Miscellany, November 2002

The Brooklands Museum has recently added to its collection of racing cars, which includes the lap-record Napier-Railton, the Duesenberg, and ERA R10B which was raced at the Track by Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead. This is on long loan from Nick Mason. Another long-term loan is that of a 1913 Type 15 1.3-litre Bugatti tourer, owned by Oliver Weguelin, while Geoff Cole’s 1933 MG J2, typical of the kind of MGs raced at Brooklands, is now on display in the Campbell Shed.

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The immortal Austin 7 of 1923 became available in many body styles, both factory and specialist. In 1926, Austins apparently thought about marketing a fixed-top two-seater coupé but it seems that only 500 were built. It is interesting that one of these coupés, a 1930 B-type (chassis 111818), has been found in a Cheshire garage in reasonable mechanical order, not having been used for some 50 years. The original Log Book is intact and may reveal its history.

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The VSCC’s late-summer Serendipity meeting at the Verzons Hotel, near Ledbury, with bookstalls and autojumble added to the jazz band, attracted 78 pre-war cars of 31 different makes. A dozen Alvises predominated, with 10 Austins next, and there were seven Velocette ‘bikes. The prize-winner was a gleaming, rather unusual Citroën saloon.