Imagine you’re sixteen years old and spot a derelict saloon in a collapsed shed. Immediately you think “I want that car!" But then it takes another six years before you can finally call it your own. That’s what happened to Malcolm Simmonds who spotted a forlorn looking MG VA saloon. No stranger to old cars as he used to tinker with them at his grandfather’s garage, he liked the look of the black MG and wanted to own it. However, at that time (1988) the then owner didn’t want to sell. Malcolm regularly went back to check on the saloon, only to find (in 1992) that it had disappeared. Stolen! Bad luck, but Malcolm started to check the car ads in several magazines until he spotted one that could be “his” MG. And it was! Even then it took several years of legal hassle before the MG was returned to its rightful owner, who then decided he would sell it to Malcolm.
As a new owner of the MG VA saloon Malcolm was invited to a meeting of the SA, VA and WA register of the MG Car Club. There he met VA guru Bas de Voogd, who immediately spotted the license plate CBL 192 and knew that this 1939 VA had been a factory demonstrator and was used by Cecil Kimber -the general manager of MG- as his personal transport. Even after Kimbers death in early 1944 the VA stayed in the family until the early fifties. Indeed a very special MG VA saloon, still in preserved unrestored condition. Read the full story of this MG VA’s amazing history in the November issue of The Automobile, out now!
(text and photos Rutger Booy)