Letters from Readers, July 1955

NB.-Opinions expressed are those of our correspondents and “Motor Sport” does not necessarily associate itself with them. — Ed.

The Motor Car In Fiction

Sir,
Your interesting article “The Motor Car in Fiction” does less than justice to the sleuth of Baker Street in his association with motoring. Although Sherlock Holmes was approaching the end of his long career during the formative years of the motor vehicle, he must have studied its development with some care. “His Last Bow” relates how Holmes was able to join, in 1914, the von Bork spy ring in the guise of one Altamont, an Irish-American automobile engineer, and even used the names of motor components as code-words in his double game. The story also tells us how, while on the way to the final showdown with the master-spy, the Ford of Holmes and Watson was nearly run down (whether by accident or design does not appear clear) by the 100-h.p. Benz limousine belonging to von Herling of the German Embassy; and it was in the same Ford that the triumphant detectives conveyed the chloroformed von Bork and his secret papers to Scotland Yard.

Leaving Baker Street aside, it is surprising that John Buchan’s hero, General Richard Hannay, finds no mention. The General must have possessed the abilities of the first-class rallyist, and his admirers will recollect the nightmare journey through Asiatic Turkey in a broken-down Studebaker when he was in search of the Greenmantle, and also how, in “Mr. Standfast,” he raced against time over the snow-bound Alps in a stolen Mercedes with information of the German 1918 offensive. And “The Island of Sheep ” tells us that the General later settled down to retirement with a (presumably pre-1931) Bentley with which to pursue malefactors.

I am, Yours, etc.,
R. J. Mills.
Isleworth.

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Sir,
I put pen to paper after reading your excellent article, “The Motor Car in Fiction.” I have read several of the books you quote in your article, and was struck by their authors’ apparent knowledge of the well-known vintage cars. However, there is one author you do not mention who often has characters using vintage cars, that is Dennis Wheatley. One particular passage I enjoyed reading was in this author’s book, “The Devil Rides Out,” when the Duc de Richlieu drives across Salisbury Plain in his Hispano-Suiza with headlamps blazing to interrupt a Valpurgas Night Black Magic ceremony.

I am, Yours, etc.,
R. A. Morpeth.
B.A.O.R. 15.

———

Sir,
In your article of last month entitled “The Motor Car in Fiction,” you make no mention of Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey and his open Daimlers. We know that they were christened “Mrs. Merdle” and that by the date of his marriage he was using the ninth of these machines. So far I have been unable to arrive at any conclusions as to which model it was that he favoured, but perhaps those wiser than myself can glean rather more detail.

I am, Yours, etc.,
K. W. Allen.
Newbury.

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Sir,
Your “The Motor Car in Fiction” was a most welcome and enjoyable diversion, but I read on and on waiting in vain for a reference to my favourite fictional motor car: Leslie Charteris’ wonderfully onomatopoetic “Hirondel ” driven with great verve by “The Saint.” Somehow I always imagined that this was really a V12 Lagonda Rapide. [See letter from Major King-Clark! — Ed.)

All of which brings to mind Thomas Selby and Sarah breaking speed records between London and “Hurstpoint” in a drophead Lagonda in Warwick Scott’s “Image in the Dust.”

I am, Yours, etc.,
Stanley Nowak.
New York.

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Sir,
Since reading the article in Motor Sport entitled “The Motor Car in Fiction, I have read a book called “Live and Let Die,” by Ian Fleming. The second chapter begins as follows: “The grey Bentley convertible, the 1933 4 ½-litre with the Amherst-Villiers supercharger, had been brought round a few minutes earlier from the garage where he kept it and the engine had kicked directly he pressed the self-starter.”

The hero of this Secret Service story is a super spy named Bond (no comments) and he proceeds slowly through a murky London fog. “The slow drumbeat of his two-inch exhaust keeping him company.”

