A few years back when writing the article on A series cylinder head types I added the 8 port cast iron head as designed by Eddie Maher and Harry Weslake. Eddie Maher was well known at Morris Engines and in the tuning world as he was instrumental in the Sebring and Le Mans Sprites using XSP and other modified engines for these race series plus the development of Formula Junior and Formula 3 engines for John Cooper. I tried looking for Eddie Maher on the website search engines and could never find anything apart from one person having the same problem of not finding any pictures or articles about him. Having been in the motor trade since the release of the 1071cc Cooper S in 1963 and learning about the Cooper 997 I had only heard about this tuning wizards involvement who had helped change the A series engine originally designed by Austin Motors at Longbridge for the Austin A30 with 30 bhp, then being transformed at Morris Engines from October 1957 onwards according to Bill Appleby, into a 120bhp 1293cc by 1968. Most people have heard about the great and famous historical drivers/tuners of Minis and Healey’s Sprites plus the Cooper brand of the past, but very few people realise or know who was “instrumental in powering their machines“. The main years of the A series and Mini engine development and research for power was from 1959 to 1964 and then progression of engine reliability and performance to 1970 until the A plus engine was introduced in 1980. So this is basically my story and research about Eddie Maher and not forgetting his close team of work mates. To think Eddie retired in 1975 nearly 50 years ago I did not want people trying to find out about this phenomenal man in the annals of bookshelf history so this is my homage of a true legend of the Mini tuning world who I did not want forgotten, with help from his son Eddy and others on his families photographs and lifeline. 

Edward Joseph Mayer was born in 1910 the son of a farmer from Southern Ireland and educated at the Cistercian college, a Catholic Boarding school in Roscrea, Tipperary. He initially continued his studies in Tipperary at Thurles Technical school training as a civil engineer. However all that changed when Eddie still not twenty saw Victor Gillow racing in the first Phoenix Park grand Prix in Dublin 12th July 1929, only to return the following year 18th July 1930, to watch Victor Gillow in his Riley Nine Brooklands and win the Saorstat cup which gave him the motor racing bug. Eddie overcame some parental disapproval and managed to secure a job at Riley in 1929, swiftly becoming the Coventry companies first premium apprentice who trained further on at Coventry Technical college. Eddie soon moved into the company’s experimental and racing department and in due course, became Development Engineer for Riley Engines. Eddie was at the forefront of Rileys racing efforts throughout the 1930s the heydays of the proudly independent sporting marque, often being at Brooklands and other leading circuits where Rileys were racing. In 1934 the Riley Nines finished a creditable 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th at Le Mans.  Eddie was often known to recall with pride that the Riley Nines took the first five places at the French Grand Prix In 1935 .

Eddie developed/prepared engines for and also took part in a large number of rallies and races before the war, the Ulster TT, Monte Carlo Rally’s and of course Brooklands shown in photo above showing its steeped track in the background. As an experienced rally and trials driver he held two each of Monte Carlo & Alpine trial plaques. In 1951 Eddie stressed the fact that better braking and power output gave present day trials and rally drivers a marked advantage, while conditions are generally much improved. The recent Monte Carlo Rally, for instance he described as “main road joy-ride motoring.”

Eddie listed his practical training (his apprenticeship) at Riley as 18 months in the machine shop, 18 months planning and drawing office, 12 months service dept and racing competition and one year at development plus his 4 years at Coventry Technical college giving him a perfect grounding for his future. Riley were put into voluntary receivership in February 1938 and purchased from the receivers by William Morris in September 1938 who on 1st Jan 1938 had been made Lord Nuffield, who then directly transferred the company to Morris Motors Ltd, who subsequently became part of the BMC group in 1952. During World War 2 Eddie was seconded to Rolls Royce where he worked on carburettors for the famous Merlin engines as used on the Supermarine Spitfire around the time they were having trouble with the SU carb floats during flight manoeuvres as an aviation carb is an immensely sophisticated piece of equipment. Beatrice Shilling came up with a quick fix, a restrictor before the fuel entered the float chamber which was a round metal disc with a hole in. By 1942 a “Pressure Carb” was fitted converting from a float chamber to an early type of throttle body fuel injection which prevented fuel starvation during any inverted flights or G forces. Eddie became an associate member of the Royal Aeronautical Society on 27th April 1944 and a paid up member from 1953 to 1961. Eddie returned to Morris Motors Engine dept as chief test engineer in 1945 and in 1949 was made Chief research & Special power unit engineer.

