Seller's comments about 1932' MG F Type Magna Styles F1
The matching numbers F-Type now offered is an extensively restored example with alloy 'Threesome Sports' body by Stiles - the 'Threesome' moniker referring to the layout of two front seats plus dickey. The distinctive design was penned by Frederick Stiles, who had been the British concessionaire and racing team manager for Alfa Romeo and commissioned some 30 such bodies from renowned coachbuilder James Young. Only five of these Stiles-bodied F-Types are known to have survived, of which the sale car is chassis F1286. It was delivered new on July 4th, 1932 to a Mr. A L Watson of London. In 1999 it was acquired as a restoration project by a Dutchman who proceeded to refurbish it to a very high standard between 2002 and 2010. The bodywork, Dark Blue paintwork, Grey-painted wire wheels, Grey interior trim and four-speed manual gearbox are all in 'excellent' order. The straight-six engine has recently been the subject of an extensive overhaul by a well-known Dutch MG specialist
The F-Type Magna range was only produced between 1931 and 1932 and was created to fill the evident gap that existed between the very affordable M-Type Midget and the far dearer 18/80 range of cars. It was effectively a six-cylinder, longer wheelbase version of the four-cylinder D-Type launched at the same time, and therefore featured a newly designed, riveted steel chassis with sliding trunnion suspension, underslung rear axle and centre-lock wire wheels. Though supposedly new, the 1271cc engine was in fact an extended version of the Wolseley Hornet unit, but equipped with dummy side covers in order to appear to be of fresh design. Its power output was 37.2bhp and it drove to the rear wheels via a straight-cut ENV gearbox. In hood-down guise, the Magna was capable of 72mph-plus flat out.