Harry Beith Chrysler, from Jack Day, Day Special and Norm Hamilton or Les Murphy, MG P-Type during the early laps of the Benalla Centenary 100, Easter Monday, April 13, 1936.
Teaser for the little-known Benalla Centenary Hundred to be held by the Victorian Sporting Car Club.
The centenary being celebrated, was the European-settler establishment of the township of Benalla 210km northeast of Melbourne. There is bugger-all in the way of photographs of this meeting, I’m not helping solve the problem here either, but the firsthand report of the meeting is a start; photo contributions invited!
The correct name of the winner is Vincent Aloysius Moloney, born 1902, later in life a resident of Murrumbeena, Melbourne, while the winning car is an MG Magna L-Type chassis #L0658.
The car was imported by Lanes Motors and lobbed at Port Melbourne in December 1933. It was locally bodied by Chas Aspinall, a common practice at the time to minimise the exposure to import duties levied by The Fiscal Fiend. Vin raced the car mainly in Victoria until 1936, after which the car was sold to a South Australian owner. The car has lived in New Zealand since 2014, click here for an interesting, comprehensive history of the car, scroll down to #L0658:https://www.mgclub.org.nz/download/167741/L%20Types%2C%2007%20October%202024%20V2.%20PDF.pdf
MG Historians are certain the VA Maloney (sic) who competed in four Australian Grands Prix: Nuiootpa 1950, Narrogin 1951, Bathurst 1952 and Albert Park in 1953 aboard a Head Brothers, Murrumbeena, Melbourne built MG TC Monoposto Special is our boy.
Jack Day punches his Ford V8-powered Day Special – Bugatti T39 Ford – out of one of the right-handers. That water tower will be a tip for a local as to the precise locale.
Credits…
The Car March 1936 via the Bob King Collection, Edward Trevithick-State Library of Victoria
Finito…
primotipo... 