Puzzle #357 - 1935 MG PA/PB-type

[Otto Puzzell]

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[Allan L]

Special-bodied MG PB?

[Otto Puzzell]

MG, yes...

[Allan L]

MG, yes...

So not a PB
Logic for that was the large brake drums and short chassis, but it could be a short-chassis six-cylinder I suppose.
I'm sure I've seen it somewhere before, either in the metal or a photo.

[Ultra]

MG, yes...

So not a PB
Logic for that was the large brake drums and short chassis, but it could be a short-chassis six-cylinder I suppose.
I'm sure I've seen it somewhere before, either in the metal or a photo.

It would not surprise me at all if you had.  This car has been seen in some famous places.

[grobmotorix]

Miles Collier's 1935 MG PA/PB-type
Special named "Leonidis"

<<<link removed>>>

[Allan L]

That's the one and I cannot have seen it in that form after all.

The Mike Savory website says:
Built and race-prepared by the factory in 1935, this car (PA-1667) is one of three MG PAs entered by Captain George Eyston for Le Mans, where his "all-girl" team won their class. In July 1935, the three cars were converted to trials' specification for the "Three Musketeers" team. This conversion included increasing the engine size from 847cc to the PB capacity of 939cc and changing the Le Mans livery of British Racing Green to MG's contemporary racing colors of cream and brown, more commonly known as "Cream and Crackers."

Two months later the cars' specifications were slightly modified for high-speed trails at Brooklands. In October the factory sold the three MGs with American Miles Collier becoming the first private owner of PA-1667. Before the car was shipped stateside, Collier instructed the factory's competition department to make a few modifications, including the installment of a Marshall supercharger of the type originally designed for pressurizing aircraft cabins.

Aside from the fact that the team cars were "Cream Crackers" not "Cream and Crackers" this account shows (together with the large brake drums) that although it was a PA to begin with, it is a PB in all that matters save chassis number! 
Also I'd say that Marshall blowers were not much used for aeroplane pressurisation in 1935. . . .

This is how it looked as it left England, supercharger between dumb irons, PB brakes but MG body.

[Norm Oliveau]

Know what it is?

Please, respond below and let us know the make and model designation of the car posted here.

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Thanks!

A little more info on this beauty.....I realize this was posted in 2007, but.....the '35 MG was in an accident in NYC and Miles Collier asked his friend, my grandfather, John V. Oliveau to fix the car. John Oliveau worked for Grumman Aircraft around that time and applied aircraft design in the body rebuild. My father has vivid memories of my grandfather hammering out the fenders in the family garage. I still remember the smell of my grandfathers basement, oil soaked wood, metal shavings, electrical wire, flux....awesome as a small child to view his "museum" of tools and parts.

You can find beautiful color pics if you do a google search for "Oliveau Roadster" 

[Allan L]

Thanks for the extra information, Norm.
Worldwide we find many people in the aircraft industry made specials using their transferrable skills in sheet metal forming!
We had a lot of it at de Havilland, but not many were as good-looking as your grandfather's.

[Carnut]

In colour: