Fellow MG enthusiast Ross L has recently been rebuilding his PA, below are photos of the car prior to restoration, Ross's history of PA1209 and photos of the restoration progress.
Note: Click on photo to enlarge.
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| At Beechworth 2007 |
During our European trip in 2010 with the fellow MG enthusiasts, we called into Kimber House in Abingdon and were able to access and photocopy the Despatch Department advice for PA 1209. This shows that the car was delivered to the Export Department on 27/07/1934 and that the chassis and engine numbers match. The original body colour was black, upholstery blue and wheel colour aluminium.
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| MG National Meet Geelong 2009 |
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| Motorkhana action |
Not much is known about the early history of the car until Ralph Clarke, the highly respected and genial MG authority in South Africa, was involved in restoring the car for Ron Ott after acquiring her in bits as part of a deceased estate in the early 1980s. At that time Ralph was product development manager and Ron manufacturing director of Leyland South Africa in Cape Town. I only found out when I came to buy the car many years later that Ralph and Ron had used the extensive resources of Leyland South Africa during the restoration, mainly during the weekends. For example the tub went through the paint shop, the trim and upholstery was redone in the trim shop and the apprentices rebuilt the engine and produced many small parts. In the argot of the day use of company resources for private purposes was known as a "rabbit job" and was understandably frowned upon by management, especially the bean counters. So there is a delicious irony that I happened to be the not-very-vigilant financial controller of Leyland South Africa and all this was going on under my clueless nose.
Ron had rather wide feet and so struggled to drive her without simultaneously engaging both throttle and brake pedals. Perhaps people had narrower feet in the 1930s? But anyway he parted with her not long after to a Heyns Stead in Pretoria.
Jump forward 15 years and I had now been transferred by Rio Tinto to Johannesburg. In a risible attempt to recapture my youth the whim took me to find a replacement for the PA I owned in the UK as a 17 year old. Happily PA1209 came up for sale and I bought her from Heyns Stead in 1997. By strange coincidence Ron Ott happened to phone me that same evening to get some advice on offshore banking in Jersey and, in course of conversation, out came the story of PA1209’s illicit restoration. What can you do butchuckle?
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| MG National Meet Concours - Hobart 2012 |
Then in 2000 I was transferred from South Africa to Australia and so PA 1209 came too. She was in good order when purchased from Heyns Stead and had needed only occasional maintenance.
Until 2012. When a big end let go on the long downhill straight at the Baskerville raceway during the 2012 National Meeting. This has prompted a major restoration project, my third after our 1950 TD and Shez's 1978 "Blue B". The engine has been rebuilt by Norm Goodall and this time I had the body sprayed professionally after my previous frustrating attempts to get a good finish in the garden or in the garage. But the Oxford and Cambridge Blue colour scheme remains the same. I hope to have the car running for the Pre-War Bathurst rally in October 2013.
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| Moments before Disaster |
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| Geelong National Meet 2009 |
The Rebuild
The day attracted 81 MGs and 2 Non Marque cars for the display. The concours is held to coincide with UQ's Open Day, so many owners were kept busy fielding questions about their cars.
Ron had rather wide feet and so struggled to drive her without simultaneously engaging both throttle and brake pedals. Perhaps people had narrower feet in the 1930s? But anyway he parted with her not long after to a Heyns Stead in Pretoria. 
z