Improvements & MPG
Today I drove Murphy to Chichester to see Nick, as he’s over from Ireland for another two weeks, and was very kind enough to give me a hand with a few improvements I’ve been meaning to do.
It was drizzling/raining in Chandlers Ford, so I phoned Nick at lunchtime to see if he still wanted to meet up, and he told me the weather was “alright” in Chichester, so come on over.
Well, there’s clearly an Irish to English translation issue here, as “alright” in Nick’s world actually means “it’s chucking it down and you’re going to have a fun time getting here as the roads are flooded”. I definitely need one of those translation books!
I wonder if the “book” might also explain the difference in the movement of time between Ireland & England – not a timezone difference per se, more something that makes time run slower in Ireland, and sometimes causes Nick to be delayed by many hours 🙂 Must be something in the tea – but that’s another story!
With limited distraction from the F1 race, and Lewis Hamilton’s well earned victory 🙂 we reversed Murphy under the garage door to avoid the worst of the rain.
The first of the “simple” jobs for the afternoon was to remove the boot door and fit a rubber seal around the boot, which had been missing since I acquired the car. Simple my arm!
Fitting the rubber seal was easy, as was replacing the boot – and successfully proving the electrics for the rear window demister were actually working, even if the demister itself wasn’t (a job for another day!) – but would the boot shut???
NO!!!
This week…
I’ve had to head up to our offices near Gerrards Cross twice this week, which is a 150 mile round trip taking around two hours each way, thus around 300 miles in all.
The SatNav on my mobile phone was set to avoid motorways, so it was A and B roads all the way. The SatNav was set to recalculate the route to avoid traffic, which meant a slightly different route each time, but seemed to favour the A31 on the way back on both days.
I usually go via the M3 then M25, etc, but taking the scenic route was pleasantly refreshing, and Murphy had no problem with this.
Ascot, Windsor, Henley-on-Thames, Wooburn and Burnham Beeches in particular provide beautiful Autumn scenery, (see photo), so even though it’s a bit of a trek, it was all good.
Most surprising was on the A33 between Basingstoke and Reading, where I drove past a giant column with a statue of the Duke of Wellington on top. Not the kind of thing I expected to see, but upon further investigation is a place called Stratfield Saye House – a large stately home which has been the home of the Dukes of Wellington since 1817.
Reading online, I found that The Duke of Wellington Commemorative Column was erected in 1863, and stands at the entrance to Stratfield Saye on the eastern Heckfield side, and is topped by a bronze statue by Baron Carlo Marochetti.
Steven Spielberg’s film War Horse began with cavalry scenes that were filmed at Stratfield Saye House, where Wellington’s war horse “Copenhagen” is buried.
Now doesn’t that beat the motorway route!
Some news & info from the 1970’s
After trying to find out more about Murphy’s first owner, and in particular the showroom from which he was first purchased, here’s what I’ve found so far…
1972
18th November 2014
All I know right now of Murphy’s beginnings is from the only 1970’s document I hold, which is the MG “Passport to Service” document that accompanied the car at the time of initial sale. I guess in many ways, I’m lucky to even have that.
What this document tells me is that Murphy was initially purchased by a Mr R.G. Sharpe of Sutton Bassett, Northants on the 10th June 1972, from Latham’s (Leicester) Limited, Belgrave Gate, Leicester.
There are a few service stamps in the booklet, giving an indication of early life, as follows:
Entry 1: 9th June 1972, was a pre-delivery inspection by Latham’s on the day before the sale date written at the front of the book. Interestingly, it shows 1660 miles on this date, which might seem strange for a new car, but I notice this is written in a different pen, similar to the second service entry. I think this was written here in error, and the actual mileage must have been close to zero.
Entry 2: 30th June 1972, 1,000 miles service, also with the Latham’s stamp, but no mileage written here. Give, as mentioned above, the same pen was used, I assume the actual mileage was 1,660 miles.
Entry 3: 6th September 1972, 3,000 miles service, this time serviced by The Regent Autocar Co. Leicester Road, Market Harborough. The mileage written here is 7,118 miles.
Entry 4: 9th November 1972, 12,000 miles service, again by The Regent Autocar Co., and the same engineer, (Andy?). The mileage here was 11,456 miles.
Below are the pages from the “Passport to Service” booklet, as detailed above:
First contact with a previous owner
Today I’ve received a successful reply from Mr Bob Blackstock, Murphy’s 10th owner.
2009-2012
17th November 2014
As part of my challenge to unravel the history of Murphy, I attempted to track down previous owners, and this was my first successful attempt.
I managed to find Mr Bob Blackstock, Murphy’s 10th owner, through the power of the web, and he was kind enough to reply to my no doubt unconventional request for help…
My son, Robert, bought the MG from a small car dealer in Nottingham.
At the time he was stationed there when he was a Lt Colonel in the Royal Engineers.
