homepage

After the publishing of an article about the MG TA Park Ward in the magazine Classic Car Thoroughbreds (dec. 1993) I received a letter from Mrs. Joy Ward, the widow of Charles Ward. The specific article has reached her by means of a former employee of her late husband who in the former days (50 years ago) had driven daily, for 6 years, in this Park Ward MG in companion with Charles Ward to the coachbuilding facility. Mrs. Ward wrote that she was in possession of pictures of the restoration and of a picnic-trip with the car. To see these photos leaded to the trip with the MG TA to Mrs. Ward in England.
There she was, a chic lady in front of a beautiful cottage. Mrs. Ward was delighted of the MG and really appreciated that the car was back on her feet. She told me that she had painted the engine by her self in the red color. After I had admired her garden the photo-books came on the table. Yes, this family-album was great: 5 pages with 15 photos from the beginning of the construction till the finished car were she was used to drive to a picnic as a daily used car.
Finally I could completely see the construction of the woodwork of the body, the aluminum panels, the methanol injection and how the low pressure Arnott supercharger was mounted. On another photo I saw for the first time that there was a 7-inch Bentley "passing light" mounted in front of the grille. Around all the photos Charles Ward had written extensive writings. At the last photo he wrote: An idea, a year’s hard work and a dream came through. For me it also was like a dream that I could read this about my own little car. At the photo in which the car went on the road for the first time Charles wrote the name he give her: Symphony. In my opinion Charles could not give her a better name. On my question why Charles Ward had built Symphony I got a lot of answers from people with thorough knowledge of classic cars, but non-of these answers could really satisfy me. Now I asked it Mrs. Ward. She gave me the following answer. Charles was 31 years of age and worked in the factory of his father (Park Ward Coachbuilders, in 1937 overtaken by Rolls Royce). For his daily use he wanted to have his own car and of course with Park Ward coachwork. Also in those days a rolling chassis (complete car without body) of Rolls Royce, even at wholesale price is, for a 31 year old employee, unpayable. It had to be a small economic and payable rolling chassis that could meet the latest state of the technique but strong enough to carry the Park Ward coachwork. The MG TA could meet this profile, however the engine had to be tuned and the chassis had to be strengthened. Because Charles wants to show his skills he had designed and built Symphony by himself (of course with the help and all the facilities of Park Ward Coachbuilders). On my question why Charles had altered the front-wings Mrs. Joy Ward gave me the next answer: Because of the generally changing ideas, just after the war, in the lines of the wings Charles want to experiment with some car-designs. He used those studies first on his own car so he gave Symphony a facelift in 1946 by mounting full flowing wings and a streamlined front cowl. (Later on he changed this back to the MG look-a-like grill). Mrs. Ward also told me that the overtake of Park Ward Coachbuilding by Rolls Royce meant that Rolls Royce never built an MG with Park Ward body. So far known Symphony is the only MG ever built with a Park Ward body. Because the photographs in the family-album only could be copied in a studio and this could not be done in an afternoon Mrs. Ward has had afterwards, photographed the pages, so my archive is now complete in this point. Saying good-bye to this 80+ lady made me feel sad.