In 1953 Eddies contracted polio and suffered extensive paralysis in his legs but managed to overcome this and continue to serve under what had become the Morris Motors Engine branch at Courthouse Green, Coventry.  Riley his first love was then followed by MG as Courthouse Green supplied Abingdon power units.

Alec Poole an Abingdon Works driver and British Saloon car champion in 1969 was an apprentice and fellow Irishman who came to know and respect Eddie Maher, described how despite his need to walk with the aid of sticks, his friend had maintained his cheery and positive disposition despite the challenges he faced as a consequence of poliomyelitis. However on one occasion Alec Poole found Eddie, who he refers to as a true gentleman and engineer almost distraught: A new hatchet man had taken over control of BMC and the first thing he did was to clear out the drawing office of all the old Riley drawings from year one and burn the lot. 

These were the drawings that Eddie and his colleagues had sweated blood over. Let us hope some of the later Mini Engine drawings were salvaged by staff at Courthouse Green when it closed and maybe find some way back onto forums or websites. Longbridge also became a victim of lost or destroyed records when it closed so this seems an old Leyland/Rover trait.

Eddie was very proud that his prototype Morris version with 80 degree cylinder head was preferred over the Longbridge Austin version with 66 degrees for the 1955 Dunrod TT in ireland. The cast aluminium twin cam cylinder head has the valves slanted at a 40 degree angle from vertical (80 degrees included angle) forming a cross flow “hemi head” combustion chamber that allows for use of much larger valves. In 1957 MG set about establishing the world land speed record for Group F, the 1.1 to 1.5 litre class reaching 245mph with 1489cc easily beating the existing record of 203mph and then in 1959 with same engine configuration but bored plus 20 thou making it 1506cc producing over 300bhp for Group E, 1.5 to 2 litre class at 254mph so it could add to its tally of records. The research and effort Eddie and his team gained from MG EX181 and his 1955 prototype was used for the MG1600 twin cam production car from 1958-60.  I used to talk to Basil Wales and Ron Elkins regularly from 1966 on, as both had joined Special Tuning Abingdon during 1965 and they would highly praise Eddie stating what a master craftsman as an engineer and tuner he was. Basil was an apprentice under Eddie at Morris engines experimental Department before moving to Cowley and helped on the engine of MG181, the supercharged twin-cam four-pot land speed record engine which in his words “had an enormous appetite for the equal parts petrol/benzol/methanol that was its diet, and we had to put in a special fuel supply that we could replicate in the car. Almost by chance this ended up as a compressed air bottle, with a reducing valve, to pressurise the fuel tank. Trying to start the engine it promptly backfired. We lifted the dashpot and it ran a bit better, showing that it needed a richer mixture so we took the needles out of the carburettors, put them in a lathe, filed them down and tried again. We had to go through this process quite a few times before we could get the engine running properly and then got some pretty good results”

1957 Eddie applied to become a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers a very elite organisation owing to the fact he had attained a position of such eminence as a mechanical engineer by his contribution to engineering science or practice to qualify, in the opinion of Council, for membership where he was duly elected a member 25th July 1958 and duly confirmed 12th September 1958. About this time Eddie and his team consisting of Jack Goffin, Derek Frost, Brian Reece and Bill Clarke also worked on the Austin Healey engine that started life in the 100/6 in 1956 but they stretched it out from 2639cc to 2856cc and then finally to 2912cc. A new cylinder block pattern equipment had to be made for this casting with strengthening areas as the bore size was increased with the stroke unchanged. This engine went in the Healey 3000 released in 1959. This made it useful for competition for the up to 3 litre class allowing for an piston overbore.

In April 1958 Eddie was invited to become an honorary member of the Riley Register and a year later to become the President, a proud moment where he gave much of his time and pearls of wisdom to members at the meetings in the “Fletch” on Fletchamstead Highway and even gave away spares. In May 1958 Austin also announced a 2 seater convertible named the Austin Healey Sprite after being on the drawing board since 1956 and using the Austin 948cc engine with a Zenith carb from the 34bhp Austin A35, Morris Motors Engine Department who supplied all MG Abingdon’s engines were asked to extract more power for production by the car designer Donald Healey’s request, which Eddie Maher was tasked with and here started the exciting journey with the A series engines. Eddie obtained 42.5bhp by fitting twin H1 carbs adapted from the MG TF by Healey themselves, plus new manifolds and exhaust system with upgraded crankshaft bearings and clutch, with better exhaust valves and double valve springs. Then for the Mk2, Eddies team changed the camshaft, cylinder head with larger inlet valves and 9-1cr, plus an upgraded crankshaft giving 49.8bhp still from 948cc. The standard 8.3-1cr gave 46.5bhp and still gave up to 40 mpg according to “The Motor” magazine in 1962. During this period Eddies research and tuning was being used to help power the Sebring Sprites of Donald Healey and XSP engines which had many upgraded and trick parts for endurance and racing events such as Le Mans, Sebring, Targa Floria and Monte Carlo.

