I am an original MG VA Tickford Drop Head Coupe built by Salmon and Sons after the chassis left the MG factory on 4/10/1937. I was destined to have a hand built body by a coach building firm, Salmon and Sons who gave me my fine figure - a Drop Head Coupe with a body number of #3157! Due to a fire destroying the Tickford factory, no records exist of me leaving the factory however research via the registration plate led to the next part of my background. ........
Two owners ag
o, I was retrieved from a very run down garage near the Forest of Dean near Bristol, tidied up for sale (painted cream - see below) and purchased by my present NZ owner who was based in Shepperton and spotted an advert in Classic Cars. He had a 1939 Morris 12/4 Series III in NZ and was familar with the MG VA Tourer via a NZ car club event. I was purchased and spent the next 3 years being taken apart and the chassis and running gear reconditioned. That part of the story comes later on......
o, I was retrieved from a very run down garage near the Forest of Dean near Bristol, tidied up for sale (painted cream - see below) and purchased by my present NZ owner who was based in Shepperton and spotted an advert in Classic Cars. He had a 1939 Morris 12/4 Series III in NZ and was familar with the MG VA Tourer via a NZ car club event. I was purchased and spent the next 3 years being taken apart and the chassis and running gear reconditioned. That part of the story comes later on......Once I was exported to NZ, my current owner became very busy with family and business however much time was spent researching my past. Four years after returning to NZ my owner returned to UK on business and over a weekend hunted for the garage and family who owned me three owners ago. This was via a vague description given to him when he bought me. He located the farm at the time the tennats were about to move to France, that week. They had only one photo of me and gave it to my NZ owner. The registration details were on the back of the photo! Awesome.
The photo to the left in my original green colours was taken about 1964 and is the earliest known photo of me AND the only one with a partial registration plate - unknown until that time. (The dogs name was Shandy!) The one on the right has been heavily altered once the plate was known....
I was first registered on 10/11/1937 (37 days after leaving the factory as a chassis!) as DLJ 917 and now have a copy of the orginal registation document courtesy of the Dorset County Council Archives section. Originally sold by Knott Brothers in Bournemouth to my first owner, Mr Burnand.
As a result of internet searches of British Telecom directories and quite a few phone calls to bewildered recipients in the Bournmouth area my owner found descendants of the Knotts, one of which was able to scan a family photo of the orginal Knott Bros showroom. Their slogan (on the side of local buses) was "Buy a not Knott used Car"......(ie buy a new car)!
The younger (now elderly) Mr Knott remembers his uncles well and loved to drive the more sporty MGs in the showroom. The VAs etc, as 4 seaters, did not hold much charm with the younger set in those days.
I have no knowledge of any more of my past history until 1982 as the DVLC in Swansea UK destroyed registration records of cars that were not registered at the time of their computerisation. I am not known by those who managed to grab some of these records eg Kithead Trust.
These are photos of me about 1982 just prior my being sold to my current owner in NZ.Any further information would be welcome.
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