V-C Miscellany, October 1993

One is aware that old car matters sometimes appear in magazines other than the specialist motoring Press. Thus that respected monthly, The Scots Magazine had a colour picture of a 3-litre Bentley with shooting-brake body (snow obscures the front number plate) which in the 1950s had been brought to a halt by wintery conditions on the Lochanna-Lairige Pass on its way to Ben Lawers. (An identity puzzle for the BDC?). Another colour picture was of a 1935 17 hp Armstrong Siddeley saloon about to board the Kylerhea Ferry in 1992, matched by a black-and-white picture of the same car at the same place in 1936; owned by Dr Michael Gardner, the car has been in the same family since it was new, first owned by Dr Gardner’s grandfather, and based in Scotland until it went to England in 1990. Moreover, the present ferryman identified a figure in the 1936 photograph, when the craft was just a rowing boat with a rotatable run-on for a car, as his father. There is also a letter in the same issue about Arrokohnson history.

I was glad to learn that Tony Bird had been presented by HRH Prince Michael of Kent with the Prince’s Award of Merit for 1993 for service to motoring sport. Tony, ex-Royal Navy, now 80, began race marshalling after WW2 and was a Fonder Member of the British Motor Racing MarshaIls Club, which serves the sport so well. For many years he was the VSCC’s Competition Secretary, quietly firm and efficient with the rules, and later, as a member of the Riley Register, owning a vintage Riley 9, he edited their Bulletin (incidentally just in its 150th issue under Tony’s successor). An award well deserved.

The mishap to the 350hp V12 Sunbeam after it had been readied at Beaulieu for the Silverstone Parade happened when, after external pipework had been renewed and the oilways flushed out, work done by students from the Bournemouth and Poole College of Technology, the engine was idling and a rod came out via the crankcase. The NMM is now seeking spares for this rare engine and financial help in rebuilding it.

The Jensen OC’s new Membership Secretary is Brian Morrey, Selwood, Howley, Near Chard, Somerset 1A20 3DX (0460 64165). The Sixty & Worcestershire MC is running its Autumn Leaves Historic Stages Rally on October 3, from about 8am to 3pm, starting and finishing at the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon, using 40 tarmac stage miles, Details: S A E to,

Bill Pardoe, The Steps, Suckley, Worcs WR6 5DL. W B.