In 1961 Eddie and Derek Frost along with Abingdon’s Cliff Humphries were busy developing the new 997cc Cooper power unit for the Monte Carlo Rally, plus 6 other events booked for 1962. During this period Minis in motorsport had great publicity and in Graham Robsons words, “with BMC’s engine-tuning wizard Eddie Maher and Downton’s Daniel Richmond all lobbying as hard as possible”, approval came for a 1071 Cooper S which John Cooper would relish for his Formula Junior cars. During the very early 60’s Eddies XSP team had designed a special head with a twin stack centre exhaust port which was used on Don Healey’s 1962 Sebring cars of which two were driven by Stirling Moss and Steve McQueen. See post scripts at end of article. This is the same period Eddie and his team also worked on Formula Junior engines for John Cooper and privateers as well as overseeing the work on all the Mini Cooper saloon car engines and around 1962 a new 998cc engine was designed by Eddie and Don Moore under Bill Appleby’s instruction who required more power for the heavier Wolsely Hornet and Riley Elf range. This 998 then started the basis of the 998 Cooper engine that replaced the 997 Cooper in early 1964 but with raised D shaped crown pistons and a new Downton inspired 12G295 head with larger inlet valves and milder cam AEA630 to produce the same claimed 55bhp as the 997 Cooper which used the 88G229 cam. More modern casting techniques meant the A series engine blocks were cast more accurately with less distortion which allowed them to re-align bores and increase the original bore sizes from 58mm 2.28″(Austin A30) to 70.6mm 2.780″ (1275) an increase of 12.6mm 4.96″ with external case dimensions hardly changing except in height. With the advancement of piston design and material, EN40B nitrided cranks and clever use of stroke lengths the team of Eddie and Derek Frost were able to produce the Cooper S 1071cc engine and then the 970 and the multi useful 1275cc. The 1071cc and then 970cc were also the basis of Formula Junior and then Formula 3 engines for John Cooper single seater, mid engined race cars. All three of these capacity engines became winners in various forms at different championships worldwide such as the Monte Carlo Rally, British Saloon car championships, plus many more by BMC/Leyland works cars and privateers. During 1962/63 airflow tests on the AEG163 Cooper S cylinder head were made at Downton Engineering where George Toth was watched by Ray shepherd under the supervision of Daniel Richmond for Bill Appleby of BMC Longbridge and Eddie Maher at Morris Engines Coventry which was code stamped AF492. AEG163 and AEG305 castings were the best available especially when modified and used on Cooper S until 1968/9 when Daniel Richmond’s 12G940 head became a better choice for durability using a smaller exhaust valve as used on the 1275 Sprite and MG Midget from 1966. This showed that at long last Courthouse Green, Longbridge, MG Abingdon Special Tuning, Downton and John Cooper all shared their knowledge as a common interest.

In January 1963 Eddie Maher explained to BMC World staff reporter Barry Quann,-the following. “To the average person the relation between a skilfully prepared engine that propels a car at speeds in the 3 figure range and the family motoring requirements might seem remote but his work in the “Research” the Research and Special power unit department at Morris Engines Coventry Eddie and his staff were constantly striving for improvement in performance and engine life and materials used. Where his department would prepare an engine for racing and later examinations showed a source of weakness, that could in many instances point to a possible source of weakness on a production engine and they would deal with it.In a race or rally car the engine receives a test equal to many years of family motoring in a few hours and the stresses and strains which that engine has to take provide valuable information which enabled them to achieve their goal of constant improvement.  One of the team’s latest achievements was the preparation of a Mini Cooper engine for the car that was third across the line in a Brands Hatch production saloon car race, with the two cars beating the Mini Cooper on this occasion were vehicles usually described as luxury grand touring cars. Eddie went on to explain that they worked in close co-operation with the BMC Competitions Department and the Cooper organisation. It is not just a question of providing an engine to give its best and then forget about it. When it has done its job we want to see how it stood the test, and in this respect we utilize many of the facilities of the Nuffield Central laboratories based at Courthouse Green Coventry. Microscopic examination facilities are readily available and from what these examinations tell us we can ensure every production line engine has the material and performance to satisfy the most discriminating motorist.“ As a footnote to Eddies interview I believe the race he mentioned was the Brands Hatch 6 hour endurance race dated 6/10/1962 where 2 Jaguar Mk2 3.8 litres came 1 and 2nd with a 997cc Cooper driven by John Aley and Dennis Hulme finishing 3rd amongst 35 entrants, against some very good other cars.

