Vintage Postbag, September 1969

Those T.T. Humbers

Sir,

I was interested to see the photograph of the 1914 T.T. Humbers, in your July issue, taken outside the Mitre Hotel at Kirk Michael.

There is an old photograph on the wall, different from the one you printed, showing the three cars, No. 13, No. 20 and No. 2, taken from the top of the opposite building.

This Hotel is still structurally the same and the present licencee is a Mr. Harold Wilson.

Douglas, I.o.M. N. Tiarks.

———

Sir,

I was interested to read your further piece on the 1914 T.T. Humbers in the July Motor Sport.

The photograph of one of the cars outside a hotel was in fact sent to the Montagu Motor Museum by one of your original correspondents F. R. Waley of Sevenoaks. It shows his friend C. A. Morrell-Miller with his car prior to taking it to France in July 1914. The car was abandoned in France in August 1914 and Morrell-Miller never ran it again. The cloth caps and the Eton collars of the onlookers, surely indicate that the photograph was taken in this country?

Your theory regarding the registration numbers of these cars is interesting. Tucks car No. 13 according to a photograph I have was DU 4832, which according to your proposition could imply six cars, which is surely to say the least most unlikely?

Byffeet. John C. Tarring.
[ This correspondence is now closed.—Ed.]

* * *

Getting it Right

Sir,

It was very kind of you to publish a photograph of my A.C. in Motor Sport, taken just before my run from London to John o’Groats and back at the end of May. May I take the opportunity, however, of pointing out one or two small errors in the caption which appeared below the picture.

1. My own initials are A. W. K. G. W. K. are in fact the initials of my nine-year-old son, who was highly delighted to find himself mentioned in Motor Sport.
2. The bet with my brother was that I could do the journey from London to John o’Groats and back in my A.C. in 48 hours, not 24 hours. Even the Aston Martin DBS in which the Editor went to Caernarvon, and which is described on the same page, might have had difficulty in doing the 1,400 mile journey in 24 hours! [My error, or slip of pen—Ed.]
3. Our overall average speed for the journey including stops worked out at approximately 31½ miles per hour, and in order to achieve this we were cruising most of the time at between 40 and 45 miles per hour. Had we only averaged 25 m.p.h., the overall journey would have taken us approximately 56 hours.

May I also take the opportunity of mentioning that my co-driver in the A.C., and the owner of the long wheel-base Land Rover which acted as our support vehicle, was Lt. Col. H. R. A. Hunt. In addition to Lt. Col. John Weeks, the Land Rover was driven by Tony Tringham and David Kortwright.

Oxshott. Tony Condon.