MG Car Club
Snapshot of MG Proves To Have Real Heritage
A PICTURE of a 1938 MG WA snapped at the Heritage Classic Car Insurance-sponsored Classics at the Castle has revealed a car with a fascinating story to tell. The photo, posted on Heritage’s Facebook page, was spotted by Graham Parnell, who had seen the very same MG, and photographed it, many years earlier in 1967.
“When the negative was developed I wrote the following on the reverse of the photograph – 1938 MG WA Tickford. Greylake Centre Concours on the 7th May 1967 at the Moorlands Factory, Street, Glastonbury, Somerset,” explains Graham.
The Greylake MG Drivers Club was started in about 1966 with a branch in Street and Exeter. Moorlands was a factory close to the Clark’s shoe factory where the club held speed driving tests and the concours for its MGs including the MG TA Graham still owns.
Graham contacted the team at Heritage to tell them of his photo, and keen to learn more about the history of the car, they reached out to the classic car community, to try and piece the MG’s story together.
The MG Car Club came up trumps, and was able to provide plenty of information through the current owner about the car.
The WA is one of the rarest MGs built, being in production for just a year, with less than 400 made. It was also MG’s largest, most luxurious car ever, with power coming from a 2.5 litre, straight-six engine.
The car was originally sold to Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Thomas Goldie Gardner OBE MC, who collected the MG from the factory and the company’s then General Manager, John Thornley,
Goldie Gardner led a fascinating life before buying his WA, and like MG, held several speed records, lapping Brooklands at 124mph in 1935 in his MG Magnette.
His incredible life story saw him not only set speed records, but he also fought in the First World War, joining the Cavalry and Royal Artillery. He crashed his aircraft behind enemy lines, breaking both his legs, leaving him to crawl fifteen miles across enemy territory before he could be rescued.
He was awarded the Military Cross and following the end of the war, took an active interest in motorsport, beginning with an Austin Seven before graduating to an MG Midget in 1931. The Midget and Gardner would form a formidable partnership, with the MG becoming the first 750cc vehicle to lap Brooklands at 100mph.
On the eve of World War II, Gardner was still setting records, travelling at an incredible 203mph on the Dessau Autobahn. During the war, Gardner returned to the Royal Artillery and the WA was placed into storage in London, parked in a property that suffered at the hands of the Blitz. The car remained there, undiscovered until 1947, when Gardner parted with the MG.
The WA headed to the South West, and Somerset, while Gardner returned to his record-breaking efforts, Italy and at the Bonneville Salt Flats. At Bonneville, the salt was not good and in struggling to reach his target of 220mph, he spun his car EX135, struck a marker post, which smashed the Perspex bubble covering his cockpit and badly injured his head. On Doctor’s orders, he withdrew from record-breaking, having established an incredible 116 speed records. He passed away, following a long illness connected to his head injury, on 25th August 1958.
The second owner took the MG under their care until the mid-70s, when it was snapped by Graham Parnell in Street, Somerset.
Today it is with another owner, who has had the car for over thirty years, regularly taking the MG to classic car shows and events, like Classics at the Castle.
No doubt Gardner would be thrilled to know that his MG is still being driven and enjoyed, just as he did back in the 30s.