Some of Eddies later staff names were- Brian Rees, Bill Mason, Jim Bowen, Tony Farndon, Frank Perdue, David Alexander, Bill Mason on his test bed who was in his element getting the maximum power and noise. The rally Minis, and Healey Sprites engines were also developed there for the Le Mans and Monte Carlo rally. This was short lived as many redundancies were announced about 1968/9 as the engine development was gradually being transferred to Longbridge.  

Eddies knowledge did not stop at engines as he was also involved in gearboxes and working out the best final drive ratios for A series derivatives. Eddie was also instrumental in using MGB gears in specially adapted cases with 5th overdrive ratio for the Donald Healey Sprites to overcome breakage during racing. In 1968 Eddies 8 port cast iron head with Lucas fuel injection fitted to a 1293 sprite produced around 120bhp using a new C-AEG599 Sprint camshaft with 320 degree inlet and exhaust which was suggested by Sid Enever from MG, which now with a lower CR to protect the tuftrided head to prevent cracking, it knocked the power back from 120bhp to 110bhp for Le Mans. So, from the Austin A35 with 34bhp this same improved engine was capable of 120bhp and his friend Alec Poole drove the Healey race car with the de tuned set up at Silverstone in 1968, before racing the Arden alloy 8 port version of the head fitted to a Mini Cooper 970cc S and winning the 1000cc class of the British Saloon car championship in 1969.

From Performance Petrol engines to Diesels

A diesel version of the A series 948cc engine in cast iron had been designed at Longbridge and was to be made at Morris engines in the early 60’s. The strengthened block was modified to take a diesel injection pump off the front of a strengthened crankshaft with a Harry Ricardo patented Comet V combustion chambers cylinder head with a 23.6-1 compression ratio, with CAV fuel injection which gave only 15bhp which was no use for a car but ideal for a new “BMC Mini 9/16 tractor” which they thought would be a big seller, but Eddie being a farmers son knew it had no chance when released in 1965 and by 1968 as he forecast it was replaced by the BMC 1500cc B series engine. Eddie also had a love for diesels in later life and was so proud of the fact that his work on tuning the A series diesel unit made it as fuel efficient at full speed as the 4 litre Austin Princess was on tick over.  On 28/3/2024 the Yesterday channel aired series 9 episode 3 of “Bangers and Cash” selling a fine example reg number LBC195E for £3,900 showing the purchaser driving and explaining its virtues.

 Eddie retired as Chief Engineer of Morris Engines Division at Courthouse Green Coventry in 1975 and retiring in his home at Coventry gave a brief article published on September 17th 1975 saying- “he never regretted his shift to the car industry from his original planned career path; the friends I met while studying civil engineering built bridges and roads, but they never went out of the country – I went all over the world”. Not long after his 66th birthday Eddie died in September of 1976 and was survived by his wife who died aged 102 in 2018, plus two daughters and one son. The Courthouse Green foundry where nearly all of Eddies experimental and XSP cylinder heads were cast closed in 1979 after 50 years of production, the rest of the company was gradually closed along with it, working only on current diesel engines until it finally closed on 12th October 1981 and finally shut July 1982, all as a direct result of Michael Edwardes slimming down of BL as car manufacturers.  Wellingborough Foundry who supplemented Morris Engines with heads and castings as well as Longbridge were owned By Morris Motors until 1969 when the Beans part of British Leyland took over Wellingborough but they also closed down by 1981 as part of the BL reconstruction.

