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MG MG Y Type - Y-Types in 2013 events

I am considering shipping my YT to the UK from Australia in early 2013, to do a few events during your summer.

Already on the list is:-

1/- The European MG Event of the year in Aviemore, Scotland

2/- Beauleiu Autojumble

3/- Y-Type Autumn Run

I don't intend to stay in the UK for the entire year, just two trips over for say 3-4 weeks each and do some events and touring in between.

Can anyone suggest other events we should include ?, and is anyone else interested in such a tour from Down Under ?.

A L SLATTERY

Crikey sport! That's what I call dedication..be interested to know how much it would cost to ship the car over? Also is there a shipping company that you could trust with it and what route would it take? I presume you would be getting the Qantas flight and not accompanying it. Good luck with the proposed venture.
D MULLEN

This gives inspiration to writing a song about a Y Type coming home! I wish you luck!
I was quoted over £1,300 just to transport my YB from south coast of England to Isle of Skye in Scotland for my wedding in 2008. I would dread to think the cost of your proposed long trip. It is dedication over, above and beyond!!!
Better off hiring a Y over in UK I suggest.
R E Knight

Hi Tony

I would suggest that you go and spend some time with some Y owners if there arent enough events. Certainly I think Peter Sharp would be delighted to welcome you to the Y Type Autumn Run and I think that would be one I would want to go on too.

Guys, I dont know who is arranging for Tony's car or cost but I do know we recommend Kingston Shipping who have succesfully and resposibly executed many a succesful car (including MG Ys) trans-world shipping. See Links page for details.

Richard, I know £1300 seems a lot but bear in mind that at the time UK VAT (Sales Tax) was [only] 17.5% I think which would have meant that you billable part was about £1100 with £200 nearly billed on behalf of Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue. Given the remoteness (relatively) of the Isle of Skye from you and the specificness of your timing requirements it would have required one truck to run up there, then dead head back, and another to dead head up and return your car over a distance of 680 miles each way so a total of 2720 miles, that is about £0.40 a mile which isnt all that bad I dont think - how much were you expecting it to be when diesel was at least £8/gallon or £1.60/litre and truck driving time would have been about 10 hours each way before regulatory stops?

Paul
Paul Barrow

Despite what some think I am not mad, I just believe in using my car in the way it was intended it should be, and it deserves to explore the English country lanes with me and my lovely wife before we leave the planet.

Why travel across the world and hire a car you know nothing about and care even less about. To take a car you have prepared yourself for such a holiday is for me, an achievement I will cherish and remember always.

I think I am still young enough to achieve this ambition and enjoy the journey along the way.

You POMS should get out more !.
A L SLATTERY

Commentators on this thread are only joking Tony - it would be great to have your YT on our roads - after all it started off here before being shipped to your fair land. Perhaps when you are over here you might consider recreating the trip to the lake district by a YT [from South africa]as mentioned in the 1949 'The Autocar' article "Exile in Lakeland". Every success on bringing the car over.
D MULLEN

Tony,

Don't think anyone thought it was a mad idea, just perhaps not viable one for most economically, in both money and time.
Would the option of a trip across land from China not be more fun? Like a "Peking to Paris trip" Now this would be fun, time permitting. Sadly work limits me to my time away.
In respect of your plan, I would suggest a UK Spring Run over Autumn Run, the reason being luck with the weather, although nothing is certain here in the UK, our weather here in South of England seems to be better in late April early May and sadly like today overcast and damp (For August) it is another sad let down.
Good luck with the planning and perhaps a good article for the mgytypes.org of a diary of the event if it comes off!

Richard
R E Knight

Think you will find guys that Tony's comment about getting out more is very tongue in cheek. The rest of it is deadly serious.
Paul Barrow

Good luck Tony with your travel plans. I will be with you in spirit. Speaking from experience I know that if you go ahead with your plans you will have a lifetime of great memories to look back on.
Having completed several large trips across Australia, the largest being 13500km (8400 miles) and another of 10500km (6500 miles) in an 80 year old Ford Model A, and not forgeting the wonderful Y Type anniversary meet in Maitland which was a round trip of approx. 4500km for me. (I do envy those of you who only have to travel 200 miles to attend a meet). I know only too well what a great adventure you will have. You will meet many wonderful people and yes travelling in an old vehicle no matter what make it is will open up many unexpected doors for you.
Yes, cost will be a factor but as Paul Barrow said in another thread, "Shrouds don't have pockets" and my favourite saying is "You're a long time dead" I strongly suspect that the majority of Y Type owners are now on the wrong side of sixty, it is important that we take every opportunity to fulfil our dreams while our health allows.
Call it what you will, ambitious, adventurous or madness, I had all these and others suggested to me while planing my trips. I say, have a dream and then make it happen.
I can fully understand why you have chosen Britain for your great adventure in the Y Type. However, strictly on a personal choice my preference would be to travel around this great country of ours in the Y. and attend the meets and runs in Britain as a seperate holiday without the Y.
Again, best of luck.

