Explanations

Sir,

On page 1448 of the December issue of Motor Sport you ask for information on the make of a commercial vehicle illustrated and parked alongside a Chrysler Valiant in Venezuela,

I am almost certain it is a 16/50 Benz of about 1912 or 1913 vintage which had a four-cylinder engine of four litres capacity. It was built about the time that Carl Benz moved all heavy commercial vehicles from Mannheim to Gaggenau and could have been built in either factory, as the move took place in 1913.

I was most interested in your article “A Steam Car in Production” on page 1317 of the November issue, as the “Mamod” model referred to was manufactured by Maims (Engineers) Ltd., a company founded by Geoff H. Matins who for many years was a close friend of mine. We both served our apprenticeship with the Austin Motor Company Ltd., and he was an enthusiastic member of the Austin ex-Apprentices’ Association. Only one week prior to his death IC June 1975 he was entertaining fellow members of the Association at his factory. He joined Austin at the time the first car wo being put through its paces at Longbridge.

He served in the Navy during the 1914 1918 War and afterwards, as he had spent so much of his training on steam in the Austin, Longbridge Power Station where he got to know all about Bellis & Morcombe steam generators, he decided to go into the manufacture of model steam engines starting in a room over a shop in the poorer district of Birmingham. Some of his largest orders were from toy manufacturers but he survived take-over bids.

It is not generally known that he supplied Lines Bros. with steam engines carrying the brand name “Triang”.

W. Lavington F. T. HENRY