From Lotus Elan To MG VA

Are classic car restorers born or made? Roger Blaxall ponders this question as he meets a Lancashire man whose engineering background proved invaluable as he pieced together a rare 1937 MG VA, which finally hit the road again 80 years after it rolled off the Abingdon production lines.

- Roger Blaxall

Patience, time, space and at times deep pockets – the amateur car restorer needs all these and more as they set about any given project. And in the case of Ian Anderson from Aughton near Ormskirk, a sense of humour and very understanding wife and family helped too! It’s amazing to think that when Ian first took on the challenge of bringing this car back to life, John Major was PM, Brexit was unthinkable and nobody could have guessed that a billionaire with a questionable haircut would be in the White House.

Ian’s quest to restore the VA began when he needed a bigger family car to supplement a rare 1953 TD Competition MkII he and his wife Louise had run since 1985. The answer came in the form of a VA found via the Octagon Car Club – Ian is still an active member of the Preston branch – and bought from one Harry Crutchley, the man who set up the original club and who was something of a legend in MG circles. Ian sold his Lotus Elan +2 to buy the VA, and with a Ford Sierra as the normal family car, the Andersons looked forward to welcoming the newcomer.

As a 46-year-old with a wife and two children, Ian’s job as an engineer with a tanker construction company in nearby Burscough was to stand him in good stead over the following two decades. With hindsight, he confesses now he didn’t realise the magnitude of the job he had taken on. Some folk might have thrown the spanner in, but not Ian whose innate patience and careful planning saw him slowly make progress on a giant mechanical jigsaw – one which had several key pieces that needed replacing or repairing – over the subsequent 20 years.