The Vintage Sports Car Club of Australia

Lobethal 2009

 Old Parliament House Canberra

Ron Heine  Mt. Druit 1948

Lobethal 2009

Ron Heine  Mt. Druit October 1948

Lobethal 2009

Lobethal 2009

John Crouch Straphpine 1946

History of this Vehicle

TC 0522

 THE FIRST TC TO RACE IN AUSTRALIA

Extract from History of MGTC 0522   Engine XPAG1229  Body B280 Body No 371 A1293

 The car was completed on the 9^th March 1946 finished in black with beige interior.

 The car was shipped to Australia on the ship ‘Denbighshire’ along with TC’s 0511 and 0513. This was the third shipment of three cars each which arrived very close together. The car was the 8^th sold in NSW by P and R Williams.

 It was sold to John Crouch on 31^st May 1946 and registered TE 644. John Crouch was listed as living in Maclay Street Potts Point.

 John bought the TC new in May 1946. It was very difficult to get a new car at that stage so soon after the war had ended and was regarded as very privileged. John said he only got the car through his father’s contacts with P and R Williams. John kept the car for around one year then sold it to John Snow.

John Crouch ran at Strathpine 11^th August 1946. John had entered his Delahaye for the race, but it was not ready. He travelled to the meeting anyway and was persuaded to enter. John wore no helmet, presumably as he had not intended to race, and the car has no numbers. John gained two second placed on the day, missing out on a first by 100 yards on handicap from Frank Kleinig. This Strathpine meeting was the first Queensland post war race meeting and the third anywhere in Australia.

John Snow. The second owner of the TC was John Snow, the very successful racing driver of the period. John Snow’s father, Sir Sidney Snow, owned Snow’s Department Store in Sydney. John imported many important racing cars into Australia before and immediately after the war including the 8c2300 Alfa Romeo (immediately sold to John Crouch), Delahaye 135 (later sold to John Crouch), MG K3 (ex Prince “Bira”), Dixon Riley, BMW 325 etc.

 John Snow apparently kept the car for only about six months before selling it to Ron Heine. No records of competition have been found and Ron Heine recalls that John mainly used it for driving to work.

Ron Heine - third owner for 26 years,  Ron Heine ran in the TC with Stuart Todhunter MGJ2 (45).  at the Mt Druitt races on 4^th October 1948. Ron ran the car mainly in VSCC and ASCC events, these being Foleys Hill, Mt Druitt airstrip circuit, Marsden Park and Hawksbury Hillclimb.                                                                         

A VSCC dashboard plaque records that on 3^rd Feb 1952 R.B. Heine won the ‘MODERN’ class at Foleys Hill in this car. Ron reckons he competed almost every weekend for nearly five years. The numerous records indicate a very active club use of this car

Ron Heine carried out numerous modifications to the car including fitting the Marshall supercharger taken off David McKay’s TC in 1950 (TC 0612), fitting a multi plate clutch plus many more minor changes to extract more power. The car runs a 4.2:1 final drive and is ideal for touring.

 Jim Sandy – fourth owner for 28 years. Jim acquired the car from Ron Heine about 1974 and carried out a complete restoration, but used the car very little.

 The current owner Tim Shellshear – fifth owner. Tim tried very hard to buy this car in the late 1960’s from Ron Heine,  but had to wait until 2002 when it became available. The car is used regularly for VSCCA events and general touring.

If you would like to contact the owner of this vehicle, please email to the address 

shown on our Contact Us page, and include this vehicle reference mgts.html in your message.