THE HAUNTED SALOON
I have always had a soft spot for rusty old saloons. Over the years I have
collected several neglected MG VA saloons, put them back on the road and I was
useally able to find a new owner who shared my feelings and wanted to care for
it.
It is through this weakness that I came accross MG
saloon with chassisnumber VA 0251
languishing in a
barn in Suffolk. From then on I noticed a certain atmosphere around these,
untill then unwanted, MG saloons. In a funny way I felt wheather there was
history to be found or not.
It was the basis of my interest in VA’s history. Through VA 0251 I was
definitely pulled into the mysterious world of the past and from then on I
sometimes started to see a kind of an aureole around old VA saloons.
One splendid example of this happening was the SVW weekend in Cirencester some
years ago which concluded in a meeting in Abingdon on the Sunday.
On entering the Rallyfield near the river I was absolutely stricken by the sight
of that rusty saloon that stood forlorn in the middle of the field.
Even at a distance I could clearly see the air vibrate around this rusty VA.
I immediately parked right next to it and spoke to Malcolm Simmonds, who turned
out to be the proud owner and who told me he had just aquired the saloon after a
lot of hassle. Malcolm was not aware at all of what he had bought. I knew it a
minute later when I realised its registration number:
CBL 109
It had been
Kimbers transport during the early war years. Maybe even the last MG Kimber had
ever driven!
About 20 years ago I spend a holiday in England with my wife Suze . One late
afternoon I found myself talking to a previous owner of one of my saloons and he
mentioned Phill Passeys scrapyard in Newbury as a source for spare parts. It was
already late but as it wasn’t too far away from where I was at that moment me
and Suze decided to go and have a look to see what was available there. Even if
it is only to write down the chassisnumbers.
On arrival we found out that the scrapyard had already closed. Walking up and
down along the fence we tried to pick up a glimpse from what was in the yard,
but apart from some Hillmans and a Ford Popular there wasn’t much that attracted
our interest.
Just when we wanted to make our way back to the hotel a chap came towards us
asking what we wanted. “Oh…. Old MG’s , well I can’t help you, you see, its my
friends yard and he is not around at this time of day but do come into my house
have a cupper and maybe youre interested in old clocks, I have got a collection
of old grandfather clocks”.
The next minute we were sitting in the kitchen ofnext doors house which can
hardly be described as such. The old chap had to make room for us to sit and he
excused for all the rubbish he had collected over the years. Magazines and bits
of clock everywhere. He started the rituel of theamaking while we were gasping
the atmosphere of this place. He had a stove which was also used for storage of
magazines and the kettle was on a small electric device in the middle of the
kitchenfloor.
After a while we were presented the thea which wasn’t as bad as expected after
all! Rattling on about his clock collection it quickly became later and the sun
outside had started to set.
We couldn’t leave without a second cup and also had to view his collection of
grandfather clocks. Just when we were starting to loose interest he said: “If
you want to look in the scrapyard, just go for it and have look around. I am
sure my friend doesn’t mind”.
Next minute we found ourselves climbing over the fence.
There in the back of the field, exactly where our MG friend had told us we found
what we wanted. MG saloons in all sorts of desintegration. Most of them hadn’t
been touched for a long time and were completely overgrown. There was even a
fairly large elm growing in the remains of what looked like an SA Tickford. What
a shame!! If only we could safe them all. These cars had deserved better.
Most of the brightwork had gone too and garuanteeplates had all been robbed.
Making my way through the rubble I had a constant feeling that we were not alone.
Ofcourse it is the tension of the excitement that gives you the shivers but
still………..
When I turned round to look for my wife I looked straight into the eyes of an
old man sitting in a collapsed VA saloon! Got the shock of my life. It seemed my
eyes would only focus on this man and the rest of the surroundings faded away. .
The only thing I was able to observe was the distinct smell of rotting
upholstery. I wanted to run away but I could not, I could hardly breath and was
frozen to the ground. I seemed to faint.
Suddenly I woke up from the barking of dogs. Oh my God, we have been dicovered.
Where is my wife? It took me minutes to recover. It seemed ages….. She was
already talking to the apparantly unfriendly guard with his dogs, explaining
that we were not thieves and that we were advised to go into the yard by the
nextdoor neighbour.
