1950 HRG 1500-based Trials Special 'Crocus'

Lot details
Registration No: MSF 6
Chassis No: SW157R
Mot Expiry: None

This intriguing Trials Special was - as its surviving original buff logbook states - 'built from spare parts'. The brainchild of Edinburgh resident Tom Legget, the sparse two-seater was initially road registered as 'ESG 901' in July 1950. Adopting the number plates 'S 666' and 'MSF 6' during 1960 and 1963 respectively, it is the latter that appears on the car's accompanying V5 registration document. Highly effective, the Special won numerous events including the first post-WW2 Scottish Rally Championship and a televised Scotland vs. England Driving Test meeting. Though, perhaps such competition success should not come as a surprise given its 'genetic make-up'.

The chassis - stamped as 'SW157R' - is reputed to have begun life aboard a HRG sports car which was raced and rallied by the future Austin-Healey Works driver, Bill Shepherd. Mr. Shepherd's old steed (chassis number 'W157') still exists but utilizes another frame. Interestingly, Legget sourced the engine for his creation - bearing the number '2527H' - from a second HRG namely the company's pre-WW2 'Green Demonstrator'. Road registered as 'GPE 607', the 'Green Demonstrator' was campaigned at Brooklands by Prince B. Bira in 1938 as well as being used as a testbed for the new Singer 1500 engine.

Mimicking some of the more highly developed MG K3 racers, the Trials Special was equipped with Lancia 'sliding pillar' independent front suspension (taken from a 1937/1939 Aprilia) and four-speed pre-selector transmission, while its back axle is believed to have been donated by a Triumph Dolomite. In keeping with the bespoke badge which adorned its radiator shell and proclaimed it to be a 'Crocus', the purposeful two-seater was finished in purple with yellow wheels; an effect quite lost when black and white photos of the car appeared in Autosport magazine (16th March 1951, 8th December 1951) among others.

We understand a can of the original purple paint has survived to this day, the vendor further informing us that: "Indeed the car is in remarkably original condition, having been retained by Tom Legget for a considerable number of years before being passed to a small motor museum in East Lothian from whence the present owner bought it during 1990. The original aluminium body, instruments, Brooklands steering wheel and even the hood and sidescreens are all present. Various photographs of the car competing in 1950 / 1951 seem to indicate that the original tyres are still fitted! There is photographic evidence of some restoration work carried out prior to sale in 1990, showing the car stripped to a bare chassis which was bead blasted and epoxy coated".

Although, the original buff logbook and more modern V5 registration document identify the former Scottish Rally Championship-winning machine as an HRG 1500, the HRG Association judges this to be a misnomer. They argue that only a car built at the marque's Kingston-upon-Thames premises can truly be called a HRG and naturally 'Crocus' does not appear on any of their production records. Whatever your perspective, this ingenious and glorious Trials Special has the makings of a rewarding project.