1952 Diedt-Bell Special – Resurrected

That Don Martine is an MG guy is beyond dispute; the long-time Monterey-area hotelier and racing enthusiast lives and breathes the Octagon brand. At one time or another he’s owned an example of just about every early MG built. Right now he owns several notable old MGs, including the 1949 TC Midget that his father bought when it was just a year old, plus Johnny von Neumann’s first MG-TD Special racecar, and the blown twin-cam TC that was constructed and used to great effect by the brilliant mechanic/fabricator/racing driver Ken Miles. Don has also acquired the second MG Special built by von Neumann, and it is a rather different creature than its teammate. It is this fascinating little roadster that we will concern ourselves with here.

Some history:  The entrepreneurial von Neumann – not to be confused with the Hungarian-born mathematician, physicist, and computer scientist of the same name – was born in Vienna, and emigrated to Canada and then the United States, with his parents prior to WWII.  During his obligatory army service, Johnny became familiar with German automobiles, especially the ubiquitous VW Beetle.  After relocating to the west coast, Johnny went to work turning wrenches for sometime filmmaker Roger Barlow at International Motors in Los Angeles, which imported a variety of European makes such as Simca and MG.  Along with Taylor Lucas, this duo got the California Sports Car Club off the ground. It has been written that service quality at Barlow’s shop was occasionally less than stellar and one day, in 1948, an unhappy customer had an in-depth conversation with von Neumann, the result of which was Johnny departing International Motors.  With that customer’s financial backing, Johnny opened his own import service concern in North Hollywood. Competition Motors, as it was named, would grow to become one of the most respected race shops in the country.