Sold Cars 1954 Lester-MG T51 Racing Coupe

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Year: 1954
Make: Lester-MG
Model: T51 Racing Coupe
Engine: 1466 cc/85 HP
Transmission: 4 Spd.
Price: SOLD

Englishman Harry Lester was a garage owner and motor racing enthusiast whose business was located at Thatcham in Berkshire. Lester was an MG devotee who, in the immediate post-war years, raced a modified PB Midget before building his first MG-engined Lester in 1949. Like all racers, Lester wanted to improve on the standard product, and the result was a car that possessed superior handling and was both lighter and more powerful than the contemporary MG TC. This 1954 Lester-MG T51 Alloy Coupe, apparently the seventh chassis produced at Thatcham, was specially built for MG agent and racer Maurice Toulmin, whose six-foot-four-inch height accounts for its high roofline. Toulmin soon sold the Lester-MG, which passed through Tony Darby and Peter Roberts, both of whom used it as a road car. It was then acquired by Bernard Harding, who kept it from 1957 to 1962. Harding campaigned ‘GUO 209’ extensively during his ownership, winning 17 awards on the circuits and hills at Shelsley Walsh, Prescott and the Brighton Speed Trials; achieving class wins at Bodmin in 1960, Firle and Wiscombe in 1961; finishing 4th at the British Automobile Racing Club’s September 1960 Goodwood race meeting, winning the class and clocking the fastest lap at Silverstone in September 1960 and competing at Brands Hatch. MG Enthusiast magazine ran an extensive feature on GUO 209 in its September 2010 issue detailing its history and Bernard Harding’s results. In 1962, Harding sold the car to John Stringer, who fitted a supercharger and continued to race it with success. In 1981, the Lester-MG was sold to the USA, passing into the ownership of MG collector Gerry Goguen, proprietor of marque specialists Abingdon Spares, whose MG museum in Westminster, Vermont, was world famous. In the early 1990s, Goguen had the body shipped to the UK, where it was expertly restored by Len Bull of Monza Classic Cars in Doddinghurst, Essex. Once restored, the body was shipped back to New England, where the car was put on museum display, remaining there until the Goguen Collection was dispersed around 2003. Built with aluminum coachwork on a steel frame, the T51 is powered by a 1,466cc MG TC inline 4-cylinder engine with Laystall aluminum cylinder head, balanced crankshaft, rods and pistons, a full race camshaft and Derrington exhaust. Twin fuel pumps, an electric cooling fan, lightened flywheel, TC 4-speed transmission and rack and pinion steering complete the specifications. Finished in Green with matching interior and rolling on 16-inch Dunlop Racing wheels with Michelin X tires, GUO 209 is in excellent condition and is offered with invoices and photographs of its 1993 restoration. This wonderful and historically significant MG qualifies for many vintage racing events and rallies around the world.