The yard attended did not seem to be impressed at all by my wifes story but as
he could clearly see my only tool was a camera he let us escape. Phew…. That was
an unpleasant experience.
Next year I decided to make my way back to Phill Passey’s yard to see what could
be salvaged from the saloons. As useal on these sort of excursions we took the
trailer down as well.
On arriving at the yard we had no trouble finding the owner this time. We
enquired about the MG SVW cars we saw in his yard in the past but it seemed he
couldn’t remember having any. “Ah.” He said “You mean those large bangers”. And
then: “we have had a fire you see down the back of the yard and they are all
gone now. We cleared the lot. Hang on a bit” he said “ we kept one that wasn’t
damaged by the fire, but it won’t be of much use to you. Its totally collapsed.”
I said I was interested to see it anyway so we made our way to where it was. On
seing the car it turned out to be the VA saloon in which I thought I had seen
the old man. Obviously there was nobody in it now, but there was a certain
atmosphere around it which attracted me.The car was a right mess. Lying flat on
its chassis with no wheels etc……
It was however a saloon here which might be salvaged if it were for parts alone!
And also, if I could find out its chassisnumber there may even be a bit of
history to be found. So a deal was struck. Found some wheels that fitted as well
to get it rolling. Loaded the VA and the trailer and towed the whole assembly to
Harwich.
After the useal discussions with the Dutch customs in Hook of Holland about the
value of the MG we made our way to Hellevoetsluis .Late that night we arrived at
our house. We had been lucky as it had been remarkebly good wheather all the
time so theVA was still dry. We put it straight into the shed with the other
cars.
Useally after such a new aquirement you wander back to the shed before you
finally go to sleep. I wish I had never done that this time! As soon as I opened
the door there was again this smell of rotting upholstery and believe it or not:
sitting in a sort of deck chair beside the collapsed VA was this old chap who
was sitting in the VA at the scrapyard last year. As he was not looking into my
direction there was no eyecontact but again I was froozen to the ground. Unable
to move for some time. I do not know how long I have been standing there but it
seemed ages. Suddenly the man faded away and I seemed to be able to move again.
When I walked to the VA there was nothing at all, no man, no dekchair but oh
dear that undistincteble smell of rotting upholstery! Finally went to bed
I did not tell my wife as I did not want to bother her with it. Did n’t sleep
well at all that night.
Next morning straight back to the shed. Looked: nothing special. Not even that
smell.
Nothing special happened for several month.
One day late in October I decided to do some work on the carburettors of my TD.
As the wheather wasn’t too good I decided to do the job inside in the shed with
the other cars. Took the carbs of cleaned them, fitted new cork seals and put
them back on. The TD fired up instantly but as useal they needed balancing and
tuning. So completely taken by this job I was sitting on my knees next to the
running TD and busy adjusting the jets.
Suddenly I got that feeling again that somebody else was watching to see what I
was doing. Remembering the strange experiences with the collapsed VA I hardly
dared to look around. I noticed that apart from the useal petrol and
exhaustfumes I also noticed again the smell of rotting upholstery.
Oh my God. He must be back again. I tried to act as normal as possible and
continued what I was doing. But suddenly I could not help the urge to look
around in the direction of the old VA saloon.
Yes, he was back again. I could now clearly see the man, sitting in the VA again
this time, wearing a brown leather jacket. Somehow we made eyecontact and it
seemed he was trying to make something clear to me. Strangely enough I was not
afraid this time. There was a strange feeling that I wanted to communicate with
this fellow. It also seemed as if the old man was trying to say something to me.
I stood up and walked towards him. Just when I was close enough to notice the
wrinkles in his face he was starting to vanish again, but before he had totally
disappeared I could clearly hear what he said: “thank you for saving me from the
scrapyard, but please bring me back to England”.
The minut he was disappeared the smell was gone too. I ran back too the TD which
was still running, switched it off and ran into the house to tell my wife what
had just happened. As she had never seen the man in the VA she could only laugh
and say that I was imagining things.”You spend too much time with these old
MG’s” she said and walked away still amused. Well, I wasn’t at all. Why did this
“ghostman” want to go back?
Next day I decided I had had enough of this VA. It was not worth saving anyway
as a complete car so I decided it must go back to England.
Advertised it and back it went.
It seems it was converted into a special later on and possibly still running
around now. Anybody noticed the ghost?