V-E-V miscellany, April 1973, April 1973

A 1923 Austin Chummy, claimed tube older than that in the National Motor Museum, is being restored in South Wales. First registered in September 1923 it was taken off the road ten years later, after which the engine was used to drive a generator in Buckinghamshire by the owner who had run it since 1928. Said to be the seventh oldest Austin Seven in existence, the present owner wishes to learn the early history of the car, Reg. No. ME 2289. Neil Corner has acquired from Colin Crabbe the W125 Mercedes-Benz, which he will presumably race this year. It is said that his 1914 GP Opel went in part-exchange. Peter Hull is expected to join the vintage light car fraternity this season, at the wheel of a Horstmann tourer.

On the old-car bandwagon, Cossack Men’s Hairspray are offering free full-colour scale drawings of a 1930 Speed Six Bentley and a 1932 Morgan three-wheeler—the Editor says, however, that he prefers to wear a eying-hat to keeping his hair in place with new-fangled perfumeries. Jim Boulton’s 1914 single-cylinder 750-c.c. Rudge Multi will be No. 1 competitor in this year’s VMCC Banbury Run. An early Pratt’s Motor Spirit sign in light blue enamel, with black and white lettering, featuring a very early veteran car, possibly a Peugeot, has been found in Shropshire. Can anyone Say when these advertising signs were first issued?

Another well-known personality who has joined the vintage light-car movement is Anthony Bird, who has a good specimen of 1920 flat-twin Rover Eight. Another Club magazine which regrettably has temporarily ceased publication is the Armstrong Siddeley OC’s Sphinx but their News-Letter is still published. A 1922 petrol-electric char-a-bane, presumably a Tillings-Stevens, is being rebuilt in London it is thought to be the only really large vintage char-a-bane still in existence. The March issue of Blackwood’s Magazine contains a long article on Brooklands Track. The Alvis OC has its National Alvis Day at the Crystal Palace on May 6th. and the Bugatti OC/Ferrari OC has its International Bugatti Rally on June 26th-July 1st.

Someone building a replica of Ex. 120, the first MG record-breaker, wants detailed pictures of the car. Mrs. E. Drake has taken over Secretaryship of the Amilcar Register. Her address is: Inwardleigh, Rockbourne, near Fordingbridg,e, Hampshire, and she would like to hear of any Amilcars not known to the Register.