About halfway through the 13th chapter, Mr. Bond is in America with a colleague named Mr. Leiter, and he is about to go for a ride in Mr. Leiter’s car. I quote:

“Bond liked fast cars and he liked driving them. Most American cars bored him. They lacked personality and the patience of individual craftsmanship that European cars have. They were just ‘vehicles,’ similar in shape and in colour, and even in the tone of their horns. Designed to serve for a year and then be turned in in part exchange for the next year’s model. All the fun of driving had been taken out of them with the abolition of a gear-change, with hydraulic-assisted steering and spongy suspension. All effort had been smoothed away and all of that close contact with the machine and the road that extracts skill and nerve from the European driver. To Bond, American cars were just beetle-shaped Dodgems in which you motored along with one hand on the wheel, the radio full on, and the power-operated windows closed to keep out the draughts.

“But Leiter had got hold of an old Cord, one of the few American cars with a personality, and it cheered Bond to climb into the low-hung saloon to hear the solid bite of the gears and the masculine tone of the wide exhaust. Fifteen years old, he reflected, yet still one of the most modern-looking cars in the world.”

Another book I’ve read recently is “The Mint,” by T. E. Lawrence. In the 16th chapter, “The Road,” he describes a hair-raising dice on his big Brough with an aeroplane, a Bristol fighter. The scene is portrayed with absolute artistry, and whatever people say he wasn’t, he certainly was a motor-cyclist. I will quote one remark:

“A skittish motor-bike with a touch of blood in it is better than all the riding animals on earth, because of its logical extension of our faculties, and the hint, the provocation, to excess, conferred by its honeyed untiring smoothness.”

I hope some of this has been of interest to you.

I am, Yours, etc.,
Charles W. Lewis.
Oxford.
[It has. A pity, however, the blower Bentley is dated at least a couple of years too late. — Ed.]

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Sir,
With reference to your article in the April copy “The Motor Car in Fiction,” might I as a mere woman suggest a book. “No Lady in the Cart,” by Ursula Bloom.

I am sure that many motorists have to have a sense of humour which will appeal, and also give the “males” an even more superior feeling over the weaker sex.

I am, yours, etc.,
Patricia Brentnall.
Lincoln.

———

Sir,
I was very interested in your article “The Motor Car in Fiction” in the April issue of Motor Sport.

Before the war I used to read about “The Saint” driving hither and thither with great élan in his cream and red “Hirondel.” I often wondered what kind of car be had in mind until, one day in 1935 or 1936, on coming out of my dentist’s house in Weybridge I saw, outside the pub next door, a cream and red 4 ½-litre Lagonda open tourer with the Saint emblem painted on the bonnet just aft of the radiator. I entered the pub and discovered that it was indeed Mr. Charteris’ car. I have never been able to make up my mind whether I was satisfied or disappointed by the discovery — I think on the whole I would have been happier if the “Hirondel” could have stayed in my mind as my imaginary ideal motor car.

I look forward tremendously every month to the arrival of my Motor Sport. It always comes wrapped up with my wife’s Nursery World, but that isn’t my fault!

I am, Yours, etc.,
Rex King-Clark (Major).
Berlin.

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Sir,
Your enjoyable article “The Motor Car in Fiction ” made me realise that you had made no reference to Miss Dorothy L. Sayers.

I knew her in the early ‘twenties — just after her first thriller had been published — and its success made her feel that Lord Peter Wimsey should possess a car befitting his standing and nothing would dissuade her from a Double-Six Daimler which make he retained book after book. I also recall one of Miss Sayer’s short stories which gave a most convincing and exciting account of a scrap up Watling Street between a Norton and a Scott Squirrel — Miss Sayers herself being a motor-cyclist and owning a Ner-a-Car at the time. She also, I remember, turned the incident of an air-lock in her petrol pipe to good use by making one of her “murderers” inject air into one of his victim’s arteries or veins (I’m not sure which is correct) with a hypodermic syringe and thus puzzle everyone — except, of course, Lord Peter Wimsey.

I am, Yours, etc.,
“W. W.”
Newcastle-on-Tyne.

———

Sir,

My contribution to your list in connection with the above is the Alvis in “Surregars Raft,” by Peter Kenley.

I am, Yours, etc.,.
Joan L. Anderson (Mrs.)
Hereford.

[This correspondence is now closed but our article has aroused so much interest we propose to summarise further letters in next month’s issue. — Ed.]

