Cars in books, April 1959

Continuing this investigation into cars in books, which has become a habit, in “Bulls in the Meadows,” by Peter Bull (Peter Davies, 1957), which is an account of the life of his father. Sir William Bull, M.P., and in which significant aspects of major political issues will be found which may not have been revealed elsewhere, there is reference to an old Charron, lent to William Bull in 1919, which cost him £88 for two months, including cost of repairs and a chauffeur. This opened his eyes to the advantages of owning a motor but his son omits to name what were the makes favoured, although from a reproduction of the Bull’s calendar for 1922 their first car could have been an Austin Twenty. I was sufficiently interested to write to the author, who replied that his father, who did not drive himself, did own an Austin, followed by a Standard and a second-hand Rolls-Royce.

Model-T Ford enthusiasts who have been unable to obtain a copy of  “Farewell My Lovely,” the appreciation of the Model-T, published over the pseudonym Les Stout White in the New Yorker and published in book form by G. P. Putnam’s Sons as “Farewell to Model-T” in 1936, will find this piece repeated in a book by the brilliant American writer E. B. White, “The Second Tree From the Corner” (Hamish Hamilton, 1954). There is also passing reference in this book to the air-cooled Franklin and its full-elliptic springs.

In that excellent book “Georgian Afternoon,” by L. E. Jones (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1958), in the chapter about Norfolk, there is a fascinating reference to a “hearse-like car” used by the recluse who lived in Cranmer Hall and as he was a man who also possessed an old horse-pistol and thoroughly enjoyed using it, this could well have been an Edwardian, still being used in the nineteen-twenties. Alas, no clue as to its make is given.

Finally, perhaps the experts at the V.C.C. will be able to identify the make of actress Marguerite Broadfoote’s first motor-car. as seen in a picture by Davey of Harrogate, published in “Robert, Nana and Me,” by Naomi Jacob (Hutchinson, 1952) ? W.B.