Broadside
Despite all those pictures of snow in my March ramblings it has actually been rain that has caused the greatest personal havoc. The wind blew a large chunk of roof off the barn where I keep the photos and archives. Everything had to be sheeted up to minimise damage but luckily I was covered by insurance.
Trying to photograph old vehicles in continuous rain isn’t much fun either so when the opportunity arose to sample the new Fiat Stilo in sunny Sardinia I jumped at it. Unfortunately the weather was just the same there, and even worse in Madrid and Paris on subsequent trips. In fact the fog around Madrid was so thick on a Honda Jazz and CR-V driving exercise that I couldn’t snap anything, not that I could see anything historic to snap! The environs of Paris produced a fleeting view of the former Renault factory on the Isle de Sequin in the Seine looking decidedly derelict, though there are plans to turn it into an art gallery. Out in the suburbs I encountered the one real rarity this month, a 6x6 lorry by PRP. Perex et Raimond of Paris were rebuilders of Second World War US military vehicles, having converted their first Autocar in 1947, and they often substituted GM Detroit diesels for the original petrol units. Trucks received more modern cabs and became unrecognisable under crane carriers and all manner of other special purpose vehicles. Production was presumably small and this was only the third PRP I have ever seen. The firm seemed to have fizzled out by the 1960s but then somehow reappeared to acquire some remnants of the famous old Willeme truck firm. By coincidence this had also started by rebuilding US military vehicles, though in its case after the First World War. Willeme teamed up with our own AEC in 1962 but had run out of steam by the end of the decade, when PRP revived its heavy haulage tractors.
There was another military link with the visit to Sardinia as, buried in the undergrowth behind my hotel, was what looked like a Jeep. However it had a shield-shaped radiator intake and independent front suspension. With difficulty the bonnet was opened to reveal a twin cam Alfa Romeo 1900 engine. Sure enough this was one of those rare Alfa Matta quarter tonners of 1952/5. They were built to an Italian Army specification also catered for by Fiat. In the waterlogged toolbox under the drivers seat were all its papers, showing that it was supplied in 1955 and had been granted historic vehicle taxation status in 1986. So why was it dumped in the bushes? The hotel didn’t know but had an idea who owned it and I left Richard Gadeselli of Fiat in London trying to acquire it.
The Museum of British Road Transport at Hales Street, Coventry recently opened Landmarques, its audio visual story of the local road transport industry 1869 to 1948. I spent an enjoyable morning in the museum and was very taken with the recreations of the Blitz and of the Royal Visit (in Daimlers of course) to the City at the end of the war. Coventry has been home to four hundred makes of bicycle, motor cycle, car and commercial vehicle and it is only fitting that it should have the largest collection of British vehicles under one roof. Amazingly entry is absolutely free and I defy a real enthusiast to be able to study everything on show in a day.
My own first classic was a 1929 Riley and I’ve felt a close affinity with Coventry ever since Barrie Price of Lea-Francis fame gave a guided tour of the surviving factories thirty years ago. Even before that I had the chance to rescue a couple of Cortauld’s Maudslay lorries from a breaker’s yard in Bedworth. To my eternal shame I failed, though I did help to save a 1926 Albion lorry and Tilling-Stevens bus of similar vintage. In the same yard was a brass age Dennis fire appliance, an AJS car and, in a shed, a veteran Quadrant motorcycle all of which, along with the Maudslays, were burned when the site was unexpectedly sold. Luckily I now have a little bit of Coventry in Somerset including the Maudslay bus shown in the March issue, a Unihorse tractor made by Lea-Francis and lots of archives relating to the Coventry motor industry.
As a youth in the 1960s I met Kineton, Warwickshire garage owner John Hewitt, who had several old cars including a side valve Riley and a vintage Alldays. I bought a Talbot 14/45 from him and we decided to see if any other old vehicle loonies lived in the area. Our letter was published in a Coventry newspaper and about half a dozen enthusiast turned up at a pub where we founded the Midland Vehicle Preservation Society. Happily this still thrives and now has hundreds of members. Amongst several new friends made at the time was Neville O’Keefe, who gave me a fascinating tour of Motor Panels, where he worked. This had been the Rubery Owen body making business that did everything from car prototypes and Bluebird land speed record contenders to the Daimler Limousine and truck cabs. It was fascinating to watch highly skilled craftsmen lead-loading the bare metal pressings (or were they hand beaten?) on the Daimler to get perfect contours.
Motor Panels these days is a key element in the Mayflower Group, who make the MGF and own bus and fire appliance maker Dennis. They also made the bodywork for the Rover BRM gas turbine racing car, which in a round about way also has definite Coventry roots.
J.K. Starley developed his Rover safety bicycle with equal sized wheels in 1988 and went on to make Rover cycles, motorcycles, and from 1904, cars in Coventry, all of which is well chronicled at the museum. The firm only moved from there to Solihull, because of the Second World War. It had built a wartime shadow factory on a Greenfield site outside Birmingham that came to suit its civilian expansion plans with the new Land Rover better than central Coventry. It had first tried Birmingham in the 1920s with its air-cooled 8hp car built at Tyseley, a plant which it retained after the Solihull move.
Happily Jaguar is still flourishing in the city after arriving from Blackpool around 1930 and initially using a plant built by engine maker White and Pope for armaments. It also, incidentally, owned Motor Panels for a while.
In 1960 Jaguar bought the 1896 Coventry motorcar pioneer Daimler from BSA, having used one of its shadow factories facing Brown’s Lane since 1951 to boost production of the legendary XK models.
Another success story happens in Hillman’s old Ryton factory. Here Peugeot enjoys the highest production of any individual model in Britain (two hundred thousand 206 last year). Rover itself made almost that number of its various models (not of course counting the Ford owned Land Rovers still made a Solihull) at Longbridge – which of course was formerly home to Austin. Just to confuse matters still further the Mini is made at Cowley in the former Morris factory, now owned by BMW…
Incidentally, when you spend a day at the Museum of British Road Transport it might be an idea to book in at the hotels Ibis/F1 which I’m told retains the frontage of the Swift bicycle and car factory.
I’m the custodian of the engine records of Meadows, which whilst hailing from Wolverhampton, have lots of Coventry links, not least with the thousands of Lea-Francis cars they powered and the fact that the firm joined Jaguar along with Guy and Coventry-Climax.
