enthusiasts club bulletin ISSUE 275 March/April 2006

Transcription

1 enthusiasts club bulletin ISSUE 275 March/April 2006

2 2 ROLLS-ROYCE ENTHUSIASTS CLUB The Hunt House, High Street, Paulerspury, Northamptonshire NN12 7NA Telephone: (01327) Facsimile: (01327) Shop: (01327) http// Office and Shop open 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday President: Lt. Col. Eric Barrass, OBE PRESIDENT Lt. Col. Eric Barrass, 7 Shirley Gardens, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8TG. Tel: Fax: CHAIRMAN Ian Rimmer, 148 Sandylands Park, Wistaston, Crewe, Cheshire CW2 8HE. Tel/Fax: ian@rimmeril.supanet.com DEPUTY CHAIRMAN Suzanne Finch. 7 Kingsmill, Stoke Bishop, Bristol BS9 1BZ. Tel: suzanne@trinfinch.fsnet.co.uk MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Trevor Baldwin The Brook, Stamford Road, Marholm, Peterborough PE6 7HX. Tel: Fax: atthebrook@btinternet.com John Clough Dukes, Main Road, Danbury, Essex CM3 4DT. Tel/Fax: Paul Farnill 4a Graveley Thorpe Road, Whitkirk, Leeds LS15 7EH. Tel/Fax: paul.farnill@ntlworld.com Philip Hall C/o The Hunt House. Tel (home): Eri Heilijgers Baddow Park, Great Baddow, Essex CM2 7SY. Tel/Fax: eheilijgers@btconnect.com Tony James Bengal Farmhouse, Greens Norton, near Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 8BG. Tel: Fax: james@bengalfarmhouse.freeserve.co.uk Benno Th Müller Sunnmatt 4, CH-8126 Zumikon, Switzerland. Tel: rrec@rrec.ch Jane Pedler Barn House, Church Street, Ewell Village, Surrey KT17 2AQ. Tel: (home) ; (work) JEPedler@aol.com Malcolm Tucker Butlers Farm, Gangbridge Lane, St. Mary Bourne, Hampshire SP11 6EP. Tel: maltuck@btconnect.com SUB-COMMITTEES Finance Chairman/ Finance Director John Clough (see Management Committee). Company Secretary Keith Lanchbury. Additional Members Jane Pedler, Ian Rimmer (see Management Committee), Charles Tabor (see Chief Judge). Annual Rally Chairman Trevor Baldwin (see Management Committee). Chief Marshal Jane Pedler (see Management Committee). Chief Judge Charles Tabor, Sutton Hall, Rochford, Essex SS4 1LQ. Tel: Fax: Trophy Master Paul Farnill (see Management Committee). Trade Co-ordinator Patsy Baldwin (address as Trevor Baldwin, above). Tel: Fax: Hospitality Suzanne Finch (see Deputy Chairman).

3 3 CLUB HEADQUARTERS General Secretary Wg Cdr Julian Spencer. Visits and Research Philip Hall, C/o The Hunt House. Library Philip Hall, C/o The Hunt House. CLUB SERVICES Bulletin Editor Wg Cdr Julian Spencer. Club Shop Manager Helen Saxby, C/o The Hunt House. Tel: Webmaster Sophie Scales, C/o The Hunt House. Tel: Chassis Cards and Ring Barbara Westlake at The Hunt House, quoting chassis number Car Build Histories or Cost varies with model. Valuations Car valuation forms are available from The Hunt House on receipt of 35. Completed forms are to be sent to the Valuation Officer with photographs of the car. For cars insured on an agreed-value basis, Richardson Hosken requires a revaluation every three years. Valuation Officer Bill Medcalf, 42 Clay Hill, Enfield EN2 9AA. Tel: Chief Instructor, Seminars Steve Lovatt Tel: Seminar Bookings Penny Thorburn, C/o The Hunt House. Tel: Special Tool Hire Tony James (see Management Committee). Films and Photography Colin Hughes, 6 The Birches, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP3 0LJ. Tel: CONSULTANTS Insurance For quotations apply to Richardson Hosken, Library House, New Road, Brentwood, Essex CM14 4GD. Tel: Fax: DVLA registration enquiries Please contact The Hunt House. European Liaison Eri Heilijgers (see Management Committee). Translates both ways Dutch, French, German, English. Organises European tours. Ombudsman Richard Shaw, 1 Wildwood Road, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London NW11 6UL. Complaints and recommendations in confidence. Spares Secretary Tony James. Tel: (between 6 pm and 10 pm please). Advice on spares new and used. SAE with letters please. Technical Co-ordinator All enquiries to The Hunt House. Trademark Attorney David C Evans (contactable through the General Secretary). Shadow Help-line Mike Hall: 6 pm-7 pm weekdays and 1 pm-2 pm Tuesday and Thursday telephone SIR HENRY ROYCE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION Chairman Charles Tabor, Sutton Hall, Rochford, Essex, SS4 1LQ. Tel: Fax Curator and Chief Executive Philip Hall, The Hunt House. Tel: philiphall@henry-royce.org. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION (DUE 1st JULY) UK membership 44 Overseas membership (includes rest of Europe and Eire) 41 Overseas membership airmail (includes rest of the world) 63 Joint membership (add this amount to the above subscription) 5 New member joining fee (add this amount to the above subscription) 30

