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MG TD TF 1500 - Yo Matthew

Do you have any information about the modifications made to this TF. Looks like it has a front apron pan along with the rock screen and out board driving lights. Crank handle looks to be up front and the rock guard looks to be braced at the park lights.


L E D LaVerne

LaVerne

Can you please give an idea where you sourced the photo, so us Ozzies can do some newspaper searching.

cheers
Stuart
Stuart Duncan

Looks like a 'Roo bar?

Tom Lange
MGT epair
t lange

It was posted on a face book page Stuart...

Tricky! The R Pryer or P&R Williams mgtf pilot before the start of the 1954 Redex Round Oz trial in July 1954. Sydney Showgrounds. Jack Murray won in a Ford Customline (Fairfax)..
L E D LaVerne

I think Jack Murray won in a 1948 Ford Deluxe, not too sure what the model was called apart from 'Deluxe'.
Regards, Don
Donald J Walker

The entry list for the Redex Trial is shown on this newspaper page
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/1077500

Pryer was in a Y type

P & R Williams were in a MG TD
R G Everitt

The TD is shown pulling out of a checkpoint at the 57sec make in this clip.. (be quick to stop the clip or you will miss the TD)

http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/1954-redex-trial/clip1/

The Redex Trial Rally was a 10,000 run around Australia, mostly on dirt roads. I wonder how far the MGs got.

Stuart


Stuart Duncan

I think you will find it's the same TF as shown in the first picture.
Regards, Don
Donald J Walker

Yes, same car. Not unusual for vehicles not to match the original entry list. P&R Williams were the MG importers for New South Wales and entered the car (they did not drive in these events). The REDeX rallies were like high speed travelling circuses with half-asleep drivers thrashing their stock vehicles flat-out over appalling roads covering huge distances. Will add more when I can access my records.
Great photo LaVerne!

Matthew.
M Magilton

Don & Matthew
my mistake, yes the same TF.
Stuart
Stuart Duncan

Newspaper account of 1956 Trial.

“The field would "traverse" the notorious 84 mile (135 km) horror stretch of the Redex trials, from Mount Isa to Cloncurry.

From there the route travelled along the infamous Queensland blacksoil plains down to Winton, then to Longreach and Hughenden.

Next came the ranges through Ravenshoe to Cairns, and finally the somewhat easier stretch to Sydney.

Tradgedy would occur for Sydney entrants Les Slaughter and Bill Mayes who, while running in 3rd place in their MG TF, would leave the Gwyder Highway between Grafton and Glen Innes.

Both drowned face-down in a creek, their car nearby. Motoring identity Evan Green was the first on the scene, however nobody actually witnessed the accident, such was the sparce population of Australia at the time.”
ial small

I recall the REDEX trials as a kid, we lived in a place called Cooroy on the Bruce Highway about 90 miles north of Brisbane.

"Gelignite" Jack was infamous for his exploits using the explosive, although details are hazy 60+ years later.

I remember them coming through town, lots of noise and us kids cheering.

Later lived in Mt. Isa, the road to Cloncurry was partially bitumen pavement as a result of the Mary Kathleen uranium mine which was mothballed when I was there in 63.
P G Gilvarry

The Aussies celebrate a Victory in a different way than in North America.
Cheers, Byron.
JB Warwick

Friends travelling from Sydney to Brisbane over the Xmas break declared that despite the road being all bitumen and frequently dual carriage the travel time was not much better now than it was then due to the density of traffic!
The Gwydir highway would have been quite a detour from the current coastal route but the scenery is stunning.
Ian, the Sunshine Coast is still a great place to own and drive a LBC.
Last time I drove Mt Isa to Brisbane it took 28 hours with alternating drivers and we were still driving across the same state - Queensland.
For a lad who grew up in the wilds of Lincolnshire this is still a pretty big place.
Chris
C I Twidle

Below in quotes is an extract from a website dealing with the history of motor racing in Australia. The photo came from the same source. A very sad story.

"Les Slaughter was a well know name just prewar with racing Velocettes in Australia up to his untimely death in the 1956 Ampol Trial in an MG TF.....

Les, left with Bill Mayes on the promenade of Bondi Beach in Sydney with his MGTF just prior to the start of the 1956 Ampol Trial.

Sadly the car rolled on a bridge and they ended upside down in a creek, with little water, but with no help they both drowned...a terrible ending for men intimately involved with the motor trade in Sydney. Les was a foreman at P & R Williams the NSW Velocette distributors then later involved with BMC cars...

His son, Ross, has kindly helped with copies of his father's photo archive...."

The Ampol Trial was a rebranding of the earlier Redex Trial. For non Australians, Ampol was a local petroleum company and REDeX was a brand of oil additive.

Michael



M R Calvert

Les was the manager at P&R Williams.

ANW105 is almost certainly TF1419, a grey demonstrator at P&R Williams.

I think AVH168 is TF9884 which also competed in a REDEX.

Matthew.
M Magilton

Correction, 9854 not 9884.
M Magilton

This thread was discussed between 31/12/2017 and 06/01/2018

MG TD TF 1500 index

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