V8 Column
for October 2004 published in Safety Fast!, the award winning monthly magazine of the MG Car Club

Geoff Allen (Teal Blue 2101) is giving the third of the annual Don Hayter Talks. (Photo: Gavin Bailey)

This month the event which will interest many V8 enthusiasts, and indeed other Club members, is the talk by Geoff Allen on his life and times at Abingdon. In 2002 Geoff supported Don Hayter who gave the first of what has become an annual series established by Peter Buckles during his term as V8 Chairman. Copies of a transcript of that talk are available on CD in Word and PDF formats and a free copy is provided on all V8 Workshop Notes CDs. The talk has been arranged by Clive Wheatley at the Swancote Country Club on the A454 between Bridgnorth and Worfield, just south west of Wolverhampton. Tickets at £12 each include lunch from 12.15pm and the talk at 2.00pm, and are available from Clive Wheatley, High Grosvenor Workshops, Worfield, Bridgnorth, Wolverhampton WV15 5PN. For further information call Clive on 01746 710810. Full details and a booking form are available on the V8 Website together with useful location maps. All MG Car Club members are welcome.

Geoff Allen is well known to V8 enthusiasts in the UK and overseas with his knowledge and

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memories of over 27 years at the Abingdon Plant. He always has a wealth of tales and interesting anecdotes - not to mention a mischievous sense of humour - so the event will certainly be entertaining. Few members at that first talk will have forgotten the amusing tale Geoff related about the perennial problem with the "top hat" battery connectors fitted to MGs and other makes. As an apprentice with a Vauxhall dealer in Oxford, Geoff was sent out with his foreman to help a customer stranded on the A40 and upon arrival the foreman examined the car and then gave the connectors a firm tap with a rubber hammer, whereupon the car started immediately. On handing over an invoice for nineteen shillings and six pence (97.5p in today's money), the customer said "that's an enormous charge for such little work of just tapping the terminal!" Whereupon the foreman replied "it's only six pence for the work, but nineteen shillings for knowing what to do!".


Damask 1667 with its "H" plate issued to historic vehicles in Germany. (Photo: Allan Doyle)

Increased interest in V8s is coming from Germany. Allan Doyle (Damask 1667) reports that "one reason for the recent increased interest in MGBGTV8s in Germany is possibly the motor tax regime here. Germany has a very complicated motor tax system based on engine capacity and "cleanliness" based on Euronorm. An old 3.5 litre V8 costs a fortune in motor tax (around £1,400 pa) whilst a new, small-engined car is charged less than in the UK. However, 30 years after the date of first registration, this changes and the car becomes an "historic vehicle" for which a lower blanket tax figure (about 10% of the previous figure in the case of a V8) comes into effect making a 1974 V8 suddenly very attractive!". The car is then issued with an "H" registration plate denoting an historic vehicle.