"Cars in books", February 1966

Sir,
I was most interested to read W.B.’s notes on my book “Motor Tramp” and the M.G.s. The answer to the question beneath the picture of the L-type Magna is “no” ; I replaced the F-type with a “K” Magnette in 1934, and quite a lot of the travels recorded were made in this car. It actually appears, unrecognisably, in the photos on pp. 65, 66 and 169. This was an excellent car and I made many more journeys to Germany and Austria in it, returning to Berlin in it to work in the film studios in 1935, and driving to one of the Nuremburg rallies in it. It was sold in 1936 as it did not suit my wife.

In 1961 I thought I would return to M.G.s and discovered with delight that the Service Manager at Abingdon, on p. 129, Mr. John Thornley, was now Lt.-Col. Thornley, General Manager of M.G.s, whose excellent book “Maintaining the Breed” he was kind enough to send me. I acquired a 1,600-c.c. M.G.-A, which I thought and still think is a marvellous car. But I found, driving in Ireland where I now live, that the occasions when you could put down the hood were too rare, and age with its weakness for comforts indicated a saloon. This took the shape of a M.G. 1100, which I regret to learn, is not made at Abingdon, but at least carries the M.G. radiator.

I must protest against your note on “sinus.” You never get anything with the windscreen flat, and you can fit half moon windshields as I did on the Magnette—or you used to be able to. But I suppose I am out of touch and out of date. Before the Magna I drove a 1932 Midget with the boat-shaped tail on the Continent, and I am not sure that wasn’t the best of all.

Bellarena. Sir John Heygate Bt.