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MG MG Y Type - Boot straps

The Y Type bootlid is designed to lay flat when open, and makes an excellent picnic table for two. In early reviews and descriptions of the car this is mentioned as a feature which allowed larger trunks and suitcases to be carried, strapped to the opened bootlid (as we all know, it never rained in the 1950s). There are recesses and bars in the boot lid through which straps can be passed to secure luggage; were straps supplied with the car or available as extras? If so, has anyone got any or pictures of any. If they did exist I would like to get some reproduced.
P S Sharp

I have some pictures I will send you. If you go ahead with the project certainly put me down for a pair.

Thanks

Paul
Paul Barrow

Same here!
Steve Simmons

Paul

I would be interested in the pictures also. Back in the early 70s I have carried 4 people and 3 or 4 suitcases in my YT using the "tie them on to the back" approach.


P S

I would be interested in a set also.


Thanks

Larry
49 YT
Larry Hallanger

I have the original set of straps. They are made of a webbing material similar to WW2 British/Canadian army shoulder straps attached to and used for the back pack. The fittings, clasps etc. are brass.
I loaned mine out a few years ago to a fellow who was " helping" out with the restoration of a YT and had a devil of a time retreiving them. By the way the straps he had copied were made of some nylon material with black hardware and looked unlike the originals He said that the original type material was not available and neither was the brass hardware but I don't know how hard he looked. Terry
Terry O'Brien

Terry

Absolutely spot on - it is webbing material just like the old style battle order webbing.

Photos on there way to Larry and PS Sharp.

Paul
Paul Barrow

Hey Paul. Send to me as well, please. Thanks.
Larry Brown

Paul.

Pictures receieved with thanks.What are the length of these straps.
Has anybody got a contact with an EX WD supplier as there may be something we could adapt/adopt?
Keith
Keith D Herkes

Hi Keith

The straps aren't mine - I took a photo of them when I met a guy in Southampton who had a YA which he was wanting to sell. I think I took a note of their length but I lost it long ago.

I will see if we can trace the owner of the car and let you know if succesful, meanwhile please see the comment in the email about how we can approximate the measurement if we cannot find it!

Paul

Paul Barrow

I will measure mine and post it in the next day or so. It might be worth checking with the Imperial War Museum or similar to determine whether they have a source for the material. I would guess that the Y type was not the only post war car to utilize these kind of straps so another possibility is another register eg Morris, Wollsely etc. Terry
Terry O'Brien

I seem to recall that on some photos of pre-ww2 cars there was also some sort rubberized canvas cover to protect the luggage. Were these covers "fitted", or merely wrapped around the luggage after it was placed in/on the boot lid?
Carl

They would have been wrapped similar to a tarp Carl, I would expect.

Paul
Paul Barrow

This is what always happens when you ask a simple question; prompt, helpful and informative answers. Just what we've come to expect from Y Type people ( Y Type types?) thank you.
I must admit to being a bit disappointed though. I expected them to be a elegantly made arrangement of polished high quality leather straps and brass buckles rather like the belt/harness worn by British Army officers, called a 'Sam Browne'. I intended to take a drawing down to the local saddlery and get a quick replica made up. Instead, what do we get to go with Connolly hide seats, polished and veneered walnut dashboard and door surrounds and 'A level of luxury and elegance usually only found more expensive cars'? A load of old war surplus webbing!
I will spend some time next week seeing if I can source the materials, maybe via the Military Vehicle restoration scene. If Terry O'Brien in Canada can take some detail pictures of the buckles to go with the measurements it would be very helpful.
P S Sharp

Not too long ago, I picked up on e-bay, some Canadian airborne/comando web stuff for my brother (their version of our entrenching tool and case) and it was kacki v. olive drab and the strapping was thicker and had brqass fittings. Maybe there is other bits which might serve our purpose? Will try to run it down.
Paul
Paul

Peter (aka PS Sharp) - you know the addage "If you dont want to hear the answer ... dont ask the question"?

Sounds like you are on the right track with the military re-enactment scene.

Paul
Paul Barrow

Sorry for the gramatical nails on the chalk board. The ebayer was 1stcanpara. Don't have a direct email address, but am still searching. As his name implies, he is into military gear.
Paul
Paul

I have a pair of these boot straps fitted to my car but the buckle appears to be different to those shown in Paul's photos. My buckles are not made from brass (as Terry' are) but are steel. The buckles have a sliding, locking device with teeth that bite into the webbing to hold the straps in place once tightened. I suppose this is to be expected as a trouser type belt buckle with a prong would soon enlarge any hole that it had to pass through in the webbing.

I've always thought mine were original.The webbing is black and is 1.25 inches wide and 63.5 inches long. This length allows for sufficient webbing to go round the bar in the middle of the buckle three times before it is riveted. The finished length of the webbing is 61 inches and the overal length of the strap, including buckle is 62.5 inches.

I've never used them in anger (as Peter says, it never rains in these parts!) In addition to the four bars in the bootlid, there are a further two fixing points inside the boot below the rear blind shelf.

I have taken many photos of my straps and these are available to anyone who wants them. Just send me an email, or better still, post me a letter with your address written on the back of a £10 note.

Jack
Jack Murray

I actually have four straps. They are all 1.25" wide. For the long ones including the hooks for the fixing points
and the buckle they are 40" in length. The shorter ones are 38.5" long including the hook and a metal finisher which I assume is meant to thread through the buckle.

I was mistaken; the hardware is steel but it is discoloured(rusty) so at first glance it sort of looks like brass.

They are kakhi colour allbeit dirty; probably a bit thinner material than the army webbing.

