Vintage miscellany, October 1964

When the Editor was in Bristol recently he saw an apparently well-preserved 12-h.p. Armstrong Siddeley saloon going well, probably owned by an employee at the Hawker-Siddeley factories? Rumour says that a pre-1914 single-seater racing G.N. has turned up in a S. London hiding place and is to be restored, probably with a J.A.P. engine. The Tapleys recently returned from a 2,110-mile tour of the American continent in their 1928 Austin 12/4 Open Road tourer, the only trouble experienced being a flat tyre at Kennedy Airfield, New York. If they do it again, they promise to go in a Bean! Alvis Ltd. have acquired a 12/40 Alvis to restore alongside their 10/30 and f.w.d. models. Another link with the past through the medium of a Club magazine was T. S. Fotheringham’s account of driving in the 1934 T.T. and Le Mans races and in the 1935 T.T., in the summer number the very professional Aston Martin O.C. Magazine. A 1923 long-chassis Renault 45 is on view in the Measham Motor Museum, one of but three left in this country. A woodyard in Haslemere is using a presentable vintage fiat-radiator Morris-Cowley. A reader would like to hear of a vee-radiator 12-h.p. Armstrong Siddeley, to keep a Long 15 of this make from feeling lonely, or.of any other cars of this make in need of care and attention. Someone else is looking for a pre-1954 Chevrolet Six.

* * *

Turning the tables.—The Hon. Patrick Lindsay won the Crystal Palace Historic Racing Car Race in his E.R.A., at 72.97 m.p.h., from Brown (E.R.A.), and Salvage (Connaught). Wilks’ Cooper-Bristol lapped at 75.36 m.p.h., a new record, but hit the bank while challenging Lindsay and lost a wheel.

* * *

Discoveries.—A Hampshire garage has thoughtfully saved the engine, Wilson gearbox and back axle from a 1935 Riley Kestrel, in case anyone needs them, and we hear of a 1935 Lanchester Ten sports saloon in danger of being scrapped at Hythe. A 1925 Fiat sot in fair order has been found when some cottages were demolished in Cheshire, where an early Humber chassis lies on a golf-course. A sad Hercules 16 aero-engine lies on a Bristol scrap-heap. Data is sought about a Crossley fabric tourer (engine threads and camshaft sprocket), Austin Ulster and Austin 7 Swallow and a radiator grille, hood and small parts are needed for a Chevrolet tourer. A Singer Le Mans chassis in good order is offered free, in Mitcham. We can forward letters.

* * *

Serious!—We were extremely sorry to learn of the crash which wrecked the sole surviving Bristol Bulldog fighter in flying trim, after it had been looped at the Farnborough Air Display on Sept. 13th. The pilot is reported as joking soon afterwards—but the loss of such an historic aeroplane is no laughing matter.

* * *

Correction

We reported Brian Sismey’s Alvis at the V.S.C.C. Oulton Park Meeting as a Speed 25-engined Silver Eagle; in fact, it is a perfectly standard 1935 Speed 20 with i.f.s., vide its owner.