Looking through "75 Years of the J2 MG" on page 101 I spotted a picture of a Laystall crank on a white tray and thought how very similar it looked to a photo I have of the one in my M-type. In fact it was indeed Mike Lowndes who sold me the Laystall crank and supplied the photograph in the book and the photograph below.
The picture is described as "An Early example of 83mm stroke Laystall crank with 1 1/2 inch diameter big ends.This crank lived in C0289 for some time." This crank now lives in 2M 1802.
Is any history of C0289 known and does it survive?
The stroke quoted at 83mm is not quite correct and it proved to be slightly shorter making some modifications necessary to the cylinder head and vertical drive yokes when the Laystall crank was fited to the M-type. Why the stroke was slightly slightly less than 83mm is a mystery and likely to remain so.
A couple of later examples -
The M.G. Midget type above and below is much more typical.
This thread is about the history of the MG car MG C 0289, owned by Mike Lowndes' brother when its engine suffered a terminal failure. The 'history of the crankshaft' is of course the connection to a major part of the history of MG C 0289 .
Sorry if the above is not obvious (except on actually reading this thread) but I cannot make the question any more simple -
"Is any history of C0289 known and does it survive?"
Lot of pre-war history when owned by G W J H Wright. With Mike Lowndes by 1947. By 1983 some parts were owned by Barry Foster, and by 1991 it was owned by Charles Jones who started to restore it to its original state. Perhaps Charles could bring us up to date some time ?
Thanks, Colin and Onno. I know it is all purely of academic interest but I am very keen to discover the history of the car and the 'relic' which I own. How should I get in touch with Charles Jones?