Beano

The Bean CC held a run in May starting from the old Bean factory at Tipton and meandering through Salop, to the delights of the Ironbridge Museum. It attracted that 1925 Meadows-engined 2.6-litre Bean tourer, known as an 18/50, imported from Australia some years ago, and a smart 1925 Bean Fourteen tourer. Others, which should perhaps be regarded as “lesser makes” on such an occasion, included a highly-presentable all-black I.h.d. Model-T Ford tourer, running correctly on trembler coils and carrying a Hackney Carriage plaque. When it parked beside a Clyno two-seater, however, it looked decidedly out-dated and we heard that it had needed a push up one particularly steep hill en route.

There was another Clyno, a four-seater, a chain-drive, transverse-twin vintage ABC motorcycle that had been ridden all the way from Surrey, by someone who has attended every ABC Register meeting to date, an early Austin 12 tourer, and a Riley Nine saloon with Brooklands Society badge, making it look from a distance as if it were about to leave for a day at the Track. The most notable arrival was a 1923 Type 754 Stanley steam-car, on test in chassis form, by a well-known builder of vintage radiators. I was taken for a short up-hill ride on this quiet and accelerative steamer, which consumes taxable paraffin at the rate of some 12 m.p.g., in return for an impressive performance. We turned round in a quarry at the crest of the hill, where saw my name in large letters and Brooklands colours, which I felt must be a good omen. The journey to the lunch pause was made in a 1960 Rover 100, with electric overdrive, which seemed appropriate in view of what I had written about “auntie Rovers” in last April’s Editorial. We motored quite a distance in this comfortable car during the day, seeing others of its kind here and there; new tyres are still available for them, of course, this one being on 6.40 x 15 Michelin “X”.— W.B.