Both King Dick and Shelley were jack and automotive grade tool manufacturers in Birmingham, England; supplying jacks and tool roll tools to BMC throughout the MGA and MGB production run. Clausager in his ORIGINAL MGB states that the original red painted King Dick supplied jack (AHH6538) was superceeded by a stronger version also supplied by King Dick (AHH 6538)in May of 1973. In February 1974; a black Metallifacture jack(BHH5329)was supplied and continued until the end of production. No mention of any jack produced by Shelley for the MGB is given by Clausager. The Shelley jack is somewhat of an anamoly; finding its way in both the North American and CKD Australian markets, but being associated primarily with MKI MGB's in both places. Examples of the Shelley jack have been found in North American MGB's to the British Leyland buyout in 1969 but are not reported by owners past that date.

The overall length of the Shelly Rollalift jack is seventeen inches; measured from the base of the foot to the top of the gear housing. The King Dick screw-type jack is measured at eighteen inches. The maximum lifting height of the Shelley and King Dick jack is fourteen and a half inches; the width of the Shelley jack foot is six inches and the foot width of the King Dick jack is seven inches.

Both jacks feature round spigots that correspond to diameter of the jacking points found during the MGB production run. The lenght of the spigot on the Shelley Rollalift is nine inches and corresponds to the nine-and-one-half inch spigot found on the King Dick jack. A small pin protrudes along the center of the spigot on the Shelley jack four inches from the end point. This perhaps served as a safety catch to position the jacking point on the monocoque properly on the spigot, and is not found on on the King Dick production model. The Shelley Rollalift spigot was painted red. The particular King Dick example was unpainted but cadmium plated. Clausager pictures a red model with a plack painted spigot.

Both the Shelley and King Dick versions have wooden crank handles of laquered ashe. The Shelley Rollalift jack has an undrilled top; whereas the King Dick handle is drilled through the top and secured with a washer and cotter pin. Cranks are cadmium plated on these examples and attach directly into the gear head at the top of the jack which turns the worm screw.

A paper decal affixed near the top of the worm screw housing identified the manufacturer as Shelley and includes the British patent number 865130. The King Dick jack is reverse stamped as made in Britian by King Dick: BRTSH KING DICK MADE.

Jacks were stored in the boot in a Hessian cloth and jute backed bag with two cloth cinch ties. MGB's fitted with wire wheels had a knock-off hammer inside the bag or an octagonal knock-off wrench for the MKII models beginning in 1968. MGB's fitted with Dunlop steel disk wheels had a Tommy bar and spark plug tube spanner and a lug wrench supplied to be stored with the jack inside the bag.

God Bless! Mery Christmas! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

---

Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-12-17 04:44 AM by mgbbrown.

More feature documentation on the Shelley Rollalift jack and the King Dick screw type jack. God Bless! Merry Christmas! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

---

Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

Thanks for the great writeup! You know your Jacks!

---

Walk on air against your better judgement - Seamus Heaney

Check out http://earlymgb.com

Thanks Marc! I'll have to finish up tomorrow- the data on the last posting was rejected due to a hacker attempt on the site. I will also re-photograph the two full length attachments of the Shelley Rollalift as they are a bit fuzzy. I still have foot details and to document the tools that were also inside the jack bag. God Bless and Merry Christmas! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

---

Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

Continued photographic documentation of the differences between the Shelley Rollalift jack and the King Dick screw-type jack during MGB production as noted by Clausager. God Bless! Merry Christmas! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

---

Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

The jack was stored in the boot inside a jute-backed Hessian cloth bag with an upper flap closure and cinched using two black painted buckles. End tabs prevented fraying of the cinch straps. Note the bag differences in the Clausager photo with riveted strap ends. MGB's fitted with Dunlop steel disk wheels also were issued a spark plug wrench and corresponding Tommy bar, along with a hubcap removing tool. A red painted lug wrench was also supplied and carried inside the jack bag. Wire wheel MGB's were given a knock-off hammer manufactured by Thor in Sulihull. An octagonal knock-off wrench was supplied to MKII MGB's to comply with 1968 and onwards North American market safety regulations. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

---

Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-12-17 04:16 PM by mgbbrown.