4 4 Section Secretaries Overseas AUSTRIA Chairman: Mag. Helmut Goigner, Staatsbahnstr. 58, 2136 Laa an der Thays. Tel: Gerwald Anderle, Brucker-Bundesstrasse 100, 5700 Zell am See. Tel: BELGIUM (Flemish) Chairman: Mar Van de Kreeke, Het Steedie 44, 3530 Houthalen-Helchteren. Tel: Guy Rousseau, Oosthoevestraat 127, 2950 Kapellen, Belgium. Tel/Fax: BELGIUM LUXEMBOURG Chairman: Baron M. t Kint de Roodenbeke, La Ferme du Vicaire, Hédenge, B-1367 Autre-Eglise, Belgium. Tel: Fax: michelkr@roodenbeke.be DENMARK Jens Kjaerulff, Nordvestvej 12, DK Liseleje, Denmark. Tel: familien@kjaerulff.dk FINLAND Matti Sortila, Särkiniementie 19 B 25, FIN 00210, Helsinki, Finland. Tel: info@rrec.fi FRANCE Antoine-Pierre Blondet, 2 rue Rossini, Paris Tel: (33) direct. Fax: (33) secretary. rrec@tea-cerede.com GERMANY Chairman: Hans-Rudolf Koch, Bergrade 16, Duvensee, Germany. Tel: Mobile: Fax: florianannakoch@gmx.de Secretary: Götz v. Kayser, Menzelstrasse 7, Potsdam, Germany. Tel: Mobile: Fax: mgkayser@gmx.com HOLLAND Robert Jan Tjeenk Willink, 25 Wildernislaan, 7313 BC Apeldoorn, Holland. Tel: Fax: tjeenkwillink@wxs.nl HONG KONG Patrice Delsinne, House 7D, Tree Lodge, Kap Pin Long New Village, Saikung, Hong Kong. Tel: Fax: IRELAND Chairman: Raymond Moffatt, 100 Omagh Road, Drumquin, Co. Tyrone, BT78 4SP. Tel: Mobile Carol Plunkett, 2 Fortfield Terrace, Rathmines, Dublin 6, Ireland. Tel: ISLE OF MAN Chrissie Parkes, The Round House, Lonan, Isle of Man IM4 7PP. Tel/Fax: roundhouse@enterprise.net ITALY Davide Bassoli, Viale Risorgimento 54/B, Cicognara (MN), Italy. Tel: bassolidavide@libero.it NORWAY J. E. Ronneberg, Neils Juels gt 14, 0272 Oslo, Norway. PORTUGAL Elvio Santos, Centro Comercial, Marina Vilamoura, Loja 23, 8125 Vilamoura, Portugal. Tel: vilamoura@rocketmail.com SOUTH AFRICA Cape Town Chairman/Secretary: Stuart Halsall, 25 Rembrandt Road, Spanish Farm, Somerset West 7130, South Africa. Tel: SPAIN Chairman: Roger Fry, CBE, C/o Maestro Lasalle 46, Madrid, Spain. Mario J. Hernáez, Maestro Lasalle 46, Madrid, Spain. Tel: Fax: SWITZERLAND Chairman: Arthur G. Sutsch, Ober Geriwil 41, CH-1715 Alterswil, Switzerland. Tel: Fax: asutsch@rrec.ch Jürg M. Bihn, Jonastrasse 17c, PO Box 406, CH-8636 Wald ZH, Switzerland. Tel: Fax: jbihn@rrec.ch SWEDEN Göran Berg, Rönntunet 2, S Lidingö. Tel: (Sweden) berg@karlebo.net UPPER CANADA Chairman: Peter Neilson, 34 Kings Garden Road, Toronto, M8X 1S6. Roger and Eleanor Hadfield, Mazemoor, RR1, Milton, Ontario, Canada L9T 2X5 Tel: WESTERN CANADA Basil Fox, 470 Seaward Way, Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada V9K 1T8. Tel: Fax: Home CENTRAL SOUTHERN Ted Meachem, Little Stammerham Farm, Two Mile Ash, Horsham RH13 0PG. Tel: Fax: emeachem@hotmail.com EAST ANGLIAN Terry Wright, Engine Cottage, Fordham, Downham Market, Norfolk PE38 0LW. Tel: @tiscali.co.uk EAST MIDLANDS John D Newton, 64 Breach Road, Heanor, Derbyshire DE75 7NJ. Tel: john.newton2005@gmail.com ESSEX Michael Batt, 30 Carlton Close, Upminster, Essex RM14 2YR. Tel: Fax: mikebatt100@aol.com GREAT WESTERN Pat Smith, 11 Mansel Close, Saltford, Bristol BS31 3LE. Tel/Fax MIDDLESEX David Oxford, Brantwood, 11 Court Way, Colindale, London NW9 6JG. Tel: NORTH EASTERN Martin Vinson, Cleveland Lodge, Cold Kirby, Thirsk, YO7 2HL. Tel (direct line): Tel/Fax: Jmartin.Vinson@btinternet.com NORTHERN Graham Eastwood, 37 Brentwood Avenue, Crosby, Liverpool L23 2UY. Tel: graham@lov76.com OXFORD Gerald Garratt, Sycamore House, Tacks Lane, Thame Road, Haddenham, Buckinghamshire HP17 8EW. Tel: gerrygarratt@onetel.com PAULERSPURY Mia Murray, Tattenhoe Farm, Tattenhoe, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire MK4 3AA. Tel: mia_murray@ampthill1.freeserve.co.uk SCOTTISH Peter Kendrick, 51 Jamaica Street, South Lane, Edinburgh EH3 6HG. Tel: stirton@blueyonder.co.uk SOUTH EASTERN Stephen Beker, 7 Roseacre Lane, Bearsted, Kent ME14 4HY. Tel: stephen.beker@btinternet.com SOUTH WALES Kelvin Price, The Hendre, 45 Village Farm, Bonvilston, Cardiff CF5 6TY.Tel: SOUTH WESTERN Mrs Beryl Stone, Stewart Heights, 2 Petroc Drive, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 2LT. Tel: beryl.stone@btopenworld.com SURREY Andy Courtney, 25 Upper Teddington Road, Hampton Wick, Kingston-upon-Thames, KT1 4DL. Tel/Fax THAMES VALLEY Diana Chambers, 167 Blind Lane, Flackwell Heath, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP10 9LE. Tel/Fax: WESSEX Chess Ferrier, 315 Bursledon Road, Sholing, Southampton, Hampshire SO19 8NE. Tel: wessex@chessf.com WEST MIDLANDS Brian Bremer, Chylowen, 9 Beechcombe Close, Pershore, Worcestershire, WR10 1PW. Tel: YORKSHIRE Ian Hick, 4 St. John s Avenue, Kirby Hill, Boroughbridge, York, YO51 9DL. Tel: ianhick@yahoo.co.uk Register Registrars Silver Ghost Tim Forrest, Botley House, The Green, Chiddingfold, Surrey GU8 4TT. Tel: hp Ben Grew, 16 Hall Park Avenue, Westcliffe on Sea, SS0 8NR. Tel: /25, 25/30, Wraith Tony James, Bengal Farmhouse, Greens Norton, near Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 8BG. Tel: Fax: james@bengalfarmhouse.freeserve.co.uk Derby Bentley Douglas Reece, Polcouta Farmhouse, Veryan, Truro, Cornwall, TR2 5QQ. Tel: doug-eliz.reece@tiscali.co.uk Derby Phantom David Dudley, The Old Barn, Llanerch Park, St Asaph, Clwyd, LL17 0BD. Tel/Fax: Mk. VI and Silver Wraith dgdudley@lineone.net Tony Jenkin, Fair Acres, Bampton, Oxfordshire OX18 2AA. Tel: (evenings). uptheclump@witneyserve.net Silver Clouds and S types John Fox, 13 Llandennis Avenue, Cyncoed, Cardiff CF23 6JD. Tel: Post-65 Andrew Meakin-Scott, 3 Seaside Road, Lancing, West Sussex BN15 8DD. Tel/Fax: Alan Mowbray, Tollfield House, 6 Prebendal Green, Yarwell, Peterborough, East Northamptonshire, PE8 6PJ. Tel: alan@mowbray25.freeserve.co.uk All new members are invited to contact their nearest Section Secretaries for information of local activities. You will be sure of a warm welcome among people of like interests! The opinions expressed and advice offered in the Bulletin do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Directors. R.R.E.C. Ltd accepts no responsibility for the results of following contributors advice.