* * *

Buing and Selling

Sir,
In reply to Mr. K. J. Campbell’s letter about the difficulty of selling his Talbot, surely it is a well-known fact that the vehicle you have for sale is “an unpopular model of which not many were made and for which spares are practically unobtainable.” Once it has changed hands it is transformed to a “rare and much sought after specimen,” a metamorphosis which to me is both inexplicable and unpleasant.

May I add my praise of your outspoken journal and add a plea for more articles in the series “Cars I Have Owned”? I always hope to come across a picture or mention of my M.G. when it was nearly new.

I am, Yours, etc.,
R. D. Greenaway.
Brighton.

* * *

The Roesch Talbots

Sir,
During the year 1925 I took on the road my first motor car, a Talbot 8/18. Since then I have always been an ardent admirer of this famous marque and an owner of many models. I now run a good “105” specimen. I therefore consider I am well qualified to heartily support Wing-Commander Parmee and offer solace to Mr. K. J. Campbell.

Mr. Campbell can dry his eyes — he is by no means alone in his admiration of Talbots. The “105” I now own is my tenth Talbot, having over the years of my experience, possessed most models from the “8/18 ” (no differential) followed by various “14/45s,” “65s,” etc. My present model is 20 years old and is all I desire of a motor car, being in very near original condition. Past owners have not been busy with the paint brush outside or the varnish brush inside, and the electrical system has not had the usual additions of lighting flex and black tape. It has the following features, seldom found today:
Preselector gearbox with automatic change “going-up” and traffic clutch. Lubrication from engine with filtered oil.
Dynamotor at front of engine (no jammed starter or flywheel ring to wear).
Rubber-free water system.
Central lubrication system (no crawling about with grease-gun).
Knock-on, balanced Rudge wheels.
Chronometric speedo. and rev.-counter.
Complete and unfettered access to distributor, rockers, oil-filter, cut-out and junction box.
Quickly-removable radiator and water pump.
Built-in jacking system.

All these, and more, in addition to the usual Talbot precision steering, roadholding, braking, etc. Have we gained mach from 20 years of progress?

A lot has been written about the famous Roesch Dwarfs. They have been blamed for many things, including the engine-gearbox-rear axle assembly, and many harsh words have been uttered about this tie-up. They had brains, however, and indulged in commonsense practice. They intended the rear springs to be used as road springs, and not as engine power absorbers — hence the torque tube and the famous Talbot rear stability.

It is sad to see a famous name pass on, even if it has been misapplied for so long. Perhaps there is more to it than is at first evident. Could it be that some descendants of the Dwarfs have turned up at Coventry and scared the pants off the users of the immortal name?

Mr. Campbell writes that the marque is today without honour. No, Sir! Indeed, great honour is written in the Autocar of January 28th, 1955, page 124, wherein the performance of a Talbot 105, 19 years old, is compared with a Daimler Regency saloon. The following are extracts from Autocar test reports quoted:

Talbot 105
Weight 36 ¼ cwt.
0-50 m.p.h. … 13.8 secs.
Max. speed … 83.3 m.p.h.
Consumption … 17 m.p.g.
(The Talbot having 500 c.c. less engine capacity)

Daimler Regency
Weight 37 cwt.
0-50 m.p.h. … 12.9 secs.
Max. speed … 85 m.p.h.
Consumption … 14-19 m.p.g.

Again, have we gained much from 20 years’ progress? We have seen considerable weight reduction and the softening of suspensions, which has produced the modern ailment — rolling, tail wagging, etc. Judging from Press reports and photographs, the ease with which some modern ears can be turned base-over-head is alarming, and proves retrograde steps in design.

I am, Yours, etc.,
J. H. Clarke.
Ilford.

———

Sir,
I write in support, and for the cheer, of K. J. Campbell as another fortunate owner of a Talbot 75 of Roesch design. Mine came from the enthusiastic hands of an engineer who was acquainted with Mr. Roesch himself, and who had gone to the trouble of rebuilding the car to as near the original new condition as was possible. Having owned, for my previous two cars, a Rolls Twenty, and a 2-litre Lagonda, I was very sceptical; but I am now a confirmed protagonist of this inexplicably neglected post-vintage thoroughbred marque.