Post scripts, Technical data and Quotes found on work where Eddie was involved. Another quote from Geoff Healey: “The 948cc unit fitted to the Frog-eyes and the early MkII.Mk1 Spridgets benefited from Eddie’s work on the Formula Junior engine as used in John Cooper’s car, with which Jackie Stewart did so well. This used the stronger crankshaft, connecting rods and valve gear that were essential if the tuned unit was to stay together. The crankshaft was nitride hardened and manufactured from better alloy steel, and this found its way into most of our racing engines”. This crankshaft was commonly known as the “Red” crank.

In the early 60s Dick Jacobs a well known MG racing driver and owner of Mill Garage to whom my employer H A Saunders were suppliers of parts and some cars, put an idea to Sid Enever about building aerodynamic alloy body based on the Sprite Mk2/ MG Midget Mk1 chassis. His idea was to use the Aston Martin DB4 rear end design which he sent to Sid Enever the chief of engineering and design at MG who came back with a resigned front end and raked windscreen to compliment the DB4 rear shape and named a Midget GT, of which only 3 were built.

Raced in 1962/3/4 the lightweight GT Coupes used Eddie Maher super reliable engines where the letters above show, Eddie infers he had new engines in the pipeline. Starting off with the 948 bore plus 40 thou to 979cc and then plus 60 thou to 995cc and followed by a 1098cc Formula Junior bored out 60 thou to 1139cc with pocketed block and large valve head,649 cam and weber 45DCOE carb. Note this Jacobs engine had the MG rocker cover whereas most XSP engines had BMC rocker covers.

Raced in 1962/3/4 they used Eddie Maher super reliable engines where the letters above show he infers he had new engines in the pipeline. Starting off with the 948 bore plus 40 thou to 979cc and then plus 60 thou to 995cc and followed by a 1098cc Formula Junior bored out 60 thou to 1139cc ? with pocketed block and large valve head,649 cam and weber 45DCOE carb. Note this Jacobs engine had the MG rockers cover whereas most XSP engines and BMC rocker covers. Finally using 1275cc in late 1963 for its last year of racing in 1964 before going back to MG and then used only by MG at Sebring in 1965. Two of these very successful race cars BJB770 and BJB771 were sold by Abingdon to owner Malcolm Beers late father Sid Beer. The third car 138BJB was sold to John Milne in Scotland but then inherited by his stepson James Willis.

1962 Healey’s alloy bodied specials and Eddies XSP engines.

The 995cc engine with split exhaust port had plus 60 oversized pistons but other cars around that period had measured up as 994cc and 996cc which was probably due to different type of pistons or the grade system they used. Of course the stroke of the crank could well have been changed by the odd mm. All using 64.4 or 64.5mm pistons and 76.2mm stroke XSP engine 1548/1 was measured by the RAC and certified by Cecil Winby as 996cc whereas XSP 1736-2 and 1736-4 were measured by Eddie as 994cc. So we have split hairs here as the measurements can be 993cc to 996cc for 60 thou oversize. In 1962 Eddie and Derek Frost built a 1100cc short stroke engine based on 1071cc Cooper S which had 71.63mm bore (bored plus 40thou) and special 68.248mm stroke rather than the 68.26mm developed for the 1071 S giving 1100cc exactly producing close to 100bhp for Donald Healey’s race Sprites. These engines used many of the trick parts Eddie and his team had produced or used for the production of the Cooper S, Nitrided EN40B cranks using larger main cap journals with Vandervell bearings, special EN21 con rods with press fit pistons and duplex row timing gear. The AEG163 cylinder head or alternatives of this design AEG220/AEG305 with EN214N stellite tipped nimonic valves and forged rockers were used. Alvis had previously provided steel cranks until Morris Engines were able to produce their own.

More famously according to the XSP records the heads with 4 exhaust ports were fitted to the 4 special alloy bodied Donald Healey Mk2 Sprites with 995cc engines and raced in 1962, built at Cape Works Warwick for the Sebring 3 hour and 12 hour GT Races which had consecutive reg numbers. 

9251WD the car driven by actor Steve McQueen stayed in America and sold to BMC california but written off in the hands of owner Peter Talbert, at the Cotati circuit in California during 1963. The other 3 cars were returned to England and 9252WD (Innes Ireland) car was sold to John Fenwick in 1964 and last seen racing mid 60s but has disappeared without trace. 9253WD (Pedro Rodrigues) seems to be the sole survivor but now with a 1098cc XSP dry sump engine based on the 1071cc Cooper S engine and fitted by Healeys, at ‘The Cape’, Warwick, for an entry in the 1963 Sebring 3 hour race. 9253WD has been owned by Jonathon Whitehouse Bird since April 2012 following a 45 year layup. The Sprite was sensitively ‘recommissioned’ over a three month period from August – November 2014 by the ‘Car SOS’ team under Jonathon’s supervision where he spent a few hours with the team each day. The program was finally aired 9th April 2015. 9254WD (Stirling Moss) the Moss car was retained by Healeys and written off at Silverstone July 1963 driven by Christabel Carlisle. As a result of this accident Healey never raced again in the UK.

