Vintage Veerings

Interest in pre-1931 cars continues at a high level and so it is not surprising that this feature has attracted some correspondence of its own:—

 

Sir,

Further to your notes in the January issue with regard to “The Use of Vintage Cars” I hasten to inform you that my 1925 Delage DISS tourer is used by myself for both business and pleasure journeys each day. I usually cover about 1,000 miles each month and find the old car is most reliable and efficient. Normal cruising speed is 50-60 m.p.h., with every comfort, and over 70 m.p.h. is available when challenged by younger vehicles! I even use the correct period C.A.V. lighting equipment—taken from an A.C.!

 

I am, Yours, etc.,

Bristol, 6. Roy A. Spiers.

Sir,

Although I know of a great number of other vintage cars in daily use I write this letter with reference to “Vintage Veerings” in the January number. My Alvis TX “12/50” is my sole means of transport for shopping, taking children to school, long and short business runs and light farm transport, together with visits to southern motoring events, making a mileage for 1949 of 10,600, which included a 700-mile trip in the Highlands towing a trailer caravan.

 

This car had done 150,000 miles when purchased in 1938 for £20 and has done 80,000 miles since demob in 1945.

 

I am, Yours, etc.,

Carlisle. C. W. A. Slater.

Sir,

Reference your paragraph in December “Vintage Veerings,” I, for one, do all my motoring on vintage vehicles, to wit, a 1926 Austin Seven, 1927 Scott Super Squirrel (found through the medium of Motor Sport “Club Notes” and now going very well), and a 1930 4½-litre Bentley. The latter is the youngest vehicle in my “fleet.”

 

I am, Yours, etc.,

Haddenham. J. D. Greaves.

Sir,

Your paragraph in “Vintage Veerings” naturally caught my eye, as I am the second owner of a Big Port Alvis (VM 8657, chassis 12247, engine 7521) first registered in 1929.

 

I became the proud possessor of this motor car in 1934 and it has been on the road ever since with the exception of three years during the “Hitler Hostilities.”

 

It has been and still is being used every day for business purposes.

 

When purchased by me it had only done 40,000 miles but now 200,000 miles stand to its credit. Its first owner had it rebored once, and since then I have had it done once but never have I had the crankshaft out nor given any attention to the main bearings—oil pressure when starting is a steady 40-60 lb./sq. in., but in the usual old Alvis manner drops to a steady 10 lb./sq. in. when really hot!

 

It is just having its first set of new teeth to enable the self-starter to function properly and the only non-standard items about the motor are its front wings, headlamps, extra air-valve, Bosch (World War I vintage) magneto, one or two dashboard instruments, secret switches and reversing lamp.

 

During the 20 years of its existence my Alvis has been entered for many motor-trials, rallies and a few sprints, apart from the fact that during the years 1946-48 I towed my Bugatti 85A and 85C to all parts of the country including right up to Bo’ness in September, 1947—so it has not had much rest, and to this day it is still used every day for all purposes— hence the reason for it not appearing “too beautiful” at certain sporting events from time to time.

 

One of the secrets of its long life I believe is due to the fact that the engine oil is normally changed every 1,000 miles, and routine work is carried out by me every month, just to keep it in tune.

 

Below I list one or two events in which I and my Alvis have participated—in most cases against all-comers, but it will be realised there are dozens more but I have not the time to go into all my records. 1936 Blackpool Rally, Finishing plaque; 1937 Blackpool Rally, ½-pint Tankard; 1937 M.G. Car Club 24-Hour Rally, Group 2, first prize, statuette (against Magnettes!); 1938 M.G. Car Club 24-Hour Rally, Finishing plaque; 1939 M.G. Car Club 24-Hour Rally, Group 2, Pint tankard; 1939 M.G. Car Club Follow-my-leader Trial, Second-class Award; 1939 Vintage Sports Car Club Welsh Rally, Finishing plaque—fifth, general classification; Blackpool Rally, Finishing plaque; 1946 Riley Motor Club, Rally-type Tests on promenade at Scarborough, First Old Favourites Prize, Table lighter; 1947 Vintage Sports Car Club, Prescott, Fastest Vintage Alvis, ½-Pint Tankard; 1947 Yorkshire Sports Car Club, Tolthorpe Aerodrome, First handicap race, cruet; 1949 Blackpool Rally, Finishing plaque; 1949 V.S.C.C. Silverstone, four-lap handicap, Fourth, Egg Cup and Plate.

 

From the above it will be appreciated that there is “nothing startling,” but for VERSATILITY, TROUBLE-FREE RUNNING AND DOWNRIGHT GOOD MOTORING, I reckon it takes a bit of beating.

 

I am, Yours, etc.,

Adlington. Vivian Buck.

Sir,

I have just read, with some interest, “Vintage Veerings” in your October, 1949 issue, which reached our news-stands this week (shades of clipper ships). The writer of this page was apparently gratified to encounter an old Austin Twelve of the “railway carriage door-handles” era. However, he may be interested to hear of one at present running in Melbourne, Victoria; a 1927 model, it has the above-mentioned handies, and is in mint condition although it has now covered some 100,000 miles. The really excellent English coachwork has withstood the test of time far better than the Australian-made bodies fitted on some of these chassis. The heavy plate-glass windscreen for passengers in the rear seat is in frequent use, and the present owner would not part with the car for love nor money.

