fence. I mentioned it in an email a few years ago and been told that the MG club was going to 'save and preserve' it...
Actually they should just make a new one for the fence and put the other in the Heritage Centre.

http://www.mgabingdon.org.uk/photos/index.cgi?mode=image&album=/History%20of%20the%20Abingdon%20Works%20Centre&image=21-MG-Pavlova.jpg
gblawson(gordon)

Dear Mr Lawson

Thank you for sending us photographs of this signage. I am afraid it is not possible to just go and remove items such as this without the owner's permission, but I will alert the MG Museum at Abingdon who may be better placed to investigate and mount a rescue operatin.

Regards

Gillian Bardsley
BMIHT Archivist
Archive Department, Heritage Motor Centre
Banbury Road, Gaydon, Warwick, CV35 0BJ
gblawson(gordon)

Gentlemen,

Sad to see the sign in such bad repair, looks like the MG lads over there will save it. I will be in the UK in two weeks to do some business with Lotus, and plan to head over to Abingdon for a look around. Is there anything left of the old works? is it still possible to get a pint at the Magic midget?

Cheers, Terry P.
Terry Peddicord

Way to go Gordon. Looks like you might have stirred
up something and the signs might be saved. lets hope.
George Raham
TD 4224
G. L. Raham

Folks,
I would dearly love to be optimistic anout the chances for the survival of the MG/Pavlova sign, but it just isn NOT realistic!!! The MG Car Club has had it sitting out in the weather and deteriorating since at least the summer of 2000 (and probably longer than that)!!!!! I have emailed a number of club officials, including the Executive director, about the sign. John James was the ONLY one who even bothered to respond! He said he'd try to get the sign under cover, and would look into raising funds for its restoration. That news from John came several months ago.
I can only conclude that nobody over there really gives a damn about the fate of the sign!!!
Carl

The cars in Gordon's second photo include a 'rubbernose' BGT, so that would put the photo after 1974. The sign looks reasonably fresh and from the style I am guessing it is late 60's or early 70's. Worth saving, yes, but not very old IMHO.

Cheers,
Matthew.
Matthew Magilton

They took over the plant from Pavlova in '29 and Pavlova moved to the other building... wonder if that was the original sign just spruced up every few years?
I realize I'm a bit obsessive at times... just seems to me a bit of history that should be kept...and with the MG club a couple of years ago willing to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a new building when they have thousands of company photos 'they can't afford to scan' and with leaving things like the sign out to rot, just pissed me off a tad!
gblawson(gordon)

This thread was discussed between 17/08/2008 and 23/08/2008

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