Those ill-fated Vauxhalls

Sir,

I was very interested to read the article in the August issue about the 1914 and 1922 TT Vauxhalls because my father owned one of the 1914 TT cars which had been driven at Brooklands by Swain. He bought the car from a dealer in Great Portland Street in 1924 when I was 10 years old and at school in Cranleigh in Surrey. I well remember my father driving the Vawthall from Kingston down to Cranleigh to visit me and the interest it caused among the boys at the school because of the terrific exhaust note as it accelerated up the long drive leading to the school.

During 1924 my father took me to all the Brooklands meetings and he became very friendly with Parry Thomas and also Archie Frazer Nash who lived near to my home on Kingston Hill. On many occasions I was present when Parry Thomas was tuning “Babs” and the Leyland-Thomas in his workshops next to the Hermitage, and often helped to push start both cars.

The Vauxhall was eventually sold to a chap who lived in Bushey Park Gardens in Teddington and I often wonder what happened to it after that. I cannot remember the registration number but the car looked identical to the one in the picture on page 954 and could very well have been the same car.

Derek Phillips,  Old Windsor