Like Jack I have never used them. Would assume that you would fix the hooks to the body fixing points and then after theading the shorter straps through the buckle affix the other hook to one of the boot lid fixing points depending on the size of the suitcase or whatever.

Have taken pictures but am challenged as to uploading to my computer but I will figure out a way to do it or one of my children will and will send them on to Paul to spread about. Terry
Terry O'Brien

I have seen period adverts for luggagecovers that worked the same as those canvas structures that you fit by your housewindow to block the sun (I'll be damned if I can find the proper english word...). It would keep out the rain and I've often thought it would be nice to make one from an old army tent.
Willem van der Veer

I have located a source of webbing straps and of the buckles Jack Murray identified (which are called 'sliding tooth grip buckles'). I am costing them up and will liaise with Paul about price, viability and supply. They may not be exact reproductions but from the responses to this thread it seems that there were a few original variation anyway.
P S Sharp

How embarassing, I went out to visit 'Angus' because I remembered there had been some rope or strap material in the boot, which I thought had been used by the former owner to mount a wheelchair to the rear for his wife. Low and behold, there were actually two webbed straps 1.25" wide and 63" long. They have what appear to be brass fittings. The toungue end has a tip with 2 holes in it and the buckle is rectangular, with an opening on one side. Both are the same and there is no indication of a toothed flange as described by others. Photos available on request.
Paul
YB/TDs/TF, etc.
Paul

Sorry, forgot they are webbing which was once kakhi in color but now rather dirty.

Paul
Paul

A new page has been posted with Terry's pictures - thank you Terry.

I know I have seen a picture somewhere (maybe in one of the reprinted articles of the boot lid being used in this manner but I cannot recall where it was - can anyone else remember?

Paul
Paul Barrow

I know that David Lawrence says that the boot straps were not supplied with the car. Only 5 YTs were sold in British Columbia and no Y saloons. Don't know if the other 2 still here have their straps but I think it would be highly unlikely that the straps were made up here for no other reason that the dealer would not know how to do it. Also would be unlikely to bother.

So I think the straps must have come with the car, perhaps they were an optional extra.

I think if I was making them up I would go with Peter's first instinct and have them made in leather with brass hardware. They do not all seem to be the same pattern and there is no rule against upgrading.

Am taking a couple of more pictures which will show how I think the straps go together and will send them on to Paul when I have figured out again how to do it. Terry
Terry O'Brien

Terry has sent in pictures of his straps buckled up and these have been added to the website.

Terry - if you want to get rid of your current straps and get some leather ones - I will provide a very good home for them and will be happy to contribute something to your new purchase - seriously, same goes for anyone else wanting to get rid of their webbing straps, after all I will need three sets, one for each car.

Paul
Paul Barrow

Paul, I must be going blind! Where are these photos on the site? Have to do something to get to Maitland for the 60th anniversary run so have been collecting leather straps at swap meets. Obviously not right!
Regards
Steve Brompton
Steve Brompton

Thanks Terry for the pictures. I might be a bit thick but how do the straps with hooks attach onto the buckled straps to hold the luggage, I can't tell from the pictures.
None of the suppliers I contacted to get costings for webbing and buckles have replied and I don't have too much time to spend chasing them I'm afraid.
Looking in the original 1 1/4 Litre Owners handbook, it says about the boot lid, '...it is intended to accommodate luggage that cannot be carried in the boot itself. Provision is made on the inside face of the boot lid for the fitting of luggage straps'. No mention is made of the straps being supplied. All the photos of the straps look like they have been knocked up from ex-army webbing and straps; the rivets don't look like factory produced items. I'm inclined to think they were a cottage industry product. I have come to the same conclusion as Terry, I will go with the leather and brass option I started with, though if anyone in the UK has a set of straps they would like to let me have, I'll take them off their hands.
Now; what material were the boot chain covers made from and where can I get some.
P S Sharp

The two long straps (40") have a hook at one end a the buckle at the other. The short straps (38 1/2") have the hook at one end and a tongue at the other. The tongue goes through the cinch on the buckle and then under the other end of the buckle as shown in the top picture buckle 2. The bottom picture shows the tongue pointing towards the hook of the shorter strap as the buckle is too stiff to get it under the top end as in the top picture.
When the straps are together you have a hook at each end.I think you attach the hooks to the clips in the boot and the the other hook to forward or rear clips on the of the boot lid depending on the size of the luggage. You then tighten the straps at the buckle and hope that your luggage is not strewn all over the highway in your wake.

The original boot chain covers were made of that dreadful stuff called rexine. Don't think it is available and a good thing too. Replace with modern vinyl. They were originaly black. For some reason I have kept the rotten originals. Terry
Terry O'Brien

Thanks for the explanation Terry, I understand how they work now. At the MG Show at Stoneleigh today I found a pair of leather straps with brass buckles, 1.25'' wide made by Remploy in 1952, of just the right length. I don't know if they were intended for the Y but they look just right and they're going in my boot.
Is it possible to get vinyl sleeves for the boot chains?
P S Sharp

Peter

The vynil for the boot chains is a thick shrink wrap. You should be able to get this from say Maplins in the UK or Verospeed (if they are still going) or any really good electronics shop. You will then need to warm it gently with a heat gun (not a hair dryer as it is not powerful enough) to shrink it to a good, but not over tight fit.

Paul
Paul Barrow

Hi Peter

Have you had any more thoughts about producing some original spec boot straps yet? If so, please put me down for 3 sets to original spec.

Paul
Paul Barrow

This thread was discussed between 15/02/2007 and 12/03/2007

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