Small Mystery Age Related!

[csturnbull]

Browsing these pages has sparked renewed interest in my past! As mentioned in an earlier post I was a mechanic for TVR Autocross driver John Akers. Looking through my old pics I have found a couple of pics that intrigue me. One is the ex-Gerry Marshall Griffith which was silver and dark blue as I recall. Reg number MMT 7C. The mystery is the white one with the same reg no and what appears to be a porthole window behind the passengers door.Same car? Biggest problem is why I can't remember, I was there!!!! Anybody help?

Clive Turnbull

[Grantura MKI]

Hopeful that Mr. Carter will turn up soon, as he maybe able to help with identifying these for you.
Excellent pictures!
Cheers,
D.

[alphaone]

Thanks for posting the pictures, would be great to hear of some of the stuff you all got up to with these cars.

[csturnbull]

alphaone said:

Thanks for posting the pictures, would be great to hear of some of the stuff you all got up to with these cars.

Well some of it is guess work! Lot of water under the bridge etc. I remember John Akers did get a great deal of co-operatiom from Mr Lilley and I remember driving his car to a meeting in case we needed some parts off it! I think it was a maroon colour and I am sure it was a Griffith. I think the Gerry Marshall car was a 4.7 Shelby blown V8 and was a real handful for John on the sand. The smaller cars I posted in another post yesterday were 1800 "B" engines with HRG cross flow cylinder heads and twin 40DCOE Webers. I do remember him seeing off Roger Clark at one meeting with one of the two 1800's.For the life of me I can't remember which one. I know Roger was in an Escort which was quick but I think he found autocross a little different than rallying!
I am uplpading the 1800's again so they are all together. The older of the two(338 YTC) caught fire at a meeting, I'm pretty sure it was a write off but who knows? Sorry if I am duplicating pics, I am new to the forum and not very well up on procedure.
Thanks for your interest. If I can answer any questions please ask.

Clive

Edited by csturnbull on Saturday 12th April 23:18

Edited by csturnbull on Saturday 12th April 23:20

[alphaone]

If you scroll to the bottom of the page on this link MMT7C is on the front covers of an early Sprint magazine
http://www.tvr-car-club.co.uk/join_members_archive...

[csturnbull]

alphaone said:

If you scroll to the bottom of the page on this link MMT7C is on the front covers of an early Sprint magazine
http://www.tvr-car-club.co.uk/join_members_archive...

Many thanks, I bet that car has some history! That is how I remember it and silver with a blue top I'm sure.
The white one in my other pic baffles me, same reg different car?? I wish I had my memory back!!!
Many thanks
Clive
PS pic is a badge from one of John's TVR's

[luckycarter]

Hi Clive great pictures. Who is driving ? is it John Akers. They look like the same car with the same lumps and bumps on the bonnet. The car (as the white version) appears in Filbys second new book, he says the car was bought in 67 by Tom Osmond, he did well in the car and did so in to the early 70's
Rich

[csturnbull]

luckycarter said:

Hi Clive great pictures. Who is driving ? is it John Akers. They look like the same car with the same lumps and bumps on the bonnet. The car (as the white version) appears in Filbys second new book, he says the car was bought in 67 by Tom Osmond, he did well in the car and did so in to the early 70's

Hi Rich
Thanks for your interest, I can confirm that it is John driving. You may have noticed that the name E Akers is on the side of the white car just above the TVR motif. I think this was his company name probably started by his father hence the "E". I also remember driving the blue/silver car myself on the beach at Southport for testing purposes.(frightening)However I am not sure how far apart in time the two pics are. I notice one is dry sand and the other wet. There could have been a good space of time between them. I think the only other time he borrowed this car was a one off sprint at Woodvale. The cars John actually owned and competed with were the two TVR 1800's. a Porsche 911S a rear engined special plus two Ford Escorts. I have pictures of all these but they will be of no interest here although I am not sure if TVR had a hand in building the chassis of the rear engined special.
I assume Tom Osmond bought the white car from TVR?
I find this forum fascinating. So good to look back!!
Regards Clive

Edited by csturnbull on Sunday 13th April 20:06

Edited by csturnbull on Sunday 13th April 20:08

Edited by csturnbull on Sunday 13th April 20:21

[oliverb205]

Hi Clive,

This is fascinating stuff and the pictures are wonderful. would you be interested in putting together an article for Sprint on your time as mechanic for John Akers? Even just a load of the photos with as much detail as you can remember would be fascinating to the readership.

Oliver.
Pre80s editor, TVR Car Club.

