Back in late 1934, a rather proud and reasonably affluent father decided his son should have something special for his 21st birthday, and that something special was a six-month-old N-Type MG Magnette in stylish two-tone blue with blue upholstery. This car had had one lady owner in its short life and was sitting in a Shrewsbury, England, salesroom.
So with his new birthday present, young John Dugdale, who was just about to launch his career as a motoring scribe by joining The Autocar, also started his participation in motorsport, using the 6-cylinder MG for reliability trials, as well as two- and four-car sprints on part of the Brooklands circuit – the true home of British motor racing. The Magnette was seen as a pretty classy little sports car in its day, with a flexible 1271cc overhead camshaft engine with large twin SU carburetors, a sophisticated remote control for the 4-speed gearbox, and knock-off wire wheels. It wasn’t a lightweight machine by any standards, but featured good handling and was a very civilized road car, which had sporting applications.
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