MJW #644 - Unidentified 1934-based special at Goodwood in the '50s

[woodinsight]

This car is a complete mystery to me and I'm posting it here in case someone knows the answer.
I know the year of the base car - owing to the registration number.
One point if you can solve it with proof.

[woodinsight]

Can an Expert help?

[woodinsight]

Perhaps a Pro knows?

[fgsavoia]

Morgan based? Or MG?

[woodinsight]

Morgan based? Or MG?

It could be but I have no idea what it could be.
Almost certainly British based.
I'm waiting on someone to come up with a positive identification with proof.

[gilescooperuk]

Looks like someone has taken a 1930s racer and converted it for the road?

[woodinsight]

Looks like someone has taken a 1930s racer and converted it for the road?

Yes, I think you're right there.
The number plate incidentally dates the car as 1934.

[Allan L]

Looks like someone has taken a 1930s racer and converted it for the road?

Yes, I think you're right there.
The number plate incidentally dates the car as 1934.

I think it's more likely to be a mundane road car that's been tarted up into a racy-looking job. Those magna wheels with dummy eared nuts are more Morris 10 than racing car. Exhaust is the wrong side for Morris though.

[woodinsight]

Looks like someone has taken a 1930s racer and converted it for the road?

Yes, I think you're right there.
The number plate incidentally dates the car as 1934.

I think it's more likely to be a mundane road car that's been tarted up into a racy-looking job. Those magna wheels with dummy eared nuts are more Morris 10 than racing car. Exhaust is the wrong side for Morris though.

I think you are correct in that assumption Allan. In the photo it was being used to tow a F3 car at Goodwood in the 1950s.

[woodinsight]

Heading to the BH soon......

[woodinsight]

I know this one stalled and I put it in the BH.
Is it possible to retrieve the make through it's registration number?
If someone can do this I'll give them 2 points......

[Tom_I]

Unfortunately it just comes up with "No descriptive data is held by DVLA for registration number BLA360".

[Carnut]

I know this one stalled and I put it in the BH.
Is it possible to retrieve the make through it's registration number?
If someone can do this I'll give them 2 points......

All I can tell you is that it was issued in October 1934 by London County Council.
So who was it invented the gull-wing door again?!

[woodinsight]

I know this one stalled and I put it in the BH.
Is it possible to retrieve the make through it's registration number?
If someone can do this I'll give them 2 points......

All I can tell you is that it was issued in October 1934 by London County Council.
So who was it invented the gull-wing door again?!

Yes, my father's Aston Martin was bought new in 1934 from that year's London Motor Show and was registered BLA 810.

Good question - who really invented the gull-wing door?

[FrontMan]

Wolseley base?

[Allan L]

Having had a look at 1934 cars with wheels like that most have the exhaust on the left.
One that doesn't, but seems an unlikely starting point, is the Hillman Minx so I'll suggest that just for elimination purposes.

[woodinsight]

Having had a look at 1934 cars with wheels like that most have the exhaust on the left.
One that doesn't, but seems an unlikely starting point, is the Hillman Minx so I'll suggest that just for elimination purposes.

Thanks for that Allan.....
Surely someone out there can pin this one down.

[D-type]

 
In case anybody has any fresh ideas.

[woodinsight]

I decided to drag this one back out of the BH as I'd like to pose a further thought on its identification.

I've found a certain similarity to the Gordano - compare the two photos.

To quote Mike Lawrence he relates that the first of two cars built under the Gordano make was an open sports car with a Cross rotary valve engine, later replaced with an MG YA unit as the Cross engine proved troublesome.
He then goes on to say that a second car was completed with an advanced coupé body with flush glass and push button door locks. This was fitted with a 1.7 litre Lea-Francis engine.

I doubt that my puzzle car in the first picture is the open Gordano but I've never found a picture of the second car with the advanced coupé body.
Could this be it? (I realise the registration number doesn't tie in with the year it was built but there may be an explanation for that).

Any thoughts would be welcome, especially if you have an illustration of this second car.

[woodinsight]

......or could this be one of the Gordanos?

[nicanary]

......or could this be one of the Gordanos?

Most of the other cars in that photo are MGs, which tempts me to think that it was taken at an MG club meeting of some sort. I know that particular puzzle has not yet been solved, but I personally believe that it's a specially-bodied MG of some sort. And the body finish does not meet the criteria of flush-fitting windows and push-button handles.

Like yourself, I've checked all Google references to the Gordano, and I can't find any more than yourself. If it's what we hope it is, maybe someone on one of the internet's Nostalgia-style forums may remember it. I'd like to think that Allan Lupton may be able to help with the possible Lea-Francis connection - the problem is that the L-F 1767cc engine was pretty commonplace at that time!

That body looks way too professional to be a homebuilt job, IMHO.

[woodinsight]

Thanks for your thoughts Nicanary - I agree with you.

I included the second mystery car as it may possibly have been the first MG-engined Gordano with a modified body.....
Perhaps someone out there knows these cars.......?

This is one area I find fascinating - the rarely photographed 1940-1960s one-offs and racing cars of that era.

[barrett]

I don't believe this is the saloon Gordano for the following reasons;

1. I can't find any reference to the Gordano having gull-wing doors

2. The Gordano saloon is described as having a 'Ferrari grille.' Ferrari-style, or an actual Maranello item I'm not sure, but it certainly doesn't match the photograph.

Frustratingly, until at least the mid-'90s the Gordano saloon was on the road, used regularly by Dick Bickerton, one of the original partners in the Gordano concern. I can't believe that it was never photographed between the 1940s-'90s. It took part in the 'Lost Causes' rally in 1966 (a tie-up with the Montague/Sedgwick books of the same name). I have no idea what happened to the car in the last 20-odd years but I assume Bickerton is no longer with us. I'd love to find out more...

[nicanary]

I've just been looking at this photo, and noticed how low the driving position is. I wondered if it was a Riley Brooklands, but the exhaust is on the wrong side. It's the same with MG K-series models, and of course the Wolseley Hornet Special.

We need to find out which sporting small cars of the period had the exhaust ports on the driver's side!

Guess what? The Alta 1100 had exhausts on that side of the block. Just saying. (PS the pipe looks VERY narrow, suggesting not much power being generated).

[Carnut]

Moving to the Black Hole...