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Chassis:
One of three cars entered in the 1933 Mille Miglia by the MG factory team, this car is understood to have won its class in the 1933 Mille Miglia with George Eyston and Count Giovanni ‘Johnny’ Lurani at the helm. Now fitted with a lightweight body, it was subsequently entered by Whitney Straight in the Tourist Trophy on the Ards road course for Tazio Nuvolari. The exceptionally talented Italian won the race outright. Ahead of the 1934 season, MG received a request to buy the ‘Nuvolari car’ from German racer Theodore Fork. With the actual car unavailable due to promotional duties, MG instead built a brand-new K3, re-using the K3003 chassis number and ‘JB 1475’ license plate. The actual car remained at the factory and was eventually sold in 1937 as chassis K33, presumably with the middle two zeroes filed from the frame. It was acquired by Ronald Victor Robinson with a single seater and sports car body. Chassis K33 changed hands several times before it was acquired by MG enthusiast Mike Ellman Brown. He had a police forensic examiner take a closer look at the frame stamping and established that stamp actually read K3003. In rather rough condition, the MG was sold on in 1966 and in 1975 it was sufficiently restored for George Eyston himself to drive it at a MG Car Club meeting at Brands Hatch.
In 1985, it was acquired by British-born, Australian enthusiast, the late Peter Briggs for his recently established York Motor Museum. Briggs subjected the frame stamping to a formal investigation. Acting Senior Sergeant R.A.Warburton of the Western Australia Police Ballistic Section used the latest detection technology in a three hour test on March 22, 1994. His findings showed revealed that: "The details restored are as follows: 'k3-0-3" appearing "...to be a four (4) letter/number sequence.” This strengthened Briggs his belief that he had in fact acquired the ex-Mille Miglia and Tourist Trophy factory K3 and subsequently had the car meticulously restored to its Mille Miglia configuration. During this process, further clues were discovered that this was in fact a very early production K3 frame as used by the works team. When the work was completed, Briggs raced the car in Australian and New Zealand historic events before displaying it in the Fremantle Motor Museum between 2002 and 2007. In 2013, the K3 was brought to Europe and participated in the Mille Miglia retrospective and the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Briggs would own around 200 cars during his lifetime and retained the MG K3 until his passing in 2022. From his estate, the exquisitely prepared MG was consigned to the 2024 Bonhams Goodwood Revival auction.
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