Magnettes and Steam 2014

(Text by Peter Martin, photos by Stephen Tickell)

As is traditional for The Magnette Register, we started off the new season with our Magnettes & Steam event on Easter Saturday, and what a cracker of an event it turned out to be! After the disappointment of having to cancel last years Magnettes & Steam at the last minute because of heavy snow fall, it is nice to be able to report that with the late Easter this year, we were blessed with a lovely dry sunny day which resulted in an excellent turnout of cars. Alan Slack our resident Magnettes & Steam man came up trumps as usual with an excellent venue that we have not used before at North Weald Station on the Epping Ongar Line which is Essex's longest heritage railway. What made the event particularly good was the large segregated field we were allocated to the side of the station which we managed to fill with the help of the local MG community making a total of virtually 50 cars, together with a vintage bus rides connecting with the stations along the line and a display of Falconry which were all in addition to the normal steam railway attractions.

A total of 27 Magnettes were at the event which produced a very interesting selection of cars with some not having attended a register event in a very long time if indeed ever, giving the register several valuable updates to their database which as any registrar will tell you, is a continually moving target. We also had the unusual situation of three "Tin Top" ZA's present (metal dashboards painted to look like wood on early cars) and two Mk IV Farina's present, both of which are very rare cars these days. Also worthy of note was a late ZB Varitone with a reported 29K on the clock since new. Certainly in Magnette terms, this is akin to finding any other car with delivery mileage only!

We also had a surprise visit from Magnette/MGA owner Jeff Becker who was over in the UK on business from Long Beach in the USA and managed to wangle enough time to get to our event. Jeff came over for our 60th anniversary event last year which shows just how keen he is. Thanks for coming along Jeff.

The whole day was a resounding success for our register and underlines the large amount of interest in our cars at the current time which bodes well for the rest of the events we have planned for the rest of the year. Details are on our website or from our Information & Events listing which is available at our events or on request from any of our committee members.

Our next event is on Sunday 18th May at Nuffield Place (not 11th May as originally planned). Full details from David Halliday on 01844 342224. We look forward to seeing you there