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818AOA & 49AFK – Adrian Dence, Brian Kendall and Andy Pugh – an update and corrections!

It is too cold this morning for an old man to crawl around on a concrete floor wrestling with a Morgan steering box, so I phoned Brian Kendall instead! After a thoroughly enjoyable chat for over an hour, we agreed we could both 'bore for Britain' – except each other - on the subject of Morgan +4 racing in the sixties.

The corrections! Adrian won the Goodwood based Brooklands Memorial Trophy in 1963 in 818AOA before selling it to Brian Kendall.

Brian raced it for much of 1964 and was a front runner in the Freddie Dixon Trophy series before 'running out of budget'. He can't recall for certain to whom he sold the car but thinks it may have been Alan House. Certainly House is seen in a light coloured +4, albeit registered MOG1, in two pictures from 1965 on page 191 of Chris Harvey's book 'Morgan – The Last Survivor'. Brian rather thought that the car was very seriously damaged, possibly terminally, not long after he sold it.

Brian joined Jim Tucker in Tucker's +4 in the 1965 'Guards 1000' (actually two 500 mile legs) but I can't find their result. The following year Brian teamed up with Andy Pugh in 49AFK for the 500 mile Ilford 500 at Brands where they finished 8th overall.

Brian still regularly meets up with Andy Pugh, and we plan to keep in touch.

Roger Bonsall.

As the proud owner of Jim Tucker's +4 (8334 RU) I'm told that Jim & Brian Kendall came 13th in the 1965 Guards Thousand and may have been the first Morgan home. In 1966 Jim shared RU with Charles Blyth and were 10th in the Ilford 500 behind Brian & Andy Pugh.

John Emberson wrote:As the proud owner of Jim Tucker's +4 (8334 RU) I'm told that Jim & Brian Kendall came 13th in the 1965 Guards Thousand and may have been the first Morgan home.

Hello John,

This could well be true - I have the original Program and Autosport/Autocar magazines for that race they were running number 27. Unfortunately the final overall results only list down to 12th and there were no Morgans up there.

On the subject in the title - Gordon Spice drove a Lawrencetune Morgan +4 in 1963/1964 with a Reg No. starting '58' or '56' or possibly '50' can anyone enlighten me with any information on this car. I believe it came from 'The Chequered Flag' in Chiswick and was dark blue.

Many Thanks

Andy

Andy, could it have been 5266 MM?

Thanks for the suggestion Mary - but it doesn't look like it's '52'.

Any other offers please ?

Thanks

Andy

Hi guys

I recently discovered that you can get some information about cars from that bastion of bureaucracy the DVLA! So I had a go!

49AFK is still in existence. The DVLA describe it as a 'red 1991cc (ha!) Morgan 'Sports' first registered 12/11/1959, and currently taxed to 30/09/09’. However, Anne Salisbury at the MSCC says it is not on the Club’s register. Apparently, for a fiver and the inevitable form filling, the DVLA will send the full registration details and the owners name and address. So I'll go for it.

818AOA appears to no longer exist. It never got onto the DVLA system in the early eighties, so Brian Kendall’s suspicion that it had a terminal racing accident in the mid 1960s seems more and more likely. Does anyone know the whereabouts of Alan House who Brian thinks he sold the car to in 1964/5 - or Roy North, with whom House appears to have been associated in Morgan racing in the mid-60s?

Good luck with your 2009 season - I admit to a little envy!

Roger Bonsall

1949; Daily Express Production Car Silverstone. 14th. Peter Morgan +4
1950; Daily Express Production Car Silverstone. 13th. JM Sparrowe +4
1951; Daily Express Production Car Silverstone 18th. Sparrowe
Race 2 (?) Or so it reads but seems odd. 20th.P Morgan 24th. D W Price +4
1953; Daily Express Production Car Silverstone 21st. J M Sparrowe
1954; Daily Express Production Car Silverstone DNF. P Morgan
1955; Gold Cup Outon Park 1st. Peter Reece KUY 387 also in race J F Looker + 4. Entry list only Roy Clarkson & A S Burman +4's
1956; Autosport 3 Hour Oulton Pk. 5th. J. McKechnie +4
1957; Glover Trophy Goodwood. ? J McKechnie
1958; Gold Cup Oulton Pk. 12th. Bill Belcher +4
1959; D Exp. Int trophy 9th. Chris Lawrence, 17th. Adrian Berlcher +4's
1960; Aintree '200' meeting. 5th. Chris Lawrence
Wrotham Trophy Brands Hatch. 6th. Chris lawrence
1961; National Open Oulton Pk. 14tth. Richard Shepherd-Barron
Peco Trophy Brands Hatch. 11th. Richard Shepherd-Barron, 12 C Law,
19th. Peter W Marten.
British Empire Trophy Silverstone 11th. C Lawrence, 13th. R Shepherd-Barron.
British GP Aintree. 19th. C Lawrence, 14th. R S-B
Peco Trophy Brands Hatch 8th. R S-B, 10th. C lawrence
1962; Peco Trophy Brands Hatch. 12th. C Lawrence, 14th. Phillip H Arnold
Scalextric Trophy Silverstone 10th. G Spice, Lawrence Tune Morgan
1963; Ilford Trophy Brands Hatch 14th. G Spice
1966; Sussex Trophy Goodwood 13th. G Spice
Results derived from trawl through internet sites.

