History re TC # 6768

Vehicle built within the first two weeks of October, 1948.

Arrived in Vancouver, B.C., Canada to a now defunct dealer known then as Oxford Motors Limited, May 12, 1949.

The first owner purchased her on June 27, 1949 from Oxford Motors, and as it was the accepted custom in those days, she was registered as a 1949 MG model TC. legally reclassified as a 1948 model, through the Provincial Motor Vehicle Licensing Office, using the factory record information as reproduced in the NEMGTR handbook).

She had 13 subsequent RO's (registered owners), during her life time, and she never left the Vancouver area. (that I am aware of) The last owner was the one who abandoned her, uncovered, in a field, in 1966, (evident by her last yearly licence plates). There she was to suffer a very ignominious, certain death.

During the time she was rotting away, the one stroke of luck was that her original engine, gearbox, and radiator with the radiator shell, false nose and badge, had all been stored indoors, in a business premises that occupied the property. These are once again with dignity, doing the jobs they were created and intended for. The rest of her; however, did not fare so well. She became a target, an unscrupulous, opportunists dream. She was stripped of almost every conceivable and readily removable piece of her original adornments.

When I first located her, in 1976, no one knew where her owner was. I was able to trace, through motor vehicle records, the person listed as the last RO, but the address, listed on the document, no longer existed. This person had no subsequent vehicle registered so an update was impossible. I was a Constable on the Vancouver Police Force at the time and my patrol area included her location. I kept a very close watch over her, for any further acts of vile cannibalism. I was on a Summer vacation period in 1978 and when I returned to duty, in August, the first chance I had I attended to her position. To my horror, I found she was gone. Not only her, but the building as well. The field had been ploughed and the foundation for a new building was now in place.

At that moment I set my self a task for my off-duty hours, track down my vagrant TC.

Finally, by chance, one evening in March of 1979 while searching some residential yards on a prowler complaint, I had an occasion to check a partially opened garage door. Barking out loudly, my identity, to alert any would be thug that may have been lurking in the dark, I flung the door fully open, trained my torch inside and stood face to stern with my missing TC.

I immediately went to the main house, and within minutes had located the owner. He told me he was intending to rebuild her and I also learned, at that time, that her engine, gearbox and radiator bits were secure. Well, I thought, as I left the chap, at least she will see action again.

On the 27th. Of April, 1979 I received a call to see the RO at his home. He said for $ 800.00 Canadian she car was mine. That ended my quest.

Although, I acquired a bare shell, that had seen 12 years of exposure to the seasons, ( the hood and frame were also gone ), she had also had injury added to her insult. Some cretin punched about 30 holes in her petrol tank. Yet, through all of this I foresaw the day when this " Phoenix " would also rise from her apparent doom and once again trundle down the back roads of her home.

To conclude; several family interventions precluded my charging ahead with an immediate, full scale restoration. I started slowly obtaining the numerous bits I needed. I have a 1950 MG TD # 3191 and had a good supply of dash instruments so I concentrated on engine, gearbox, re-chroming, woodwork, wire wheels, etc., until I could start the panel beating segment. Here I was lucky as I became acquainted with an English chap who had started life as a woodcarver and cabinet maker. At some time, later on, he took up panel beating and painting, and had journeyed with a Mercedes-Benz at a main importation depot near London. The rest is evident by the digital prints I sent you.

I trust I have not been to long winded and chop it down all you need to if required.

Cheers for now then; respectfully:

Jack Emdall