Maggy Magnette…Where Are You?
I’ve been meaning to do an article on the Magnette for some time now and I’ve finally gotten pencil to paper, but I guess keyboard to monitor is more like it! Anyway, this tale goes like this…
One day I was researching some rally results from the famous Shell 4000 Rally, also called the Trans-Canada Rally, which stretched from Montreal to Vancouver. I knew from old rally pins and car badges that my grandparents had participated in the event several times. I had always assumed that they had participated in all the rallies together and was surprised to find that was not the case. While they participated in the first one together, my grandfather participated twice more with other navigators. It was in researching one of his co-drivers, Dick Templeton, that I found that Dick had in turn rallied on that first Shell 4000 with a fellow by the name of Ken Recu.
People often ask me how to go about researching their cars, and I often tell them that it helps to be looking for a person with a last name other than Smith or Jones! Fortunately, Ken Recu was an easy find and I was even more thrilled to find out, after talking with him, that he not only knew my grandparents and had rallied with them on numerous occasions, but that he had also rallied extensively in a MG Magnette affectionately called Maggy. The makings of a story for MGA!
Ken and his good friend Dick Templeton competed regularly in Maggy the Magnette from approximately 1958 through 1963, the heyday of the large SCCA National Rally Program. Back then, the major SCCA regions all put on a serious, usually two day long, time speed distance rally. These were not the typical touring or gimmick rallies with which most of us might be familiar. These were seriously competitive events involving very aware driving skills, constant communication between driver and navigator, and good math skills! The rally route would be lined with hidden checkpoints and you were penalized for arriving too early or too late, the goal was to be on time. Rally instructions required you to maintain an average speed between points and if traffic conditions or a wrong turn delayed you, you had to do the mathematical calculations to adjust your speed and get back on track.
Since rallies were run on local roads, they were not all out speed tests, but a test of accuracy. Therefore, cars of all shapes and sizes were on an even playing field. A speedy Porsche had no real advantage over a Magnette! In fact, I’d argue that the Magnette driver would have the greater advantage of passenger comfort for the long haul of the rally, as well as, a space advantage for rally equipment, maps, and such.
So, back to Maggy; she was a highly equipped rally machine! Fitted with a Stevens hundredths odometer for precision, an electronic tachometer, Cibie lights, Michelin tires, fog lights, and even a spotlight on the roof as some rallies were run at night. Of course Maggy was also equipped with many of the rally implements of the day, such as, dash mounted chronograph watches, clipboard for writing notes, Becker short wave radio, and a Curta calculator.
As shown in the photograph, believed to have been taken at the Virginia Reel Rally, with her spotlight and racing stripe Maggy even looked all business. It is amazing to think of the miles that this car logged in one season, let alone five or six rally seasons! For one rally, the Continental Divide Rally, Ken and Dick (who also was the owner of Maggy) drove from Chicago to Denver for the rally; put 700 miles on the clock over the two day rally, and then drove back to Chicago! Such an adventure might be a one time annual outing for one of our national GTs. Can you imagine such an adventure times six or more to compete on the National Rally Circuit, plus a few local club rallies? I ultimately asked Ken if he knew whatever became of Maggy. He did, but only up to a point. It seems that at the end of Maggy’s rally days, Dick decided to donate Maggy to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago in 1964. I took the step of calling the Museum on the chance that Maggy was possibly still on display or in storage there, but unfortunately they informed me that the Magnette was sold in 1966. So the story ends here for now…
Are there any members of the Chicagoland MG Club Chapter that have any recollections of this distinct Magnette surfacing in the club at any time?
Photo by Taz Rufty
