The 25th Annual Amelia Concours did not have an MG class this year, however, two cars were selected to be displayed on the main show field, chosen to represent sports racers of their period. The pre-war race class included a 1932 MG J2.
The J2 had recently finished
a full restoration by Safety Fast Restorations, a company that specializes in
pre-war MGs. The car gleamed in the sun with its original
duo green colors. It is powered by the
factory 847cc single overhead camshaft engine with a cross-flow 8 port design. Quite advanced for the day. J2s were successful on the race tracks in
England, just as they came off the assembly line.
The J2 is the first MG with the long hood and cut-down doors that came to be synonymous with MG sports car design through the 1955 MGTF. In 1933, they were also offered with swept wings (fenders) that became another standard of MG design. The J2 was produced for only two years: 1932 and 1933.
It is interesting to see MGs represented at the Amelia Concours, particularly in the racing category. MG achieved many race and rally wins and set many land speed records during the 1930s.
The blue car is a 1953 MGTD, not that
you would recognize it as such. In the
1950’s it was popular to build sports racers based on MGs that were called MG
Specials. Ken Miles, of the Ford GT
LeMans fame, built four MG Specials, all successful on the race track.
This MG Special was built by David V.
Uihlein with the intent to build parts to sell to would-be racers so they could
transform their MGTDs into race cars. It
looks a bit like a 1950's Indianapolis roadster because Uihlein had an Indy Car
builder craft the body out of aluminum.
The car weighs 600 pounds less than an MGTD. For power, Uihlein designed a double overhead
camshaft head with double hemispherical combustion chambers, cast from
nickel-alloy steel, fitted to an 1250 cc XPAG engine. With twin SU carburetors, it produced 90
horsepower. Unfortunately, it did not
produce wins on the race track and only one was built. The 4 separate exhaust pipes running down the
side of the car give it quite a distinctive look.
The Amelia program described the car
as “an example of an elegant and efficient design with a rather impressive
mechanical setup.”
At the racetrack in 1953.