Tony, thanks for the excellent posting! I love this stuff.
You inspired me to dig out my jacks and try to identify them.

The picture you posted of the K-D stamping logo made me take a wire brush to mine, and WOW there it was!
The red one is K-D and has all your specs listed except it does have a pin 4" in on the spigot.
The black one has no markings I can find.
The specs are very equal to the Shelley, but it has the main body rail like a K-D,with an indented front face and the top hood shape is more like a K-D.

I can't tell if the crank handle is straight or "S" bent on the Shelley, but the black one is straight.
Any ideas on which manufacture it is? Later Metalfacture?

I'll be restoring the K-D soon for use in my '69 C, should look great.

Dana

Dana: I think the black jack you show is a later model King Dick which was supplied in the early 70s after the red one was phased out. My 70 BGT came with that same jack, as did a 72 roadster I had.

Thank you Anthony, that one was probably from one of the '71 or '72 B's I used to have.

THANKS Dana! If I can inspire I have done my job as it often takes inspiration to get as dirty as we do restoring things some times! Over Christmas (my new job gives me three weekdays plus the weekend off) I will look around for another posting subject-perhaps something on a North American specification Motorola AM-FM radio perhaps? Who knows-there are a lot of boxes! The crank on the Shelley Rollalift jack is straight. PLEASE show us pictures of the jack once it is restored! God Bless and Merry Christmas! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

---

Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

Great post Tony,please do put up what you have on early radios.it would be nice to have someone post on early midget jacks as there are variations there as well

Thanks Robert! Midget jacks would be interesting- Perhaps someone on the site who knows more can post as a am a Midget neophyte I am afraid. I will grab my Radio box and related bits the next time I am in raleigh and will begin that documentation. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

---

Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

Tony

You may have already seen my extensive Shelley jack database: http://www.mgaroadster.co.uk/shelley_jacks.htm This database is proving to be very popular with vendors and classic car enthusiasts worldwide. I am even being used by antiques & collectables auction sites over here!

I have been persuaded to produce equivalent databases for other British car jacks such as King Dick, Lake & Elliot, Dunlop, Read, etc etc. These are still very much in their infancy, having been up and running for less than a week. These databases can be accessed directly from my home page: http://www.mgaroadster.co.uk/ or from the links in the Shelley jack database. Particular to this thread, I have yet to catalogue the MGB jacks. May I have your permission to use some of your photos and descriptions? Any data used will be duly acknowledged - copyright for photos etc.

Preferably I would like slightly higher resolution photos than than the majority attached to these posts. Could I ask you to email me some photos and descriptions? sw.gyles@gmail.com

Very many thanks

Steve

Steve; Your site is wonderful and you MGA is BEAUTIFUL! We can swap-I'll be more than happy to help with those files if you would be so kind to send me some photos of your Roadster! And yes- you have my permission for whatever you need or require. I am on my assignment! God Bless! Merry Christmas! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

---

Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

Many thanks to Tony for the write-up and associated photos that I have now uploaded to my embryo King Dick database: http://www.mgaroadster.co.uk/King_Dick_Jacks.htm

I would emphasise that I know absolutely nothing about any of the MGB jacks, so it is for you guys to feed me additional information or correct me where I may have got it wrong. For reference this is my Shelley jack database which contains the Shelley story about MGB jacks: http://www.mgaroadster.co.uk/shelley_jacks.htm (scroll down to the second jack from the end).

I would like to capture the differences between the 2 King Dick jacks, so could I ask Dana for permission to use some of his photos please?

Also, reference has been made about the Metallifacture jack. Can anyone feed me some information and photos on this one? The only one I have to date is a version that was supplied with later E-Type Jaguars from chassis number 886247 (see my Shelley jack database in one of the LJ225 types).

Cheers guys. Great information and knowledge shared by you all. It must not be lost.

Steve