Barn Finds Unusually-stored MG, rally-historied Mini and low-mileage Ford all emerge
Boxed-in 1951 TD is released to be offered for sale by departed owner’s widow
What can you do if you need more storage space in the garage, but are reluctant to sell your old car? One answer, and the one favoured by TV producer Jerry Kuehl, was to build a wooden box around it and pile other possessions on top. Freelance classic car journalist Richard Mason got in touch to tell us of this ‘urban barn find’. He was present when it was disinterred.
‘Jerry bought this 1951 MG TD in 1963 when he lived in France. Although a righthand-drive car, it seems it was exported directly to France and never registered in the UK until Jerry brought it back in 1971, hence the J-reg. The odometer shows 13,788 miles. When he was working on
The World At War Jerry used the TD for his regular commute to Thames TV in Teddington, a 30 mile round trip from his West Hampstead home.
‘Parking the MG in the garage in 1978, he left the keys in the ignition and they’re still there. Later the car was entombed in a wooden box on top of which redundant household items, deckchairs and the like were piled. Jerry died a year ago and now his widow, Adele, is offering the car via Hobbs Parker Auctioneers, with the sale on October 25 in Ashford, Kent.’
Adele says that the car was already in its garaged state when she and Jerry were married. ‘It was a bit like part of his “dowry”,’ she said. ‘It always seemed like part of the family anyway, even perhaps of Jerry’s identity. So it stayed, and it is something of a wrench to lose it now.’
Richard says being in a dry environment for 41 years has kept the car in fair shape; the leather seats are useable, though it will clearly require a ‘deep recommissioning’, as Richard puts it. Hobbs Parker has set a guide price of £8000 to £12,000.
Moribund Mini Cooper – but is there a saviour out there?
According to the DVLA’S website, this is a 997cc Austin Cooper Seven, first registered in December 1961 – an example of the very first year of Cooper production. That alone should make it worth saving, but the car clearly had some motor sport use before it was taken off the road and stored some 40 years ago – the oil cooler is the most obvious clue. Reader Steve Hurrell knows the widow of the late owner, Roger Reid, and says this is the last of Roger’s old Minis on the property near Billericay, Essex.
‘There was also an estate, a pick-up and a Moke, and they’ve all gone now. Roger had trophies he’d won with this car and others. This one is complete but in horrible shape, unfortunately.’ Steve’s brother, David, knew Roger Reid well but had never seen the car. ‘Roger had done a lot of rallying with the Billericay Motor Club and others, but by the time I knew him in the late Sixties he’d given it up. Roger used to talk about the car, but even his wife Anne had never seen it until we opened the door of the old garage.’ The car’s fate is yet to be decided but it’s likely to go to auction.