Even better than the real thing
The British art of self-deprecation, as practised by old-MG expert and creator of miracles from thin air, Geoff Enoch: ‘It was a stupid project. I’m not quite sure why I did it.’ But clues soon emerge.
Enoch is an experienced MG restorer, having for many years owned a company called Octagon Services. And, out of a mixture of curiosity and a desire to learn new skills, about 15 years ago he bought himself an arc welder (as used by MG in the 1930s) and made a tool to create large swaged holes. To practise these skills, he set about making a chassis to the pattern of an intriguing cul-de-sac in pre-war racing MG development: the MG R-type.
Ten of those were built originally, in 1935. Four are complete and running, the rest are either under some sort of restoration or have disappeared. None is known still to be in original specification. All represent a Damascene moment in car design, for Britain at least: the R-type has independent suspension, effectively by double equal-length wishbones, on all four wheels, and a backbone chassis of hitherto never-attempted (by MG) rigidity.
Enoch thought that backbone chassis, in the shape of a giant tuning fork, would make an interesting reproduction project. ‘And having made the chassis, I thought: why not make the rest of the car?’ So he did. And it helped that a friend teased him about the
