Ever since my dad took me to the MG Car Club meetings at Silverstone in the 1960s, MG K3s have captivated me. When I heard the most original of the 33 built had arrived at John Polsonʼs Suffolk base, I had to call in to admire what many rate as Englandʼs greatest pre-war sports car.
This K3ʼs rich history started as a works entry for the 1934 Mille Miglia. After some success the previous year, Lord Howe organised a second factory-backed sortie to the famous Italian road race with three new K3s. Howe and his great friend Count Johnny Lurani were joined by Eddie Hall, the wealthy and experienced privateer, with chassis K3016.
The Mille proved a very different event in 1934, with a new course and a smaller entry of top-class drivers including 18 Alfa 8Cs. But with lowered compression for reliability, the exhaust rerouted under the chassis to lessen cockpit noise, revised Roots superchargers and extra foglights, the K3 team cars proved slower and their Dunlop tyres were no match for the wet grip of the local oppositionʼs latest Pirellis.
Hall, with his wife June as navigator, wasnʼt intimidated by his first Mille Miglia experience despite the dark, wet start at 4:05am. After Howe crashed out at Florence, Hall set an impressive pace and by the Siena control was just 2 mins behind Piero Taruffiʼs Maserati 4CS. Frustratingly, his run was ended when a failed core plug filled the MGʼs crankcase with water.
Admiring K3016 in the sunshine today, the image of it competing on the same roads as winner Varzi, Nuvolari and Chiron adds to its aura. You can imagine Tazio waving to the Halls as he roared past; the popular Mantuan had famously won the TT in a K3 in 1933.
K3016 was spruced up after the Mille and sold through University Motors when a young George Wright spotted it in the Piccadilly showroom. On the condition it would do more than 100mph, Wright paid £575, took it back to his Bessingby Hall home and enjoyed its spectacular performance around Yorkshire.
Like four other K3s, this supercharged 1100 was later sold to Australia. Second owner Lyster Jackson painted the two-year-old car red and competed extensively, including at the Austral