5 5 Chairman s Notes At the Management Committee meeting in January our new General Manager and Editor, Julian Spencer, was confirmed in his position but will now be known as our General Secretary. As Editor he is keen to receive any articles, which may be of interest to the rest of the membership. He does have to keep a balance of content so may, from time to time, have to trim contributions or even defer to a later issue if appropriate. Building work on the Peter Baines Memorial Wing is now complete and racking will soon be installed to hold the vast quantities of archive material held in temporary storage. The building will be formally opened later in the year. Thanks to the efforts of our seminar instructors, ably assisted by a volunteer group from the Surrey Section, the workshop and classrooms have been cleared and decorated. I must offer my personal thanks to all those who worked so hard and especially to Tony James who oversaw all the work. We also now have a new resident in the workshop in the form of a Silver Shadow II car, which was acquired at a bargain price. It has been part-sectioned and cut away to reveal the inner workings and proved most valuable at the Silver Shadow seminar in early February. The first of four working engines, a V-8, will be installed in the new second classroom during March. This year will see three celebratory events; the 40th anniversary of the Silver Shadow and Bentley T, the 60th anniversary of the Silver Wraith and Bentley Mk VI and the centenary of the C S Rolls victory in the 1906 Isle of Man TT race will see the 50th anniversary of the RREC and the centenary of the Silver Ghost and we already have a team working on a programme of celebratory events. The Club Annual Conference was held on the weekend of March. Delegates from most Sections, Registers and Service Providers attended and discussed issues relevant to the running of the Club. Our AGM will be held in April. With only three nominations for the three vacancies, there will be no need to hold an election. However, we welcome your votes on the three resolutions listed on the voting form with the last Bulletin. The outdoor rally season will soon start and the first of the four major events, the South of England Rally, will be held in May, followed by the Annual Rally in June, the North of England Rally in August and the Euro Rally in Norway in August/September. Do also support your local Section events. IAN RIMMER Enthusiasts Club Bulletin Number 275 March/April 2006 Editor: Julian Spencer The Bulletin is published every other month. Photographs, illustrations, features, members letters and announcements are always welcome. Deadline for material for next Bulletin: 12 April. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, we cannot be held responsible for statements published in good faith. Reproduction of material published in this issue in part or in whole without written permission is expressly forbidden. Copyright is normally vested in the contributor and application should be made in the first instance to the Editor. Designed and printed at Acanthus Press Limited, Wellington, Somerset. In this issue Chairman s Notes...5 From the Editor...6 CARs...12 Spares Corner...13 Cars and their Owners No A Bentley R Type in Morocco...19 Technical: Shutters and Shockers Annual Rally update Bentley Flying Spur Continental From the Archives...38 The Hunt House Profile...42 Wanna Make a Connection, Victoria? Goodwood News...48 Book Review...52 Registers...53 Section News...58 Correspondence...70 Events List...74 Front cover: James Young S Type Continental. Back cover: Graham Pearce funeral cortege, Exeter, 20 January Picture courtesy of the Express and Echo, Exeter.