We know nothing of its previous history.
I’m attaching a photo of the car taken soon after purchase.
He subsequently retired from the army and moved to Monmouth to begin a new career in civil engineering.
However, he had done very little mileage in the MG, had no garage at his new home, so sent it to me in Dorset to look after and sell.
David Sothcott bought it, I believe, as a temporary run-about whilst he completed re-comissioning of his own MG.
I have my own 1967 rally MGB GT which I have owned for ten years and which did a Monte Carlo Rally Historique in 2000.
Sorry, of little help to you.
Kind regards
Bob
Despite Bob’s message suggesting this was little help, on the contrary I’m chuffed to bits, so thank-you Bob, if you read this 🙂
So I now know that Murphy’s been through a dealer in Nottingham, owned by a former military man and engineer, (both honourable professions, in my opinion), and made his way to the South of England, in the care of a family who clearly knows MGB’s, then on to the owner from whom I purchased the car. How cool is that!!! 🙂
Here’s Bob’s photo of Murphy, looking good in Nottingham in 2009…
Bob Blackstock’s photo of Murphy in Nottingham, 2009.
…and here’s Bob’s 1967 Rally MGB GT 🙂
Bob’s 1967 Rally MGB GT
Classic Car show at the NEC Birmingham
Onur, Nick, (driving his ’88 Nissan Silvia) and I headed up together to the Birmingham NEC on Sunday for the Classic Car Show.
We had a good run up, with very light rain from time-to-time, but it was belting down on the way back South.
Nevertheless, we had a really good day, that proved to be fun and interesting for all of us.
We’d barely starting looking around when Nick met a chap with a Reliant Scimitar SSC, built with the same engine as his Nissan Silvia. Though he may deny it, and I’m certain he lost all sense of time, he slipped straight into the geekzone 🙂
Onur saw a DeLorean just like the one in Back to the Future, KITT from Knight Rider, the Ghostbusters vehicle and Lightning McQueen from Cars – see photos 🙂 That made his day, as it would any 9 year old. To be fair, I was quite amazed at the level of detail these enthusiasts had gone to, but can;t deny some of it was very impressive.
I took the opportunity to join the MG Car Club, (which I’d been thinking about for a while), bought a new baseball cap and a few electrical connectors for Murphey, and took every opportunity to see how the MGB’s in “show quality” looked. I almost drooled when I saw some of the engines in these cars. For the life of me, I can’t fathom how much effort it must take to make them look like that. I bet they didn’t look that good when they left the factory, and I wondered if these cars ever actually hit the road, or are kept wrapped up in cotton wool in a nice warm garage!
All in all, it was a great day out, and I’d highly recommend visiting the show to anyone, whether you’re deep into classic cars or not. Here’s some pics of the day…
You could eat your dinner off this engine, it was so immaculate!
Murphy’s journey so far…
Sorting through a folder of papers which accompanied Murphy at the time of purchase, I’ve been reconstructing his journey from owner to owner.
Mainly consisting of MOT records and invoices for parts purchased over the years, here’s what I’ve come up with so far…
Welcome to my blogsite about Murphy, my 1972 MGB GT
Dear Reader,
Welcome!
It’s been exactly a year since I acquired this little green MGB GT, so to celebrate, I decided to start this blogsite.
This car has a history that’s still evolving under my care, so with 42 years under it’s fanbelt, (that’s a year younger than me), this seemed a nice way to keep a record.
I’ve always loved old cars.  When I was little, my dad used to have a green 1967 Mini, which was so cool.  I can still remember it’s registration, RYW 37F, and I was only 5 years old at the time.  I once sneaked into the garage whilst my mum was having coffee with the neighbour, and started the engine.  I’ll leave it to you to imagine the panic that ensued, followed by the trouble I got into, but I just loved that car!  Was it the colour, the sound, or just the way it felt when it sped down those Oxfordshire lanes?
When I was 17, and just passed my driving test, my first car was a T-reg (1978) MkII Escort, (DBD 46T) which my dad and I literally had in pieces during my summer holiday from college.  My dad has always been into fixing up cars, (a true engineer/inventor at heart), and had a garage that was well kitted out for any mechanical or electrical job (even welding and an engine hoist), so there were no problems regarding tools and other bit’s and pieces.
As the years passed, I moved out and ended up living 100 miles away from my parents due my strange choice of career. Work commitments plus buying my first house meant I had less time and money to spend tinkering with cars, so I moved from car to car, as you do, and eventually owned a BMW as a company car.  At the age of 27, this was really cool, but there was always a little part of me that disliked the fact that this car was not really for me to get my hands on, or should I say, in.
I sold the BMW a couple of years after getting married in 2002, as it was a 2-door coupe, and a back-killer when getting our baby  son in and out of the rear seat. Also, the boot wasn’t great for pram + shopping, let alone fishing gear, so it was time to get practical…