With a dry weight of 28 cwt. (despite the loss and drag of a Roesch-modified Wilson-type gearbox) nought to fifty in 17 seconds enables her to “see-off ” a large proportion of cars on acceleration. The top speed of 77 m.p.h. (timed) is reached quickly when rare opportunity allows it, and a very comfortable vibrationless 65 m.p.h. cruising gait is available. With hard driving, some 22 m.p.g. are covered.

This is the sports-saloon model, and she is faster than any of the 2-litre Lagondas I have met so far. I only wish she had the manual gearbox and a tourer body; in which case she would be formidable indeed with some 4 cwt. less mass to shift.

Maintenance is laughably easy, as there is a rod-operated sump drain connected to the dip-stick, and a one-shot pump forces sump-oil to all chassis points at the stroke of a small under-bonnet handle.

I am given to believe that spares (when required) are easily available since there is an active Talbot Register allied to that dealing with the superb Sunbeam, and at least three major commercial sources of spares are available around London.

I assume that the reason that one hears little (comparatively) about these cars is that they do not change hands as frequently as, say, 2litre Lagondas. Compared to the latter, the materials and workmanship are almost as good, and the results (in terms of performance of cars in equivalent condition) better.

Incidentally, may I thank Motor Sport for the excellent historical and technical series of articles on the Roesch Talbot, which were published some two years ago?

I am, Yours, etc.,
“75.”
London, E.11.

* * *

Gear Ratios

Sir,
At last another person has realised the uselessness of the B.M.C. gearbox on the Morris Minor and Austin A30. It would be ideal for a Heavy Service Vehicle

After the war I obtained a Morris Minor, a Mark II I believe. The engine and gearbox in that model were a joy to use. The third gear ratio gave you ample speed to overtake on the road. With this car I started to try my hand at rallies and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Now I have a Morris Minor with the B.M.C.. o.h.v. engine and gearbox. With this car there is no pleasure in driving at all. I have had to give up rallying in it as the gear ratios are quite impossible. Apart from the host of major and minor troubles I have had in 7,000 miles, I feel that the car has no right to hold the name of Minor, after the wonderful Mark II. It is a disgrace to an honourable name, and I am sure that there are many people, both in the trade and in the ranks of car lovers, who agree with me.

I am, Yours, etc.,
Ian Lewis.
Kingston Hill, Surrey.

* * *

Austin-Healey v. Triumph TR2

Sir,
As an enthusiast and previous owner of one of the first TR2s in January, 1954, and now the proud owner of a 1954 Austin-Healey, I was surprised to read your Brisbane correspondent’s remarks concerning the two models in competition. I admit my Austin. Healey is a “Le Mans” model with a manually-operated overdrive in top which is a delight, and extra, but even allowing for this I think there is such a marked difference between the models that I should never go back to a TR2. In three months of ownership of my Austin-Healey nothing has so far extended me and only a few cars, including TR2s, have given serious challenge. The only car to outpace me in my TR2 was, however, an Austin-Healey !!

I mark the TR2 high on petrol consumption (32 m.p.g. over 7,000 miles against the Austin-Healey’s 23), but this is the only main feature, apart from price, to which the Austin-Healey gives second best.

I can only assume that in Australia and New Zealand the surprising difference between the two models was due to their respective drivers!

I am, Yours, etc.,
L. A. Bailey.
Ashford.

———

Sir,
Your correspondent, J. M. Trimble, in attempting to defend the merits of the Austin-Healey against the remarkable success of the TR2, surely makes out a most excellent case in favour of the TR2, for the following reasons: —

1. He concedes that both cars have a similar performance, but that the TR2 is quicker off the mark. Perfectly true, but whereas the Austin-Healey rates over 2 ½ litres, the TR2 does it with less than 2 litres.

2. His comments on the handling and cornering of the TR2 simply are not true. I may be biased, but Mike Hawthorn was not when he paid the car such glowing tributes for these very points, which he found excellent, in his test report in the Sunday Express.

3. The fact that the TR2 is already very well tested, and the Vanguard engine properly “hotted up” as one buys it “off the peg,” assuredly commends itself much more to most weekend rally enthusiasts, than a car on which one has to spend considerable money on Le Mans modifications, and so forth, in order to put it to the use for which it was bought. This, in any case, brings the Austin-Healey into a high price range, so that any comparison with the TR2 is odious.

