Miscellany, December 2002

Having memories of testing many of the faster Triumphs, the Glorias and Dolomites, the Stag with its special valve gear, the TRs and the later GTs, etc, being woken up by the advent of the Herald and Spitfire, and having had some admiration for the Super 7 as cocking a snoot at other vintage baby cars with its three-bearing crankshaft and hydraulic brakes, I am glad to hear that the Pre-1940 Triumph OC is flourishing, with the usual magazine and spares service. Membership secretary: Jon Quiney, 2 Duncroft Close, Reigate, Surrey RH2 9DE.

*****

FTD at the VSCC Loton Park hill-climb was made by Bruce Spollon (ERA R8C, in 63.99sec). Next fastest pre-war car was the 3.5-litre Frazer Nash hybrid of James Baxter, in 64.16sec, and the Edwardian winner was the 1913 Theophile-Schneider of Roger Firth.

*****

The small gap in the one-make book field is narrowing. I’ve just received The House of Gwynne — Cars, Pumps & Aero-engines 1849 – 1968 (Bookmarque Publishing, Minster Lovell, ISBN 1 870519 67 1, UK price £9.99). It was most painstakingly written by Ken Good, an enthusiastic Gwynne 8 owner, as his grandfather had been before him. Mr Good died before the book was published and his wife Pat completed it. The many members of the Gwyrme family are described with no holds barred, as are the various businesses they ran. Of the cars, Alberts get 18 pages, the Gwynnes 24, the aero engines 17 and the pumps eight pages, with many pictures. This book is very nicely presented, with a wealth of new information, so is a very welcome addition to the growing list of one-make (in this case two makes) histories now available.