JustBritish

According to The Reading Chronicle, thieves have escaped with three classic cars from a garage forecourt in the space of just a week.

There are fears that the MGB sports cars could have been stolen to order and have already been sold on to either an unscrupulous collector or unwitting buyers who think they have a bargain.

A white MG B Roadster worth £10,000, a black MG B GT worth £4,500 and a red MG B GT worth £4,250 were all stolen from Beech Hill Garage last week.

The Roadster (RJW2 00F) and black GT (SKU2 26J) were both taken between 6.15pm on Wednesday July 29 and 8.15am the next morning, and the red GT (OCK6 37K) some time between 6pm on Wednesday, July 22 and 8.15am on Monday, July 27.
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Peter R. Wheeler, the former owner of the quirky sports-car maker TVR and a maverick of Britain’s car industry, died June 11 in England. He was 65. His death, after a struggle with cancer, was confirmed by Ben Samuelson, a friend of Wheeler’s family and a former TVR employee.

In 1981, when Wheeler bought TVR, a maker of fast and relatively inexpensive sports cars with a passionate fan club, the only thing that linked him with TVR was that he drove one.

Wheeler, a chemical engineer from Sheffield, England, with no experience in the car industry who had made his money supplying specialized equipment to the North Sea oil industry, started designing and overseeing the production of several car models, including the Tuscan and the Chimaera, which were known for their finely tuned engines and extra-light bodywork.

The company then operated from a property in a residential area of Blackpool. Wheeler’s aim was to shed the image of “plastic cars from Blackpool” and take on the likes of Porsche and Ferrari by improving his vehicles’ engineering and using his keen intuition about the preferences of sports-car buyers.

TVR was founded in the late 1940s by Trevor Wilkinson, who used three letters from his own first name for the company’s moniker. Though such rivals as Aston Martin were bought by larger carmakers, TVR survived as the last independent British carmaker that largely made its own components.

But the business never really flourished until Wheeler took over, building about 40 cars a week by 1998 and making an annual profit of about $4.3 million.

Samuelson, who worked at TVR for 11 years, until 2004, described Wheeler as “one of the last great innovators and mavericks of the British car industry.”
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MiniMania, the supplier of parts for both classic and new Minis, has launched a new social networking site for Mini owners. MiniOwners aims to be for Mini enthusiasts what FaceBook is to … well, to the rest of the world.

According to the site, “MiniOwners.com connects you with other people who share a common love for the Mini! Keep in touch with your Mini friends, and make new ones! MiniOwners.com is an expansion of the Mini Mania’s already popular forum. We’ve added new features to take it to the next level of Social Networking. Amoung the many features of MiniOwners is the ability to create your own profile page, upload images to galleries you create as well as create profiles of your cars! Create a network of friends to share your latest projects with. Post status updates to let your friends know what you’re up to. Join Groups, post to the forum, and the list goes on!”

Around a fifth of the workforce at the MG plant in Birmingham could lose their jobs, the car manufacturer has said. MG Motor UK Ltd said 30 employees were at risk of redundancy following a review and restructure of business operations at the Longbridge site.

The company, previously Nanjing, said it could not make assurances of long-term employment stability for staff due to the current economic climate. Production of the MGTF sports car restarted at the factory last year.

A statement from MG Motor UK said: “The unique trading conditions we are currently operating in make any assurances of long-term employment stability difficult to predict. Following a review and restructure of its business operations the company has abided by the statutory consultation process and placed a number of employees ‘at risk’ of redundancy.

“MG UK has always maintained that its workforce would be preserved in line with the ongoing needs of the business and sustainability has and will continue to be a priority as the economy experiences unique trading conditions.”

The company added that by taking early action it hoped further redundancies could be avoided. Nanjing bought MG Rover’s assets following the collapse of the company nearly four years ago. The Chinese firm recently re-branded itself as MG Motor UK Ltd.

Safety Fast!, the MG Car Club’s iconic monthly magazine, is celebrating its Golden Anniversary in 2009. First published in April 1959 it has enjoyed 50 glorious years and continues to provide the MG Car Club’s worldwide membership with a comprehensive overview of all things MG.

As a fitting tribute to the longevity of the publication, the cover image from the April 1959 edition will once again feature on the front of the April 2009 issue.

To further celebrate the magazine’s Golden Anniversary, the April edition of Safety Fast! will be available to view online free of charge via the MG Car Club’s website for a four week period. Commenting on the anniversary, editor Andy Knott, said, “This is a great time to be involved with the magazine which has evolved and developed over the past 50 years into the ultimate source of information for MG enthusiasts around the world.”

Established in 1930, The MG Car Club is the original club for all MG owners and enthusiasts. It has the experience and know-how to help everyone enjoy owning and running their MG. The club, which is professionally run, is based at Kimber House adjacent to the original Morris Garages workshop and factory. It organizes more than 80 events every month with activities for all ages, tastes and models of MG. Social; touring; concours; trials; autotests; sprints; hillclimbs and race meetings, something for absolutely every MG fan.

While the Club is the ultimate knowledge base for all MGs it also offers practical advantages for membership, including an exclusive insurance package providing great rates for MGCC members. Coupled with this is a comprehensive Trade Partners scheme which means you are never far away from competitively priced MG parts and service from trusted suppliers.

Trevor Wilkinson, the founder of TVR, the small British carmaker known for nimble little sports cars that early owners often assembled from a kit, died Wednesday in Minorca, Spain. He was 85.

His death was confirmed by Marshall Moore, president of the TVR Car Club of North America.

The soft-spoken Mr. Wilkinson built his first car in 1947 as a race special and incorporated TVR Engineering (later simply TVR) the next year. The company name was a shortened version of his first name.
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