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Franklin
USA
29 Posts |
 Posted - 20/02/2025 : 15:56:26
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Hello,
I also took an interest in researching MG PA 1810 years ago and I’m pleased to see so much new material on this thread. My investigation ended with Mr. Cowie selling the car to a resident of Hawera, a certain “Les Jones of Star Fame”. I believe the Star were a local rugby team, but I could never learn anything about Les Jones. The newspaper ads provided by Kevin A date the Cowie sale in March 1940 and it seems that Les Jones sold the car later that year in Sept. 1940 so the search for Les Jones seems less important now.
The picture dated 1945 posted by NZ Monty showing a PA Airline in competition in Auckland when under the ownership of S. Wilson is delightful. Does anyone else agree with me that this could be PA 1810? While the scan is admittedly poor quality one noticeable feature of the car is the horn (no longer original) and spotlight are mounted low on a badge bar. This matches the placement of the horn and spotlight on PA 1810 when owned by Cowie (as shown in the Airline to Vienna story & on the street in London). I’m no MMM expert but I find this configuration unusual since most P types have their horns and spotlights mounted higher up, suspended from the headlight brackets. On the S. Wilson car the RAC badge has been removed from the radiator, the car has a proper NZ registration plate, and the wipers park on the opposite side but those seem like minor details. The horn and spotlight on the badge bar are merely circumstantial evidence and don’t prove the S. Wilson car is PA 1810, but adopting the opposite view – can we prove that it isn’t??
And continuing along this train of thought makes me wonder ----
I note the Vic Vischovich Airline Coupe story introduced by Jeff Broadhead says Vic owned his Airline in the 50s in Onehunga, Auckland. Would it be reasonable to consider PA 1810 the more likely car in the Vic Vischovich story? I note the history for PA 1189 in the NZ P Type Triple M Register repeats what Jeff told us above: “Car's History Ex Vic Viscovich Airline Coupe. Vic was a fishmonger from Onehunga and he cut out the rear of the Airline Coupe to enable him to transport his fish boxes in the mid/late 1950s.” As Lew Palmer correctly pointed out, PA 1189 was not produced with an Airline body by the MG Factory & Carbodies, so the only way it could be considered an Airline would be if an Airline style body had been produced locally. At least two were made in Australia so this isn’t an impossible suggestion. Is there any documentation that links Viscovich to PA 1189? That would in all probability eliminate a Viscovich connection to PA 1810.
The ownership / timeline that I’ve suggested above: Cowie (1937-1940) > Jones (1940) > Wilson (1945) > Vischovich (1950s), offers no inconsistencies and would be a clear explanation as to the history and demise of PA 1810. Hawera and Onehunga being only 400 kilometers apart means distance is not an impediment to the above scenario. And as Sherlock Holmes would say “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth”. All the above written and submitted in good fun! & to be continued I’m sure.
I welcome your thoughts and comments.
Franklin “Dick” Sprafke
Owner PA 1623
P.S. Cowie had an Arnott Supercharger fitted to PA 1810 at the MG factory. I wouldn’t be surprised if PA 1810 is long gone but that supercharger is still around somewhere.
P.P.S. I reviewed the history of PA 1810 in the P Type section of the NZ Triple M page and was stunned to see the note: “This ex. NZ PA is now in USA where it is being restored to the same state as it left the factory, i.e. as an Airline Coupe.” I think this needs to be corrected. It is currently not considered a survivor and I’m sure that Lew Palmer will join me in saying it is not here in the USA.
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Franklin
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2025 : 16:00:07
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Attempting to attach the photo of PA 1810 from the NZ Triple M site so all readers can compare this car to the S. Wilson Airline. Are they the same car?
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LewPalmer
USA
3324 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2025 : 18:09:14
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I need time to study all of this, but I note the photo of PA1810 above does not appear to be carrying a supercharger. That would seem to place it early in Cowie's ownership before one was fitted.
Lew Palmer
PA1169, NA0651 |
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LewPalmer
USA
3324 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2025 : 23:03:50
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I also notice that the photo posted by Daniel Richardson and the one immediately above both show the horn and fog light mounted in the unusual position on the front apron (similar to an NA). The number plates are clearly different, but one would expect that if they are both of PA1810, given that the car would have been exported to NZ and re-registered. So I believe, Dick Sprafke's theory has some merit.
Lew Palmer
PA1169, NA0651 |
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NZ_monty
New Zealand
72 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2025 : 23:51:29
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Just a note on NZ number plates, pre about 1960 they changed every year and then every five years. Before going permanent like we have now. So instead of getting a tax or registration sticker you got completely new plates!!
Helpful for dating photo’s but bloody painful to trace a car!!
Examples and how to date
http://www.worldlicenseplates.com/jpglps/PA_NZEA_GI1.jpg
Daniel
J4213, J2701
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Edited by - NZ_monty on 20/02/2025 23:53:46 |
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Franklin
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - 21/02/2025 : 00:20:17
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Hi Daniel,
Great information. I can't read the number plate but its clearly white on black which was used from 1941-1946 so the plate more or less corroborates the date of 1945 on the picture of the S. Wilson Airline.
