Current Owner: George and Marguerite Morgan, Victoria

MMM No: 3393

Information: Built at Abingdon in 1932 as an F1 four-seat tourer for the home market.

History:   Initially purchased by Mr. Sherrin Esq. London through University Motors on 2 June 1932 and registered JAS 234.

No early history known prior to the car being rebuilt in F2 configuration with a new N-type engine block by Tony Mobray in Nottingham UK. Some mechanical work was completed by Barry Dean of Nottingham UK (Barry’s red F1 car is featured on the front cover of Richard Monk’s book – The MG Collection – The Pre War Models).  On completion T.M. placed the car in the hands of a well known dealer for sale.

While on a business trip in the USA, George and Marguerite Morgan managed to find the time to scan the M.G.s listed on the Prewarcar.com website and where excited to spot the dealer’s ad for F1178 and, after a flurry of phone calls, a deal was quickly done.  The itinerary of their trip back to Australia was arranged to include a stop-over in the UK so that the sale could be concluded on 1st June 2005.

The car was stored in the UK until they returned to attend the M.G.C.C .annual event at Silverstone on 22 – 24 July 2005 where the car won the “Pride of Ownership” Class A (Vintage/MMM/SVW).

Whilst it was still in the UK, George took the opportunity to have the gearbox modified with the addition of a Laycock de Normanville overdrive unit prior to the car being shipped to Melbourne.  It arrived on  6th September 2005; just in time to attend the inaugural Pre-war Register of Australia bi-annual Rally, being held in October at the lunatic asylum in Beechworth, Victoria.  F1178 was voted as joint winner of the Peter Harper Memorial People’s Choice Award, sharing the prize with K3 3752 owned at the time by Jim Nilsson.

The car appeared at a few local events over the next couple of years including the second Pre-war Register Rally in 2007 before mechanical problems spoiled the fun.  Delays with obtaining a new locally made crankshaft and the pressures of business meant the car did not re-emerge until 2017.  The car was a welcome addition to the Pre-war line-up at the annual M.G.C.C. Concours and, a couple of weeks later, was the feature car displayed in the M.G.C.C. Clubrooms for the P-w Register meeting, the Morgans were also hosting Tony Mobray who was visiting from the UK and he was invited to give a talk on his restoration of F1178.

The Morgan’s were so pleased with the standard of finish and attention to detail that Tony achieved with the F-type that they offered to buy his J2 if he every decided to sell it.  One day he made that decision and J4283 joined their growing collection.

 

• Listing ID: 1888
• Magna: F Type
• Location: --Victoria
• Chassis Number: 1178
• Year of Production: 1932
• Previous Owners: Mr Sherrin Esq. London 2/6/32>?
  Tony Mobray, UK ?>2005
• Current Owner: George and Marguerite Morgan
• Original Engine Number: 1477 AF
• Current Engine Number: New N-type block
• Date Acquired: 1/6/2005
• Current Reg: JAS 234 (UK)