Hall in South Africa

Sir,

I enjoyed Bill Boddy’s article ‘The Fame of Hall’ in the July issue of Motor Sport, having been fortunate as a youth to see Eddie Hall racing in South Africa in 1948.

In that year he drove his 4257cc Derby Bentley in the Fairfield Handicap in Durban and in the Coronation 100 over the Easter weekend in Pietermaritzburg. In both events he was beaten by the handicapper, finishing third in the Fairfield and fifth in the Coronation. Had the races been run on a scratch basis, his positions in the events would have been second (to ERA R3A) and first, respectively.

In his article WB referred to Hall as a Yorkshire industrialist. Does anyone know what brought him to South Africa and what industry he was connected with? In the book 50 Years of the Marque by Johnnie Green, a photograph is captioned `…below is the old original body off Hall’s 1934 IT 3.5-litre Bentley, now neatly installed on a 1929 4.5, competing in a South African rally. Owner B P Cantor’.

The ‘Hall’ body, which had a somewhat stubby rounded tail and faired-in cycle type mudguards was, I understand, bought by the Watson family before Hall returned to the UK, and installed by them on a 4.5 litre chassis, the car later being sold to Barry Cantor. Where is this car now?

I am,Yours etc,

Douglas Metcalf, Pietermaritzburg, S.Africa