[csturnbull]

oliverb205 said:

Hi Clive,

This is fascinating stuff and the pictures are wonderful. would you be interested in putting together an article for Sprint on your time as mechanic for John Akers? Even just a load of the photos with as much detail as you can remember would be fascinating to the readership.

Oliver.
Pre80s editor, TVR Car Club.

I'm honoured to be asked but I am now 75 and still working building Porsche 356 engines and also rebuilding a MGA motor so time is quite tight. I am however willing to put some pics of John's cars up although only half of these were TVR's and some of these are already uploaded to the forum. Then there is the memory, it was a while ago and I would hate to get anything wrong. I hope you understand.
Kind Regards
Clive

[oliverb205]

Hi Clive,

That's not a problem, I realise how tight time is. But just some photos with as much info as you can remember would be fascinating, and most TVR owners like all sorts of old cars so a few of "lesser" cars would be fine. It is hard to find out any info on the early years, and something new a different is always appreciated.

No rush, but if you want to email me direct on [e-mail] we can see what you have.

Thanks,

Oliver.

[csturnbull]

oliverb205 said:

Hi Clive,

That's not a problem, I realise how tight time is. But just some photos with as much info as you can remember would be fascinating, and most TVR owners like all sorts of old cars so a few of "lesser" cars would be fine. It is hard to find out any info on the early years, and something new a different is always appreciated.

No rush, but if you want to email me direct on [e-mail] we can see what you have.

Thanks,

Oliver.

Oliver

Many thanks. I will email you direct with some of the other cars rather than swamp the forum with things that may be of little interest. I will also include my memories of John Akers and how I became involved. You can then judge what might be of interest.
Kind regards
Clive

Edited by csturnbull on Thursday 17th April 18:14

[alphaone]

[quote=csturnbull]Browsing these pages has sparked renewed interest in my past! As mentioned in an earlier post I was a mechanic for TVR Autocross driver John Akers. Looking through my old pics I have found a couple of pics that intrigue me. One is the ex-Gerry Marshall Griffith which was silver and dark blue as I recall. Reg number MMT 7C. The mystery is the white one with the same reg no and what appears to be a porthole window behind the passengers door.Same car? Biggest problem is why I can't remember, I was there!!!! Anybody help?
quote]

I was reading 'TVR An Illustrated History' by Johnny Tipler today while waiting for someone to turn up for a meeting at work. On page 68 it says that MMT 7C was Martin Lilleys car driven by Gerry Marshall. The car had been written off twice in accidents which may explain the colour dofferences in the pictures.

First person to write it off was none other than John Akers, second time it was wrote off was by Gillian Fortescue-Thomas.

Hope you get chance to write something for Sprint mag, would be great to see and read about the early cars and a sport that has very little coverage.

[csturnbull]

alphaone]sturnbull said:

Browsing these pages has sparked renewed interest in my past! As mentioned in an earlier post I was a mechanic for TVR Autocross driver John Akers. Looking through my old pics I have found a couple of pics that intrigue me. One is the ex-Gerry Marshall Griffith which was silver and dark blue as I recall. Reg number MMT 7C. The mystery is the white one with the same reg no and what appears to be a porthole window behind the passengers door.Same car? Biggest problem is why I can't remember, I was there!!!! Anybody help?
quote]

I was reading 'TVR An Illustrated History' by Johnny Tipler today while waiting for someone to turn up for a meeting at work. On page 68 it says that MMT 7C was Martin Lilleys car driven by Gerry Marshall. The car had been written off twice in accidents which may explain the colour dofferences in the pictures.

First person to write it off was none other than John Akers, second time it was wrote off was by Gillian Fortescue-Thomas.

Hope you get chance to write something for Sprint mag, would be great to see and read about the early cars and a sport that has very little coverage.

Many thanks. Oliver had also mentioned that in an email. It may make things fit. There is no way I would not have remembered John writing off this car even at my age! The conclusion I have come to is that this must have happened after John and I parted company. It happened after my marriage broke down. This was a difficult time for John and Audrey as we had all become good friends and even had a holiday together. They were in the middle and really wanted me to stay with my wife but it wasn't possible and after John and I kicked stones round the pub car park for an hour we decided it wouldn't work and we parted on reasonably good terms. The pics I have of this car were given to me after John and Audrey had passed away by a relative together with some trophies. I was really pleased to own them and very grateful. I have contacted him again and we have agreed to meet in the near future and see if we can get a clearer picture. He remembers me well and is a lot younger so it should be interesting. Maybe I never saw this car in white in real life and that would explain everything.
I don't suppose there was a date when John wrote it off?

Many thanks for your help. It is all starting to make sense

Regards
Clive

Edited by csturnbull on Wednesday 23 April 20:59