Terry Y2866
T J Ciantar

As you know Terry the YT has been driven to Geelong, Beechworth, Bendigo, Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney and back in the last 3 years, plus a trip to Newcastle this year, so it has seen more of Australia than most Y's.

My thoughts are I'd rather drive an MG around the UK than a hire car, and I know my MG's better than any other. The cost of hiring a car for 8-10 weeks, verses the cost of freight is obviously not equal, but I've been to MG events in a hire car and vowed I would never do it again - anywhere.

Next weekend we are off for a tour around Northern NSW, two weeks later it's the Sunshine Coast and then a long 3 day drive to Pre-War MG Beechworth in November, followed by a trip across Bass Strait to Tasmania for Christmas.

So a trip to the UK is not that much further is it ?.
A L SLATTERY

Well done Tony. It's great to see Y owners and any classic car owner using their cars - it's what they were designed for!

It's sad that too many owners in the UK do not use their cars after September until the following April.This is such a shame - at the moment we get cheap insurance and pay no road tax, quite how long this will continue I have no idea.

So guys get out there and use your cars and travel where you need to. We are off to London in the YT later today and its pissing down outside - but surely it's all part of the experience?

Have fun

Jerry
J P BIRKBECK

Jerry,

How was your trip to London? Not too wet I hope!

I do think that owners here in the UK tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to the weather. I recall the year before last, coming back from Silverstone on the Sunday, the heavens opened and the poor wipers couldn't keep up on a modern car, let alone my YB. I pulled over in a Shell Garage, off A34 till it eased off.
I was also caught out a week ago, taking a work colleague for a spin around the Romsey rural, again there was a sustained downpour and it was not ideal weather for my YB.

I agree that cars are to be used and I try where possible to use it once a month, even if only for short trips, but with the weather as it is now, I can understand why people won't commit to long journeys, especially with payment admissions up front and no idea in advance what the weather might be like.

Perhaps a good idea for organisers of future events would be to consider sending routes out via email as a pdf file, with an option of a paper version if requested too. The benefits to the club are the printing is left to the participant, and there is no postage costs, the participant could then be asked to make a donation to the organisers as a way of covering the clubs costs etc, but this could be a reduced amount to the present costs. The big bonus for the participant is they may decide to attend closer to the date of the event and if weather decides to play foul, the participant may decide to pull out at the last minute without incuring a huge outlay. I appreciate organisers and venues may need to know number in advance, but perhaps by a more simple approach such as use of large car park as meeting venue, and no committment to one particular venue, for example past NT houses, this idea might just work for the benefit of all.

In respect of road tax, cost of fuel and cheaper insurance for classic cars, I don't think this is the fundamental issue for owners current lack of use, I think it is to do with the number of events where there is a clash. A factor specific to Y Types are that the cars are spread across the UK, this clearly makes a central location difficult to choose.

I appreciate we in the UK are cautious, but there is no topic the Brits love more than to moan about the weather, I know I do. I also feel that it is not a Y specific thing to not want to use cars in the wet, but more a classis car owners issue in general.

It must be despondent for event organisers such as your good self to keep getting lower than hoped for turnouts and this is highlighted by the recent lack of interest at the Abingdon Charity Event which was cancelled.

Richard
R E Knight

Hi Richard

The trip to London was eventful. We decided to have the hood up,which was wise as it began to rain just before the infamous Junction 9 on the M40. Jo did say go down to High Wycombe and turn off there -but I was quite confident that the traffic flows would be principally to the M40.. not good and not so. I had been driving with my side screen off so got a very wet arm before we could put the screen on at the first sevices on the A34! Until this we were averaging 60mph. However, the above debacle left us either at stand still or in very slow moving traffic.We eventually came off the Ring Road ( about 8 miles) about an hour and a quarter later.

Around Windsor we experienced some ignition problems and on close examination it was evidennt that the clip holding the distributor cover to the body was very loose. I placed a tie wrap around both clips and this improved matters. The points,rotor etc and the plugs were all fine.We pressed on and then were caught up in traffic for an hour -to travel one mile around Hampton Court. We finally arrived at our storage venue in Hampton at 7.15.A 110 mile had taken us 5.30hours!

The next day went well and the groom collected the car andwe followed to his house on the south of the river. We decked it with white ribbons and decided to fix just the back tonneau so that if it rained we could quickly put up the hood.

A 25 minute journey to Roehampton which included a long trip through Richmond Park remarkably avoided any rain and we dropped the car off for pics etc. We did take a full video on our phone - but after 2 mins the rear end of a Y does become a bit predicatable. But if anyone wishes to see it then I can e-mail a truncated versionto them!

We then drove the car back to Hampton and collected it the following day,when I met up with Tim Griggs and handed him a petrolpump that he wanted for his French adventure next month.He travelled with me to Kingston and then picked up a train and Jo and I made our way across to Roehampton and then from there to Worcester Park. Still no rain, though we had a heavy shower during lunch but the tonneau was fine.

