V-E-V Odds & Ends., June 1974

At a picnic meeting of the VSCC, the S. Wales RREC and the Daimler & Lanchester OC recently in the Swansea Valley, three Rolls-Royces, an E20 Daimler, a 1924 Calthorpe, a 1937 Ruby Austin, a 1929 Hillman 14 saloon and a Lagonda Rapier coupe turned out. The Armstrong Siddeley OC is now a limited company. It has its own caravan, which it intends to tow to meetings behind a 346 Sapphire pick-up truck on the limousine chassis; not a vintage Armstrong Siddeley but better than a modern vehicle! After watching TV the other night, the Editor is now convinced that it must have been Lord Peter Wimsey who drove that 1914 GP Mercedes from London to Derby on the eve of the war! Multi-Cylinder, journal of the Pre-’50 American CC, continues its Packard and Allard histories and announces that this year’s Rally of the Giants is scheduled for August 3rd/4th, at the Cotswold Wildlife Park, near Oxford. The RREC Bulletin has scooped the original Royce papers, about the problems of giving the 40/50 Rolls-Royce front brakes, and reports that its Annual Concours d’Elegance takes place on June 1st/2nd at Englefield Park, near Reading. It will be a celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Rolls-Royce Company. We deeply regret to learn of the death of Robert Waddy—see separate obituary notice, written by a close friend.

From the informative Bean CC Magazine we learn that a 1920s Garford lorry is nearly restored and that a 14/40 twin-cam sixcylinder Lea-Francis is thought to exist in Eire. The 10/30 Alvis we referred to as having been found recently seems more likely to be an 11/40. The Bugatti OC has details of the celebrations which are scheduled to happen at Lyon from September 12th to 15th to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Type 35 GP Bugatti. It is hoped that some 50 of these delectable cars will assemble to drive round the 1924 Grand Prix course, supported by suitable contemporary cars, and that a timed speed-event will be held within the confines of the former circuit, although it seems that the proposed Limonest speed hill-climb may not be possible. The current issue of Bugantics contains a revision to the Register of Bugattis and although this may not be the complete story, it is interesting that it lists 31 sixteen-valve cars, 111 Brescia Modifie, 36 Type 30s, 172 Type 40s, 116 Type 44s, 50 Type 46s, three Type 45/47s, 78 Type 49s and 21 Type 50s as known to the Club. Moreover, although it is sometimes said that F. Schlumpf has cornered most of the surviving Bugattis, he is listed as owning only 27 of these. The STD Register continues to publish its Newsletter and Journal, and its Wolverhampton Re-Union takes place on July 7th. The Veteran CC’s Lord Victor Ludorum Trophy for 1973 was won by B. L. Firth’s 1909 Adler.