 

My father bought the car, with 17,000 miles on the clock, from the original owner in 1934, for £75. We used it for three years covering some 50,000 miles, without a mechanical breakdown of any sort. In 1936 it brought us from Melbourne to Sydney, a distance of nearly 600 miles, for a total cost of £1 16s. 1d. for petrol and oil. There were the driver and, two passengers, with several hundredweights of luggage. The rail fare was over £3 each, so there was a very distinct saving.

 

Actual travelling time was some 30 hours—not a high average, but a very comfortable sightseeing trip. The last 130 miles was distinctly hazardous, due to coincidence with a cyclists’ road-race. From time to time, usually on down grades, cyclists would flash past us, but we usually seemed to overtake them a few miles further on.

 

Seriously, though, whilst not a fast motor car, the old Austin was definitely a comfortable, reliable, touring car, ideal for those who wish to see the countryside rather than just the road and the verge on each side of it. Incidentally, it was the car in which I learnt to drive, at the age of 11, and I can think of no better car for a serious learner.

 

No doubt you will have detected certain vintage leanings in the foreground. I am the official photographer of the V.S.C.C.A. here in Sydney.

 

I am, Yours, etc.,

Kenneth M. Paynter.

New South Wales,

Australia.

Sir,

I have been a regular reader of Motor Sport since long before the war, but this is the first time I have ventured to write to you.

 

Some time ago I acquired a 1924 Humber Eight tourer in first-class original condition. I should like to say how proud I am of this car. I am quite aware that in performance she is no Bentley or “30/98,” yet in roadholding, steering, acceleration and speed she is as sprightly as most other ordinary cars. But her chief charm for me lies in her wonderful unfailing reliability, her robustness and simplicity, the first-class engineering craftsmanship, but above all in that indefinable sense of rightness, of fitness for functional purpose, which is so characteristic of the vintage car from the lordly Bentley to the humble Humber Eight which I possess.

 

I hope you will forgive this unprovoked outburst but I know you will be sympathetic—the cult of the vintage car is unknown in this area and there seem to be few enthusiasts locally with whom to talk.

 

I am, Yours, etc.,

Donald Ward. Leigh-on-Sea.

Sir,

Having just acquired a vintage 2-litre Lagonda, I am tremendously impressed by the friendly salutes I have received from other “vintagents” met on the road. The spirit of camaraderie is really heart warming, in view of the “confound you, Jack—I’m all right ” attitude of most motorists (and non-motorists) that one encounters.

 

I am, Yours, etc.,

London. N.12 Peter T. Howes.

Two Lanchester Twenties, both closed models, are beautifully preserved at a Seaford garage.

“Back in 1925, if you owned a car that was 6½ years old and had gone 25,750 miles, chances are you had to sell it for junk. Because that was the average age and mileage at which cars in the U.S. wore out completely at that time.”—From the “International Auto Journal,” Jan.-Feb., 1950.

The other day we came across a little book in which we had jotted down the weights of some of the vintage cars we owned in the past. It provided rather a nice answer to an acquaintance who the other day dismissed all vintage cars as: “Nice museum pieces but dreadfully like ‘light lorries,’ old boy.” Of course, even before we had consulted our personal weighing-list we quoted the Anzani-Frazer-Nash and the “Brescia” Bugatti at him and reminded him in no uncertain terms that the Lancia Lambda has a gear-change which is delightful to actuate and not to be confused with the girder-like right-hand levers of many vintage cars—much as we ourselves like the latter sort of gear-lever. But to our list . . . There was a “Grand Sport” Amilcar which turned the scales at 12 cwt. 1 qr. in running trim. The nearest we got to this amongst the 1950 1,100-c.c. cars was the H.R.G., the dry weight of which is 13½ cwt. Then there was a certain rather nice 1½-litre 1924 big-port “12/50” Alvis “duck’s-back,” which weighed 17 cwt. Here the 1½-litre H.R.G. scores, at 14½ cwt., although this we note is “dry weight,” whereas our Alvis was weighed “ready for action.” But the modern Alvis, of only 396 c.c. greater capacity, weighs 2 cwt. more, dry, than a 1928 “big-port” “12/50” Alvis four-seater we once had, “wet,” while in drophead coupé form the modern Alvis is heavier than a substantial 1931 “12/50” Alvis saloon and another more aged specimen of one of these cars with heavy coachbuilt saloon body, both of which appear on our owner-register.

 

Then a shortened, but not too short, 6th/7th Series open Lancia Lambda that graced our garage at one period, weighed, we find, 21½ cwt., again “wet.” It had a capacity of 2¼ litres and compares, for example, with the 20½ cwt. “dry” weight of the modern 2½-litre Healey Roadster or the 21½ cwt. “dry” weight of the XK100 Jaguar. Finally, a comic Gwynne Eight with solid coupé body scores rather a point, for it turned the local gas-works weightbridge at 12½ cwt. Its engine was nearly one litre in capacity, and it compares, shall we say, with the present-day Ford Anglia or Morris Minor (for a coupé Gwynne isn’t a sports car!), except that these weigh (“dry,” too) 14.6 cwt. and 14¾ cwt., respectively.

 

Probably we have forgotten those “moderns” we should have quoted, but let’s have less of this “light-lorry” business in future, please. And note that we haven’t even mentioned fuel-consumption.

Extract from “The Book of the Ford,” 1916: ” . . . Or, on a rainy day, there may fall on your listening car a sound as of distant church bells. It will persist, and grow louder, but still you don’t see the belfry. Ultimately, you will come to the right conclusion that the tinkling arises from the back wheels . . . “