Bob Bull wrote

1957; Glover Trophy Goodwood. ? J McKechnie

Easter Meeting 22nd April 1957
Autosport Series Production Sports Car Race - 13 laps
John McKechnie retired on lap 3. Race won by Ken Rudd in an AC Aceca Bristol

Cheers

Tim
From A Record of Motor Racing at Goodwood Vol 1 by Robert Barker

Tim,
Are you sure of your facts? Ken Rudd usually drove an AC Ace Bristol, the Aceca was a later coupe version!!

Not that I want to be picky - you understand,

How's Oz?

Regards,

Bob

Tim Hill wrote:From A Record of Motor Racing at Goodwood Vol 1 by Robert Barker

Great Reference book Tim full of detail and fascinating annotations and race snippets.

I have borrowed Jack Bellinger's copy - might be a while before he gets it back though y

Andy

Hi Bob. NZ is great - OZ it aint....
Checked my references again. I bow to your superior knowledge. Indeed Ken Rudd was in a AC Bristol (Reg VPL442) and won in a time of 23 minutes and 30 seconds. Robert Green drove an AC Aceca in the same race (230 CPH). His inside leg measurement is 32 inches.....

Morgans at Goodwood - the early days.

Opening Meeting 18th Sept 1948
Event 2 Open Sportscar race 3 laps
Car no 14 Driver Peter Morgan Morgan 4/4 Posn 2nd
Car no 17 Driver David Render Morgan 4/4 (MPH750)
Car no 24 Driver Mike Anthony Morgan 4/4

1st Members Meeting 13th August 1949
Event 2 3 Lap handicap (B)
Car no 26 Driver M Turner-Bridger Morgan (1276cc)
Event 3 3 Lap Handicap (C)
Car no 33 Driver G Murray Symons Morgan 4/4 (1098cc) Posn 9th
Event 5 5 Lap Handicap (B)
Car no 33 Driver G Murray Symons Morgan 4/4 (1098cc) Posn 6th
Event 6 5 Lap Handicap (C)
Car no 74 Driver A B Napper Morgan 4/4 Posn 4th

2nd Members Meeting 6th May 1950
Event 1 Scratch Race (A) 3 laps
Car no 65 Driver E W Filer Morgan 4/4 (1122cc) dns
Event 10 Handicap (C) 3 laps
Car no 78 Driver Jeff Sparrowe Morgan 4/4 (JUO177) Posn 4th

3rd Members Meeting 17th June 1950
Event 2 Scratch Race 5 laps
Car no 34 Driver W S Wallace Morgan (1267cc) dns

4th Members Meeting 12th August 1950
Event 1 Scratch Race 5 laps
Car no 8 Driver Jeff Sparrowe Morgan 4/4 (JUO177) Posn 4th

Has anyone got any idea where these early 4/4s are?

Cheers
Tim

More from A Record of Motor Racing at Goodwood

Tim,
Oz! NZ! is there a difference? apart from kangaroos.

Obviously this book about Goodwood is a treasure trove of motor sport facts, and clearly of enormous interest to Morgan types, however, I should mention that my list of results is for 'British International Races', and does not include any national races, in which I am sure Morgans did very well.

Should you ever get to read The Hawks Bay paper, you may find motor sport news from my friend Don Kennedy who I met at the British Grand Prix a few years ago.
Don lives in Havelock North and you can view his pictures at www.kennedyimages.com.

Sorry about the Ace/Aceca bit, but that was my era after all.

G'day

Bob.

John Emberson wrote:Jim Tucker's +4 (8334 RU) I'm told that Jim & Brian Kendall came 13th in the 1965 Guards Thousand and may have been the first Morgan home.

In my searchings I found the link below about the Guards 1000

http://wsrp.ic.cz/natgb1965.html#4

This would seem to show;

15th - Alan House/Roy North +4
18th - Lawrence/Spender +4
20th - Jones +4

Not sure about Tucker/Kendall

Andy

Tim Hill wrote: Has anyone got any idea where these early 4/4s are?

JUO177: in 1951, the Le Mans car competed at the BARC Brunton hill climb where it temporarily sported the ‘JUO 177’ number plate.

Cheers, Tony