Beschrijving
Built in 1945, not long after the end of World War II, this MG TC was just the 33rd to be manufactured … and interestingly, MG TC 0283 was the very first to arrive in Australia!
Displayed at York Motors (Sydney) upon its arrival, the TC was soon presented to the MG agent’s son, Dick Cobden, as a 17th Birthday present. The youngster quickly altered his first of many racers to follow for competition use, competing at the Marsden airstrip and Bathurst circuit during 1946.
Cobden then sold the TC around 18 months later to the son of the NSW MG importer, before it changed hands again, soon after arriving in the hands of the well known South Australian car dealer named Roger Yates, proprietor of the 'Grand Garage' located on Adelaide’s Anzac Highway. Almost immediately it began its second competition career, in the hands of well-known racer Steve Tillett, as a fill-in whilst he awaited a brand-new TC on order.
Tillett stripped it back to ‘square rigger’ configuration and modified the engine for more power (work done by noted tuner Don Riemann), so that 0283 competed in mid-1947 at the Woodbury Hillclimb near Stirling in the Adelaide Hills, placing fastest in class and third outright. It also competed in the 1948 Sternol ‘50’ Open Handicap event at Lobethal, before being put back into road trim and sold.
Enter John Ellis who, in 1960 as a 17-year-old, bought the TC complete with some minor bodywork damage – and a bullet hole through the windscreen wiper motor, which still worked!
Going on to be an acclaimed automotive engineer and factory race team manager with Chrysler Australia, Ellis would own 0283 for the next 63 years.
In road trim when he bought it, Ellis stripped the car back to ‘square rigger’ sports racing form and added ‘boy racer’ cycle guards, using it occasionally at Mallala, before converting it back to road trim, then again back to race trim, for use at Collingrove Hillclimb.
Today the ’45 MG TC presents largely as Cobden raced it, complete with the XPAG 920 1250cc engine with a ported high-compression head, 1½ inch SU carburettors and semi-racing camshaft.
Now readied for sale, the engine has had a complete rebuild at Rick Corbett Engine Reconditioners Pty Ltd, and a comprehensive general mechanical and brake overhaul by Adelaide Brake and Mechanical in 2020/ 2021. It also comes with its original parts – in good condition – to return it to road trim, plus various receipts for work done in recent years. The receipts are available for review prior to the sale. Also included are letters from Dick Cobden to John Ellis, period photographs, club membership documents and event entry forms.
This is an historically significant car in the history on MG and specifically TCs in Australia.
Since October 2020, over $24, 000 has been spent on the car. The engine was fully rebuilt around a replacement crankshaft. The radiator, brakes and carburettors have been rebuilt and restored. This extensive work was done by C&C Radiators, Adelaide Brake and Mechanical and Rick Corbett Engine Reconditioners. Many new reproduction parts have been purchased from the MG TC specialist, ‘From The Frame Up’.