Best Regards,
Franklin "Dick" Sprafke
PA 1623 |
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NZ_monty
New Zealand
72 Posts |
Posted - 21/02/2025 : 00:28:09
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Just watch the subtleties of the symbols between the numbers, black and white looks much the same as dark green and white but the symbol will be different – I’ve been caught before.
I am trying to get a better scan of that and some other early NZ MG photo’s a stumbled across, sadly I don’t own the album they are in.
Cheers
Daniel
J4213, J2701
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NZ_monty
New Zealand
72 Posts |
Posted - 21/02/2025 : 00:33:00
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| I know that photo was taken Aug 1945, so you're bang on with the black and white. Two numbers with a diamond inthe middle. |
Edited by - NZ_monty on 21/02/2025 00:33:34 |
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Geoff.Broadhead
New Zealand
35 Posts |
Posted - 24/02/2025 : 04:26:39
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Thanks for your comments Franklin. I agree your detective work regarding PA1810 and that your conclusion provides the most likely scenario and that the car is, most probably, a non-survivor.
I have corrected the NZ Triple-M Register to reflect your conclusion and deleted the reference to PA 1810 being restored in the USA. (I have no idea now, the source of that comment). |
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Franklin
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - 24/02/2025 : 14:26:27
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Hi Geoff,
Thank you for the follow up message and Many Thanks! to you and Daniel for the information you have shared on PA 1810. I have to admit to being so enamored with the MG Airline Art Deco design that I am inclined to think of it as artwork that belongs in a museum. In the long run it does me good to be brought back to earth with stories that remind me at one time the cars were simply basic transportation and cutting up that beautiful fast back body so the vehicle could hold fish boxes was a very practical solution to one man’s problem. It does however seem an ignoble end to a beautiful car.
My favorite “reality check” story for my own Airline comes from a previous owner who was a young lady using PA 1623 as daily transportation during the 1960s. She became tired of the sunroof panel blowing off in traffic and her solution was to nail it shut!
As for the message that PA 1810 was exported to the USA where it is undergoing restoration, that is a correct message but attached to the wrong car. The NZ Triple M site (my compliments on an entertaining and informative website!) correctly states that NA 0540 once had an Australian built Airline Coupe body until that was removed. NA 0540 spent years in NZ as a single seat racer before it left for the USA where I can confirm it is being restored with an Airline body. Clearly the “Airline to America” story is well known and someone incorrectly thought the story was associated with the Airline PA 1810.
Best Regards,
Franklin "Dick" Sprafke
Owner PA 1623
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KevinA
New Zealand
705 Posts |
Posted - 25/02/2025 : 00:46:39
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quote:
Originally posted by Franklin
NA 0540 once had an Australian built Airline Coupe body until that was removed.
Is that confirmed?- I know the NZ owner was adamant it was a UK built body (although he was far from infallible as we all are). He was convinced it was the Allingham prototype |
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LewPalmer
USA
3324 Posts |
Posted - 25/02/2025 : 01:56:19
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I have corresponded with Ted Loversidge, the last NZ owner of NA0540. I have also checked the chassis files of that car. It was indeed bodied in the UK by Allingham as stated in the factory chassis files. However, Ted related the story of how he wanted to racing and since the Airline body was well past its prime, he and a friend (Doug Herridge ?)removed the body and fitted a home-made racing 2 seater. I was told that Airline body was buried and now resides underneath a pub.
Rotated, cropped and sharpened by Nick 25FEB2025
Lew Palmer
PA1169, NA0651 |
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Geoff.Broadhead
New Zealand
35 Posts |
Posted - 25/02/2025 : 04:59:20
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Agree with your comments Lew. Herridge removed the Airline Coupe body - to create a racing special. See photo below taken, I believe during Ted Loversidge's period of ownership - around early 1960s. I hadn't heard the story of the body being buried under a pub!
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KevinA
New Zealand
705 Posts |
Posted - 25/02/2025 : 05:14:13
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| Ted always told me the Allingham body was removed before he got the car. He wasn't involved in its destruction |
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LewPalmer
USA
3324 Posts |
Posted - 25/02/2025 : 18:02:57
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I apologize if I have confused the story of NA0540. I just reread the 8 page letter I received from Ted Loversidge in 2004 and the factory chassis file. The chassis file claims that it was a factory fitted Airline Coupe body, but as Ted stated, the original factory file was missing when he had ownership of the car. Ted speculated that the car had been rebodied sometime earlier with a body from a Swallow bodied Wolseley Hornet. (Although I can't seem to confirm that such an Airline-lookalike ever existed.) If this is true, it would go a long way to explain the different appearance from a standard MG Airline Coupe.
NA0540 was indeed converted to a racing special by Doug Herridge in 1956 - 1958, blower added (from Pete Stevens), along with a whole host of other changes. In about 1961, Doug Herridge emigrated to Australia at which point Ted bought the car and raced it for several years. It was subsequently bought by Hank Giffin in the US.
I believe the story of the burying the original body may have come from a fellow from Australia who I met at Watkins Glen in the early 2000s. He claimed to have been involved with the conversion years earlier. I simply cannot remember his name but would recognize it instantly if reminded.
Sorry if I have muddied the waters. Just blame it on my aged memory and 20 plus years of collecting the history of these cars.
Lew Palmer
PA1169, NA0651 |
Edited by - LewPalmer on 25/02/2025 18:04:35 |
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James Cowie of Aukland NZ
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