The journey back home along the A3 and M25 was fine but then the engine was missing due to the distributor cover still being loose despite the strap.

A lomgh journey back ofaround 125 miles which should have taken us 3 hours took 4 and the ignition requires a close examination!

But an interesting weekend!

Jerry
J P BIRKBECK

Tony,
first of all you should add the 'Goodwood Revival' meeting to your schedule (see website www.goodwood.co.uk for details), it is the weekend after Beaulieu. Probably the nearest you have to that meeting in OZ is Beechwood, but Goodwood is much, much larger and multi-marque.

Now regarding Richards comments about cancellation of the MG Abingdon Museum Fund Run. This was a big mistake by the Car Club in adding an extra high profile event to one of the busiest weekends in the calendar. If you look at the MG CC Events calendar (which incidentaly did not advertise the Museum run!) there are numerous events on that weekend. Both the MGB Register and T Register have Autumn Weekend away trips, the Y Register Autumn Run, Beaulieu International weekend, Cornish Riviera Run, Old Speckled Hen Run, Lincoln Imp Run, Norfolk Gala Day, plus hillclimbs at Wiscombe and Bowness and MG racing at Croft, they were never going to get the 400 minimum entries they needed!! If they had thought about it properly and gone for early to mid October then they would have been OK, there is very little on after the end of September. Proper advance planning was needed, not a quick knee jerk reaction and lets run an event... Organisation is required, that's probably why they moved the Brewery from Abingdon!!
Regards, Brian Rainbow
Brian Rainbow

Brian,

I went to the Classic car show today at Blenheim Palace

www.blenheimpalace.com/whats-on/events/car_show.html

There was just a complete lack of Classic Cars but huge queues of modern cars waiting to park and few cars to admire.

Interested to know if others attended? But I for one won't go back to this annual event.

Brian, concur with you comment about organising events which clash, perhaps it opens up the debate about how many different MG car clubs exist and weather that merging some might benefit all owners.

The interesting theme of this thread and the one titled Where are all the Y Types? should now be considered as Where are all the Classics?

Richard
R E Knight

Hi Tony Good luck with pursuing your dream of bringing your YT to the UK. We are fortunate to have three months each year in the UK as our eldest son lives and works here. We do the rounds of Classic car shows, auto jumbles etc, and have met many interesting people and had a great time. The only regret is that our Y type is back in Melbourne!.
Regarding Richard's comments about the lack of Classic Cars at Blenheim Palace, we attended the Cranleigh Classic car show in Surrey in August and there were 1400 Classic cars of varied makes. There were five Y Types led by Jack Murray & Brian Moyse flying the Y Type flag. So if you can bring your car over go for it!. Regards

Mel & Davina Fry
Y5103
M.H. Fry

If one has spent many years with a car there is a kind of affinity with it. I have done many thousands of miles with my YA and sometimes tested it to its limit but I could trust it [or rather its designers] to get me home, so I understand why you should want to do this trip in your own car.
There are many events here held by the various centres and registers which will take you away from our crowded roads into almost deserted countryside and unspoilt small towns. If, as has been suggested you visit Goodwood it may be an idea to pack some 1940-50 style clothes since especially with the revival in September most will try to dress according to the vintage of their cars, its great fun. This life is to enjoy, Tony just do it! Bryan
B Mellem

Tony - off to one side perhaps, but my situation kind-of reverses yours - I had fond memories of staying with family in Dovercourt, Essex in the sixties, and Uncle Cyril (Campion) had a Y Type; I so loved his car that I determined to one day own one - trouble is it took me 20 years, and we live on the other side of the world, where they are hard to come by. So I can quite identify with your desire to drive your Y back where it was made! Keep the dream alive. John.
J.P. Hall

Hi John

You may be on the "other side of the world" but Australia is the second most popular country (after the UK) for Ys so there is plenty of opportunity still for you. I am sure Tony will love to get you back into a Y so please contact him off-line via his link on the Contact Us page at www.mgytypes.org if you are interested in getting one - they are great cars and being in Queensland should be fairly easy to find one.

Good luck and thanks for your posting.

Paul
Paul Barrow

Sorry Paul - I should've made it clearer that we did pick up a beautiful old YA in 1984; we drove it in Brisbane and Melbourne, even with 3 child seats in the back, and finally pulling it off the road in 1994 for some minor repairs (welsh plugs, etc !). It has remained in a thousand pieces since then, but I have now commenced restoration. Tony Slattery has been informed of all this.I'll now hand back the post to Tony! Regards, John.
J.P. Hall

Great - we will work with you to get it on the road again with you.

You know they are great cars!

Paul
Paul Barrow

Suddenly I don't feel so alone ! John.
J.P. Hall

This thread was discussed between 15/08/2011 and 08/11/2011

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