Side notes

The Salmson once owned by M Meo of GN memory is now cared for by Salmson expert Chris Draper, it now has a San Sebastian engine and a body from an 18/100 MG.

A recent letter about a Rhode car has reminded Lord Deramore that when he was “up” at Cambridge in 1929-32, a friend who was reading engineering was refurbishing one, the Reg No of which was OK 7185 and his Lordship wonders whether it has survived? Rhode history formed the “Forgotten Makes” feature in our November 1989 issue.

The MGCC announces a one-day Seminar in St Neots when the T-Register will have four lectures on maintaining such cars, cost £16.00 to include a hot lunch. All MGs up to 1935 are welcome. Details from R Furneaux, 65 Kings Road, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, KT12 2RD.

A reader who is rebuilding a 1938 Riley Big Four after owning a Riley Falcon 12/4 has discovered that this car was originally owned by George Allen, who before the war was a well-known member and official of the VCC. He was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1940 and the Riley passed to his sister, the Hon Mrs Phoebe Anderson, wife of a director of Anderson & McAuley, the well-known Belfast store.

The recent article “Two GNs” brought a letter from Mr Tom Kennedy, who after running a Riley 9 Monaco, M-type MG Midget and 14/45 Talbot, etc bought the 1926 Frazer Nash once the property of Richard Twelvetrees, then Editor of MOTOR SPORT, for £23. It had by then passed through many hands, but PF 4766, which featured in many MOTOR SPORT articles when new, is remembered with affection.

Ron Shelley, now in his 89th year, whose collection of aero-engines we went to see many years ago, has just completed the re-build of a 95hp Cirrus-Minor engine, with the correct propeller, and his son, who spent five years with 51 Squadron, RAF, will be carrying on the good work. Among the cars owned by Mr Shelley Senr in the 1920s were a sports Eric Campbell and an Eric Longdon, recalled by a recent article in MOTOR SPORT.

Besides its traditional speed hill-climbs at Prescott, Shelsley Walsh and Wiscombe Park, this year the VSCC is holding a hillclimb at Loton Park, near Shrewsbury, on June 20/21st. The STD Register is planning a National Sunbeam/Talbot Weekend in the Midlands on June 6/7 and VSCC racing opens at Silverstone on April 11th. The 1991 Inter-Register competition, which originated from a suggestion in MOTOR SPORT, was won by the STD Register, from the Riley Register.

Bath Industrial Heritage Centre has published a little 24-page book about the origins of the two-stroke engine, by Hugh Torrens, of 12/50 Alvis fame. It is called “Joseph Day -1855 -1946”, is available for £4.95 post-free, and is sponsored by the Cross Mfg Co (1938) Ltd, which has associations with the pre- and post-war Cross rotary-valve engines, as once raced at Brooklands in an HRG. Apply for the book to BIHT, Camden Works, Julian Road, Bath, BA1 2RH.