The Beverley-Barnes

Sir,

Your “fragment” on the Beverley-Barnes was of immense interest, as I did some research into the story of this make some years ago. Technical development was primarily the work of C. E. Noel-Storr, later with the Caine Company, and total production amounted to thirteen or fourteen cars, of which five were the original single-cam 4.8litre 24/80s, three the enlarged 30/90 version, and two the small single-cam eights. One of these, a sportsman’s coup:, was exhibited at the 1926 London Show; the second, a four-door fabric saloon by Surbico, was built up on a Bean frame and appeared at Olympia the following year. It is a matter of opinion whether there were three or four twin-cam cars. The 1928 show model with Ballot-style Harrington four-door saloon coachwork was retained by Omes Ltd. after, they took over Beverley Works. The 1929 and 1930 show car (a semi-panelled sports saloon by Harrington again) was owned at some time by Sir Peter Hoare, Bart., but has now disappeared; while the Smith-Stafford car now in East Yorks was probably the ’29 show polished chassis, subsequently completed as a saloon. There are shadowy rumours of yet another twin-cam with twodoor closed coachwork, which allegedly went to Norway.

It would seem that the Beverley-Barnes cars were conceived as an insurance against the possible loss of sub-contract business. As this latter continued, the vehicles became economically redundant. There was, however, a European agent, Herr Badertscher of Zurich, whose “manor” covered not only Switzerland, but also Southern Germany and Alsace-Lorraine, and he even exhibited a 30/90 at the 1926 Geneva Salon. This car is believed to have been returned to England and fitted with saloon coachwork, but its actual fate is far more intriguing. It was fitted with sporting torpedo coachwork by Gangloff of Geneva—a branch of the better-known Colmar firm which made bodies for Bugatti—and fetched up in the Argentinian province of Cordoba, where it is currecently being restored by Senor Roberto Marucco. So far, however, all my efforts have failed to unearth a picture of the vehicle in its original Gangloff-bodied form, this body having vanished with the passage of time.

I would agree as to the resemblance to the unhappy 519 Fiat, but notice the badges used on the cars. The big eights had a marked superficial resemblance to the Rolls-Royce, heightened by the entwined-B radiator badge. With the advent of the smaller cars the firm switched to a style very like that of the 1922 I-o-M Bentleys—and, believe it or not, with this new idiom came a winged-B emblem!

It would be interesting to know if any more Beverleys have survived. A big saloon (probably a 30/90) was owned by a Burnham (Bucks) garage in the middle 1930s, and ended its days in Shirley’s yard at Cippenham. (I don’t think it went to his bigger scrapyard at Flackwell Heath, as I. knew this well and can’t recall anything of this kind:) Another big B-B of unspecified type is said to have been scrapped by Trents of Parkstone about 1956. I enclose a picture of the last 30/90, a Labourdette cabriolet, shown at Olympia in 1927.

MICHAEL SEDGWICK