Concours Corner

MSCC World Concours at Goodwood 2007

Reporter: Jeremy Harrison

The paddock at the Goodwood Racing circuit proved to be the perfect setting for the MSCC Concours competitions, which were held in bright sunshine on the Saturday morning of the Mog weekend.

 

 

 

There were four competitions from which to choose. Firstly, the World Competition, which was for the true concours cars and virtually every type of Morgan was on display ranging from the 1925 3 wheeler Grand Prix of George Corbett, brought down all the way from Northumberland, to Colin Trott’s few month’s old, 2007 Aero 8, which, incidentally, was beautifully displayed with matching luggage. There were twelve cars entered in the World event but unfortunately, John Emberson’s two concours cars were missing because he had damaged both his Roadster and himself at the Bentley Drivers’ Meeting at Silverstone the weekend before, so he was unable to bring his Aero GTN and +4 down to Goodwood for us to judge. This was a close competition with Allan Brunning’s magnificent 1968 +4 beating Colin Trott’s superb 2007 Aero 8 by 13 points, Allan thus becoming the MSCC Concours World Champion for 2007.

 

 

 

The Pride of Ownership was the next competition and it was intended for those lovely cars which the owners don’t consider to be quite up to World Class standards. Many are high mileage cars and it was great to see Karen Jackson’s 4/4 competing again. But, once again, she had very strong competition from some of the earliest Flat Rads made. David Little’s Coupe, chassis number P2101, just back in time for the competition following a superb re-build by Gerry Wilburn in California, won this event by only 3 points from Chris Godwin’s, LHD, Flat Rad, chassis number P2104, probably the first Flat Rad to be exported to the USA in 1951 . Also competing was Chris Graham’s 1949 4/4 Series 1 Standard Special and the 1946 4/4 LeMans Replica of John Sparrowe, which was displayed with lots of old photos showing it competing at Goodwood when it was driven in anger.

The third competition, the Road Modified, is for cars which have been changed from Mr.Morgan’s original idea of what a Morgan should be, to what their owners’ consider to be a far better version of the Marque. This year we again had Sindy Rutter’s Pink Lady competing, but she was beaten into second place by David Mackie-Gandy’s remarkably re-worked 4 seater Roadster. This had had an amazing number of modifications fitted in its 4 week life ! It just shows what can be done to quickly “improve” a new Morgan with a little imagination and a lot of hard work.

 

 

The final competition was for the Eric Wilson Team Trophy. This is for teams of two cars from any of the preceding competitions. Because all the cars were judged equally in all the competitions, it is possible for all cars to compete on an equal basis because the extra points given for underside/rear axle of the World cars, were removed from their totals. This year, the Trophy was won by Rutmog, who had entered the World car of new-to-concours, Simon Cummin and the Pride of Ownership car of Sindy Rutter.

 

 

The “competitors choice” was won by Thomas Hertner’s rather nice, 1956, “Snobmog”, 4 seater, Drop Head Coupe and he was presented with the Bob Harper Shield, but only for a few minutes while he took some photos of it on his car, because, due to insurance reasons, the Club silverware cannot be taken out of the country. Last year, Thomas won the Flat Rad Trophy, so he’s getting used to giving me back his trophies immediately after the presentations and my then having them engraved for him at my expense, perhaps a cunning plot?

 

 

My team of five judges included two of my experienced Californian Concours judging friends, Gerry Gurley from Saratoga and Philip Fisher from Walnut Creek, to take their places. I am most grateful to my Chief judge, Derek Mayor, who had driven over 300 miles down from Preston that morning and who then made the return journey immediately after the judging finished, so that I would not be let down, dedication seldom seen these days, but MUCH appreciated.  Each judge was allocated a specific section(s) of each car to judge, Derek judged all the engine compartments, Gerry Gurley judged the bodywork and chrome, Philip Fisher judged the interiors and I judged the equipment, concours d’elegance, modifications, etc.

This left Ken Davis to judge all the wheels and tyres and, despite arriving on time, I still kindly let him judge all the undersides of the World competition cars. This year, Ken had forgotten to bring his “magic wand”, which sounds like a rather special concours judging instrument, but is actually just a mirror on a stick, so he had to get right under the cars to ensure that all those difficult to see nooks and crannies and back axles had been polished to perfection. The sight of him limbo-ing under Glen Davies’ Aero 8 brought tears to the eyes of all those lucky enough to be there in the right place at the right time ! He repeated this feat with Colin Trott’s similar car, but by the time he’d got down the line to the 3 wheelers, he found he needed a gentle hand-up to get himself vertical again !

His lovely friend, Wendy Smith, kindly called-out the four minute per car timing, so each car received exactly the same aggregate 20 minutes judging time and all the results were collated by the charming Lynne Gurley and double checked by my gorgeous wife, Gill, so if the numbers don’t add-up, you know who to blame !

 

 

This year I was again able to provide beautiful Artcrystal engraved presents for all the winners, thanks to the continued kind and generous sponsorship by Morgan Insurance Consultants and I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Parc Ferme for their wonderful Zymol polishing packs which were later presented to all the winners, so they’ll have no excuse next year in Cornwall, if their cars are not polished to perfection.

 

 

 

On Sunday morning I awarded all the colourful rosettes, which were placed on the concours cars we had lined-up in LeMans start formation on the grid.

 

 

 

Seeing all the fun the competitors had over the weekend, competing fiercely, yes, but fairly and obviously enjoying the constant banter with the judges and each other and seeing all those happy faces, makes organizing the MSCC Concours so worthwhile. It was heartwarming to see so many new-to-concours people showing such interest, asking us questions and getting involved, especially those who won a Club Trophy at their first attempt, which proves it IS possible for a concours “virgin” to win, just ask David Mackie-Gandy, David Little, Simon Cummin, Chris Cheal, Rob Walker and Dave Symon if they enjoyed their first MSCC Concours event. If they can do it, then so can you, so see you next year in Cornwall?