4. I can only claim to have once seen a TR2, and an Austin-Healey, on the same track at the same time. That was at the first spring meeting at Snetterton this year, in the race won so well by W. Scott Brown. The Austin-Healey, unfortunately, came to grief quite early in the race, finishing in a very undignified position off the track. The TR2 not only finished, but against such terrific opposition did very well indeed; its steadiness on corners and roadholding on the straight, in the capable hands of D. Scott, called forth much admiration.

Accepting Mr. Trimble’s point that the TR2 is essentially a rally car, whereas the Austin-Healey is a circuit car: what better argument could there be in favour of the TR2?

There are rallies every weekend somewhere, but track events are still few and far between.

What I like so much about the TR2 is not only that it does-much about the same as the Austin-Healey, where performance is concerned, but that it goes half as far again on a gallon of juice, costs appreciably less to buy, does not need over-drive to make it a sports car, has a real sporting gear-lever, and not a long spindly affair that reminds me of bull-nosed Morris days, and has, as all sports cars should have, a four-speed box.

The cutaway sides make handling at speed between the pylons so much easier than being boxed in by solid sides, which perhaps explains to some extent, why, with all due respect to their skilful drivers, TR2 s now dominate so many rallies in which they are eligible to compete.

Permit me to close by saying that despite the foregoing, there can be little doubt that both of these excellent little cars have done a great deal do raise our prestige in the sports-car field, to say nothing of their export value, and the fact that their performance is so similar can only be a good thing, and a stimulus to their respective makers and owners.

I am, Yours, etc.,
Donald J. Duncan.
Welwyn Garden City.

———

Sir,
I should like to join in the recent spate of correspondence concerning the merits of the TR2 and the Austin-Healey.

Mr. J. M. Trimble fails to point out quite a few facts which, in my opinion, lift the TR2’s status above that of the Austin-Healey.

While truly stating that their performances are very similar, he fails to take into consideration the fact that the engine sizes are 1,991-c.c. and 2,660-c.c for the TR2 and Healey, respectively, thus the former would be racing in a lower and slower class than the latter (note the Austin-Healey 100S. in the largest class in the recent Mille Miglia).

A further point in the TR2’s favour lies in the fact that it has a four-speed gearbox and overdrive against the three: and overdrive of the Healey.

As for the handling, the TR2 seems to me to corner as well as the Austin-Healey when fitted with the competition springs available.

I appreciate Mr. Trimble’s point that the power unit for the Triumph is only a tuned Vanguard engine but it gives the performance with reliability and helps to keep the price down to a mininium.

Surely the deciding factor in favour of the TR2 is the fuel consumption. It does thirty-five miles per gallon as against the twenty-five of the Healey.

I am, Yours, etc.,
L. Thurkettle.
Sheffield.

* * *

In Defence of Two-Strokes

Sir,
May I hasten to reassure Major Vinning (“The Case for the Conventional”) that DKW owners do not get as tired of mixing oil and petrol as he imagines. After 30,000. miles’ experience with two of the two-cylinder cars, I now wonder how I could ever previously have been bothered with the messy business of periodical sump draining, to say nothing of curing oil leaks on old engines and the occasions when, for one reason or another, I have had to drive with one eye all the time on the oil gauge. And if ever I do feel that mixing is becoming a bit of a bind, I need only think of the long life of cylinder bores (no dry-wall starting, no “warming-up” on cold mornings) and the fact that the harder I drive the more oil goes where it is needed. Oil-in-petrol is not, as the Major’s letter might seem to imply (intentionally or otherwise), an out-of-date survival from the days of his Levis, 30 years ago, but is still a most practical method of two-stroke engine lubrication.

Of course, I could point out that for use in this heathen country where ready-mixed petrol is not obtainable ex-pump (in spite of the increased use of two-stroke engines) the export DKW Sonderklasse is now being fitted with an instantaneous mixing device built into the petrol tank!

I leave the Citroën enthusiasts to deal with the views expressed on front-wheel drive, and I strongly support in advance all that they are going to say in its favour!

I am, Yours, etc.,
Doug. Lister,
DKW Owners’ Club.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.