The current engine fitted to 9253 WD was built by Eddie Maher at Morris Engines for the Donald Healey Motor Co Ltd in early 1963. It is a dry sump 1098 c.c. unit XSP 1973-6 which is (over square) based on the 1071 power unit, and was fitted at ‘The Cape’, Warwick, on 15th March 1963, along with a single Weber carb’, in readiness for the 1963 Sebring 3 Hour race. 
The gearbox is a ribbed case, straight-cut, unit and also stamped with the corresponding XSP 1973-6 engine number. 
There’s also some detailed information in Healeys (GCH’s) own log of the ‘works’ cars, built for Sebring in 1963, currently held at the Healey Museum in the Netherlands, which confirms the fitment of XSP 1973-6 by Healeys. XSP 1973-6 was not fitted during 1964 by former owner of 9253 WD, John Harris, as he’d claimed before his death. The previous year’s (1962) XSP engine was a 995 c.c. unit – XSP 1862-1 – and was a conventional wet sump motor with twin 1.5″ H4 SU carb’s, but with the experimental 4-port exhaust cylinder head as shown previously.

The AEG171 crankshaft is well known to 1071cc Cooper S owners and also made for the Sprite with inline engines using the same number but adapted with a boss for the flywheel to bolt on, for XSP experimental engines. You can just about make out the AEG171 on the far right hand web. A big thanks for photos, confirmation of correct facts and Dick Jacobs letters, personally owned by Jonathon Whitehouse Bird.

According to Jonathan W Bird records this was the 1098 c.c. XSP engine that was fitted to the Healey ‘works’ alloy-bodied Mk.II Sprite 9252 WD,  in preparation for the Sebring 3-Hour race in March 1963. The previous year (1962) at Sebring, and with a 995 c.c. XSP engine, 9252 WD had been driven by Innes Ireland. For the 1963 event, the car was re-badged as an ‘MG Midget’, at the request of BMC’s Publicity Dept, for F1 World Champion Graham Hill to drive.  Sadly, the car failed to finish due either to gearbox or limited-slip differential problems. The car was reverted to its original Sprite guise on its return to the UK, and sold by Healeys to privateer racer John Fenwick. He campaigned the car during the mid-sixties, but its fate, beyond his ownership, is unknown. Judging by the sale of the engine, as a separate entity, it seems as though the rest of the car (most likely) doesn’t survive. Following photos belong to Jonathan W Bird collection

In 1982 David Vizard’s Mini Tech News interview of John Cooper, Cooper’s actual words were- We used to go the factory at Coventry which was quite a big factory, Eddie Maher’s factory and have lunch in the canteen there, you know, and talk to the blokes, and the blokes that worked there were not just working for Red Robber at Leyland, they were working on the Mini Cooper. ”Red Robber being Red Robbo the militant strike leader with 523 strikes under his watch”. They were part of the rally project which was part of them. Jack Brabham and Bruce Mclaren had been there with me, and things like that ,you know, it was all part of the set up, thats why the mini cooper was so successful. This was the friendly and tight knit unit and Cooper said. They knew the old man Harriman (BMC chairman) was behind it and he was. Issigonis loved it as well and Charlie Griffin, they all enjoyed it. Charles Griffin was BMC chief of experimental and development.

Post Script – Bruce Mclaren’s name lives on today with the car and race team who died aged 32 on 2/6/1970 when he and Jack Brabham were both very famous drivers of their time who had both driven for John Cooper. Jack Brabham eventually had his own team which he sold to Bernie Ecclestone, Jack died in May 2014 aged 88. Of course It was never Eddies factory but he was so modest and those using his engines kept close contact with him, as for many their fame or fortune, or racing success was dependent on him and his team at Morris Engines division.

Eddie, chief experimental engines engineer of Morris Engines and Charles Griffin big chief development engineer of BMC as mentioned by John Cooper in his interview.

In Eddies memory, he should look pleased with all his lifelong work on Riley, MG and Mini.