The Scottish Motor Show

Having pointed out in last month’s Editorial that there will be no London Motor Show at Earls Court this year, it is only right and proper to mention that the Scottish Motor Show will take place, traditionally at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, from November 11th. Although this differs from the former London Shows in being devoted to Agents’ instead of Manufacturers’ stands, it attracts most of the latest models and as Scotland is now an easy journey from London it may well be that those who miss not being this to visit Earls Court will take a trip North—while there are no frontiers and no visas are required, it might be added.

At one time the Scottish Motor Show was properly written-up by the leading motor journals and The Autocar in particular used to send its reporters there. Indeed, they made the journey by road, it having become traditional for their Midlands representatives to have the latest Sunbeam and Lanchester motor cars made available. This provided it means of writing road-impressions of these cars, as well as getting to the Show. Later Riley provided cars and Georges Boesch seems to have got in on the act, putting one of the first 14/45 Talbots at the disposal of the journalists.

It is a reflection on the changed travel circumstances that whereas the journey today would be an easy one, using the M1 and the M6 for most of the way, or going by British Airways internal services or by British Rail’s fast Inter-City trains, if these are not on ‘strike, in the vintage years the motoring writers, starting front Coventry or Wolverhampton, took two days to arrive in Glasgow. They regarded the winter nut, which encompassed the 1 in 5 Kirkstone Pass or the Devil’s Beeftubs near Moffat, as a mild adventure-and very cold, in the days of open tourers and later saloons without heaters.—W.B.