Over the years, Patsy Turl's roadster has had more than £40,000 lavished on it, so it is therefore a pretty refined example. In fact, Patsy liked it so much that, having made the mistake of selling it, she eventually bought it back again! Further interesting details about the car's previous history came from Steve Whistlecroft, who by lucky coincidence just happened to be passing our Inaugural Gathering in September 2009 and stopped to join us. He had recognised one of the Costellos present, and takes up the story of the car once owned by his father:

"My dad was in the motor trade and was known to have an interest in MG's - his very first car being a pre war midget (Reg. MG 787) that still exists today, fully restored. One of his friends and fellow motor traders was Barry Sidery-Smith, a well known MG racer who owns and still races one of the factory Le Mans MGs that competed in 1964. Dad and Barry owned a number of different MGs between them over the years, including the unique WSM special bodied MGB (which funnily enough was also white when we owned it, but is now red). Dad modified this car quite substantially with the help of the Silverstone Armco!

The Costello came from the trade, where I believe it had been traded in against a new car - though I'm not sure what. It was not very old when we had it - possibly only 1 or 2 years as this must have been around 1977. The trader who sold it to my dad called him and said he had a nice low mileage MGB and, knowing he was into MG's, asked if he would he be interested in it. The only problem was that it was not original as someone had mucked it about and didn't have its original engine anymore - but he hoped this wouldn't knock too much off its value! Dad knew what it was and cannily managed to secure it at a very reasonable price. It had only done 8,000 miles when we acquired it and I think it was one that had been converted from new. I distinctly remember a figure of £5,000 but have no idea whether that was what he bought it for or sold it for.

I also seem to remember that we might have taken it down to Brighton Speed Trials. They have a prize for the fastest time of the day for an MG which Dad and Barry used to compete for and won on several occasions. I think the Costello may have been one of the cars we won it with - probably in September 1977 or 1978.

The 'MG Fastest Time of Day' at Brighton is a great prize that some of your owners might be interested in competing for - assuming it is still awarded (www.brightonandhovemotorclub.co.uk). I am not sure how long we had the Costello - it was probably less than a year. I do remember often having to start it in gear as the clutch used to stick on quite regularly and I think that was probably the main reason the previous owner had originally traded it in. I think the clutch problem was also the main reason Dad didn't keep it long term, though the fact that my mum hates convertibles may also have had something to do with it. He bought a standard factory GT V8 instead - which I now own.

As you can see, it looked just like a standard car - the only modifications that were apparent from outside being the front spoiler, the rear V8 Costello badge and a V8 badge on the side. It certainly seems to look a bit different now. I would love to see more pictures of it and find out what happened to it over the next 30 + years. And if Patsy ever thinks of selling it at any stage, I would potentially be very interested in buying it back."

Dream on Steve! Patsy's already done so :)

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