inboard, they produced a downward force that was intended to allow the tires to achieve a uniform even wear. The plan was to race 500 miles without a tire change.
The cars were constructed with a significant offset, with left side A-arms much shorter than right side. Many BMC components were used in these cars.
One of these 1964 cars was purchased by the Sheraton-Thompson team for their driver A.J. Foyt. He tested in vigorously and successfully at Phoenix and Indianapolis. At the last minute, decided that he was uncomfortable driving in a “bathtub” of gasoline and switched back to his trusty front-engined roadster. Foyt went on to win the ‘64 Indy 500 but the death knell of the roadster had been sounded.
Foyt’s car was sold back to Qvale, renumbered as #54 and assigned to Bob Veith. The second car, #53, was assigned to rookie Walt Hansgen and the third, car #48 went to Pedro Rodriguez. During qualifying Rodriguez whacked the outside wall in turn 1 putting himself and the car out of the race. Hansgen qualified 10th and Veith qualified in 23rd spot. Veith finished 19th, retiring after 88 laps with burnt pistons. Hansgen drove a masterful race, as high as 2nd place, but placed 13th after a long pit stop to replace fuel injectors, completing 176 laps.
For 1965, Kjell Qvale became only the sixth car owner in history to qualify 3 cars for the show. Walt Hansgen qualified 21st and finished 14th in #53, which was the car Veith drove in 1964. Veith qualified 10th and finished 24th in a reportedly new car, carrying #54. Rookie Jerry Grant qualified 17th but finished 27th in #48 which was the rebuilt #48 crashed the previous year. It was known as the Bardahl M.G., with “Miss Seattle” on the nose. The #53 car carried “Miss Los Angeles” and the #54 was “Miss San Francisco”.
Four new cars were built by Huffaker for 1966. These were of monocoque construction, with stressed aluminum channels, still sporting the M.S. Liquid Suspension system. Two of these cars were equipped with super-charged Offys, sold to Gordon Van Liew and campaigned as Vita Fresh Orange Juice Specials. No M.G. logo was shown. Bobby Unser qualified 28th in one and finished 8th, while the other, driven by Chuck Stevenson, failed to qualify.
Qvale retained the other two monocoque cars and outfitted them with Hilborn-injected, Chevy 305 V-8 engines. Unfortunately, although beautifully prepared, car #67, driven by Bob Veith caught fire during practice and the other, #63 failed to make the show.
What I found very interesting for 1966 is that the two older space frame cars also qualified and made the race. They were entered by Vatis Enterprises as Valvoline I and Valvoline II. Rookie Gary Congdon qualified last year’s #53 in 16th place but finished 25th after 11 cars were wrecked in a 1st lap accident. Eddie Johnson had a superb race in #54, starting 29th and finishing 7th. No M.G. logo appeared on these cars, which now listed Bill Finley as the Chief Mechanic. There were some modifications made to the cars, such as nose shape, but they were the M.G. Liquid Suspension cars.
After 1966 the monocoque cars disappeared but the space frame cars carried on. For 1967, under the Valvoline banner, Wally Dallenbach qualified the #53 car in 15th position. He finished 29th after crashing on lap 74. Chuck Stevenson failed to qualify in car #54. Both cars were now equipped with a turbocharged Offy.
The Valvoline cars also showed up for 1968. qualified and had success in the race. Rookie Sam Sessions qualified 31st and finished 9th while Wally Dallenbach qualified 12th and finished 17th. These cars were now numbered #94 and #54.
The last Indy 500 for these cars was 1969. Sam Sessions started in 23rd and finished 12th. The car was carrying #11, still owned by Vatis Enterprises and known as the Valvoline car.
It is incredible to recall the span of success of the M.G. Liquid Suspension Specials. Most of the cars of that era became obsolete and disappeared, as the period of private sportsman ownership and individual design and fabrication was overwhelmed by corporate money, computer-aided designs and advances in composite materials and engineering applications.
This car, when found in a derelict condition, was identified by the unique “Liquid Suspension” system, the hydrolastic shock absorbers as used in the M.G. sedans. It has now been restored to racing condition and is an important example of the transition from roadster to rear-engined Indy car design.
In any case, I fully intend to take my #53 M.G. Liquid Suspension Special to the M.G. meets and park it next to my MGA. I think the event organizer will welcome both.