Happy Anniversary MG Y-Type and MGC

As their anniversary year draws to a close – 70 years for the Y-Type and 50 years for the MGC – Ian Hobbs reflects on the models and introduces a wonderful example of each from Australia.

Soon after I joined the MGCC of South Australia, I bought my first MG. It was a TC and I paid AUD$510 for it – and yes, we haggled over that ten bucks. About the same time, Bob Schapel also joined the club. His dad bought a TC when he was 11 years old and they both worked on it for four years to bring it back to life. When Bob’s 16th birthday arrived, the L plates were attached and he was off down the road. We both joined the club in 1969 when we were 17 years old, and we’ve been good mates ever since.

A couple of years later we decided to go to the second Australian MG Car Club National Meeting held in Melbourne, Victoria which was a 500 mile drive away. The Nat Meets are held over Easter with a Noggin & Natter on Good Friday, a concours on Saturday, competitive events on Sunday and farewells on Monday. This format hasn’t changed much since those early days.

Bob and I travelled in his white TC to the Melbourne event. Bob was studying and I was working, so we left after work on Thursday evening and travelled through the night. One thing I remember from that trip was that about every half hour there was a whiff of burnt oil. After several whiffs and about 200 miles down the track, I ask Bob what it was. Bob is a person who is a keen observer and aware of many subtleties, so his explanations are generally detailed and well thought out. In this case he had a small oil leak allowing a drop of oil to fall onto the exhaust manifold and he explained that whenever he smelt the oil, he knew that he still had plenty in the engine. He also told me it was designed that way, and I believed him.