The 1936 MG PB owned by marine artist John Mecray of Jamestown. The car was used in hill-climb events and rallies in England before being brought to this country 30 years ago. Below right, Mecray in his 1958 Porsche Speedster.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

JAMESTOWN John Mecray is a renowned marine artist.

Prints of his meticulous paintings of classic yachts under full sail adorn homes and offices around the world.

But Mecray is also an inveterate collector. Some antique toys are displayed in his living room, the walls of his house are adorned with prints — small cityscapes and landscapes by American artists and large color commercial prints from France — and he formerly had a collection of Leica cameras.

Meanwhile, his garage contains an MG PB, a Porsche Speedster and a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle to make up a selective collection that fuses aesthetics with performance.

Mecray said he recently had his red 1936 MG PB restored to racing configuration. He said the right-hand drive car — there were 526 produced and only 23 are listed with the Triple-M Register of MG cars in the U.S. — was modified for racing in England by its first owner. “I’ve loved MGs since I was a kid,” he said, adding that he had restored a 1949 MG TC some 40 years ago. He sold that MG “with tears in my eyes” after he married and had children.

When he decided some 12 years ago that he wanted to get back into an MG TC, he told his friend, Newport auto broker and raconteur Tom Fair. But Fair told him, “You’ve been there and done that,” and sold him on the similar but different MG PB.

The car has a four-inline, 983 cc, overhead cam engine. Mecray pointed out the nose-mounted blower for the Marshall supercharger and the springs wrapped in cord to protect them and the layer of grease from mud.

A round English road license has been duplicated and is displayed on the side of the windshield. The flip-out traffic indicators are original, although from another MG PB.

Mecray’s other exotic car is a silver 1958 Porsche Speedster. The sporty variant of the Porsche 356 was produced exclusively for export to the U.S. between 1954 and 1958.

Mecray told the apocryphal story of U.S. importer Max Hoffman telling Porsche to lower the windshield of the 356 cabriolet, or convertible, by a couple of inches, thus creating the sporty lines that made it a big hit.

“It makes the difference,” he said of the windshield. He said he tries to drive the Porsche once a week, unlike the MG PB which he drives only occasionally. He said apart from replaced seats, the Porsche is original.

Indeed, Mecray said the rear-engine car does not look that dated, partly because Porsche has held to its basic lines through different model generations.

Sitting between the MG PB and the Speedster was Mecray’s 1951 Vincent HRD Series C Black Shadow motorcycle. It spent most of 2007 being restored to original factory specifications and Mecray said he does not intend to ride it.

“It’s not a rider,” he said, noting that it is now at concours standards.

“I’m not a motorcycle guy,” he added, noting that he appreciates it as “a piece of sculpture.” Indeed, he said he’d like to hang it on the wall of his living room, but admitted that his wife, Mary, is not so keen on the idea.

Only about 1,500 Black Shadows were produced between 1948 and 1954 and Mecray said in a written statement that it was the fastest production bike in the world at the time. He added that only a very few survive today.

At the far end of his garage, Mecray keeps his 1996 Land Rover Defender which he uses to trailer his MG. The V-8 is tricked out with every conceivable outdoor necessity, including a pick and a shovel attached to the hood, a capacious roof rack complete with attached ladder and an air-intake snorkel that runs up to the roof.

“It’s the real thing,” he said, adding that he had taken it off-road where it was a “kick in the pants.”

Mecray, who is married with two grown-up children, grew up in Cape May, N.J., (he said his grandfather was one of the very first Ford dealers in the nation, having established his dealership in 1903 after Henry Ford brought some of his cars to race on the nearby sands) and attended the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) where he trained as an illustrator.

He said he established a freelance career as an illustrator but became fascinated with marine art following a 1972 sailing trip to the Caribbean in a 40-foot sailboat. He said he started studying marine art and artists, particularly 19th-century English artist James Buttersworth.

“I started looking at paintings and got pretty interested in the field of marine art,” he said, adding, “I saw an opening. There were no (contemporary) marine artists. It was wide open.”

In 1976, with a growing career in marine art, Mecray packed up his illustrating business and moved to Rhode Island.

“I absolutely fell in love with Newport,” he said. “And I figured if I was going to be serious about (being a marine artist) I had to be where the boats are.”

His enthusiasm was sealed when he crossed the Claiborne Pell Bridge to Newport with his family and witnessed the sight of square-rigger sailing ships from around the world gathering for the Tall Ships parade up New York harbor to mark the 1976 Bicentennial.

The following year saw Ted Turner defend the America’s Cup in Newport in the 12-meter class yacht Courageous and Mecray’s career as a marine artist took off. He said he has completed some 60 paintings of historic sailing ships and yachts since then and most have had very successful numbered print runs. He is also very active in yachting circles, especially the International Yacht Restoration School and the Museum of Yachting, both in Newport.

Mecray said he thinks his car-collecting days are over, in the sense of adding to his collection, although he does have a soft spot for the Jaguar XK120 roadster, which was produced from 1948 to 1954.

“It’s the one car I’ve never owned that I’ve lusted over,” he said of the car many consider the most sensuous ever designed.

But he decided that it would be easier to fit a motorcycle into his existing garage space than another car, and so he bought his Black Shadow instead.

As for the collecting bug, he partly sees it as a way of recapturing time.

“As we get older, we get all those things we wanted in our youth,” he said.

For more information, go to:

mecray.com

pelsworth@projo.com