Obituaries

We are much saddened to have to report the death, following a heart attack, of George Liston Young, who won pre-war motor cycling trophies before founding the Fiat Register in the mid-1950s. Many people will long remember the kilted Scotsman and his Coppa d’Oro Balilla Fiat.

We also deeply regret to learn of the death of WJ Oldham, who as at one time a great supporter of the larger Austin cars, but who later turned his attention to Rolls-Royces. He was especially enamoured of the period London scene of motor carriages, chauffeurs and gracious living. As an author he was responsible for The Ismay (White Star Line) in 1961 and Rolls-Royces 40/50hp Ghosts, Phantoms and Spectres in 1974. After going to live in Jersey, John Oldham became an enthusiastic motor cyclist.

A well-known 30/98 Vauxhall exponent at Brooklands in the early 1930s, EB “Ted” Longbottom, has died at the age of 84. He owned a string of fine cars including a Brescia Bugatti, a 1929 Vanden Plas 41/2-litre Bentley and a 1930 Le Mans Replica Speed Six, and was regularly in attendance at pre-war races and in later years built up a fine personal collection of books, magazines and photographs, the latter including many he himself had taken at Brooklands.

The Morgan Three-Wheeler Club has suffered a number of bereavements recently. KF Douglas, who ran his father’s well-known Ealing spares service (a Morgan agency from 1929) almost as a hobby where three-wheelers were concerned, died in September, and John Silvester, the Nottingham Morgan Agent from 1911 until his retirement in 1958, passed on at the age of 99. At one time Silvester was also a Rolls-Royce dealer.