6 6 From the Editor (The comments contained in this editorial are strictly those of the Editor and do not represent those of R.R.E.C Ltd, the Club or its officers.) Following on from the information on the Rolls-Royce Motor Club that featured in B273 (Correspondence) and B274 (Editor s Notes), Richard Welch has provided more material on the subject. Richard was a member of the Rolls-Royce Motor Club for eight years from A copy of his membership card for the Crewe section of the Motor Club is shown in pictures (1 and 2). Richard still has his Rolls-Royce Motor Club car badge which is currently displayed on his 1977 Silver Shadow II (SRH32183). Richard recalls that, during his membership, the Club held many meetings and treasure hunts in North Wales. The events were usually held at night and an RAC permit was required for each event. At that time there was a proliferation of motor clubs and the granting of a permit by the RAC ensured that different motoring events did not clash at the same time and in the same place. The Rolls-Royce Motor Club hosted a number of talks by celebrities in the Starlight Room at Crewe. One of the guest speakers in 1958 was Mike Hawthorn, the 1958 Formula 1 world champion. Some readers may recall that, in January 1959, Mike Hawthorn died tragically in a car accident near his home in Farnham, Surrey, aged just twenty nine years. Richard Welch started working as an engineering apprentice at Crewe in In 1954 he purchased his first Rolls-Royce, a /25 (GNC2) with a Barker body, but the bodywork was in poor condition. However, Richard purchased (for 25 from Crewe) the Park Ward estate body which had been removed from an experimental Bentley (12-B-V) (See Club Chairman, Ian Rimmer s book Rolls-Royce and Bentley Experimental Cars, pages ) and fitted the body to his 20/25 (GNC2). Pictures (3 and 4) show the finished car with the replacement Park Ward body. The photographs were taken, by Rolls-Royce, in Pyms Lane near the front of the factory for their April 1959 issue of the Rolls-Royce News. Picture 4 shows clearly the Rolls-Royce Motor Club badge. The centrefold photograph was sent in by John Fasal and shows the Market Place, Shrewsbury, as it looked in the early 1930s. The car (next to the one and 2 (above and right) Rolls-Royce Limited Motor Club Membership Card

7 7 3 3 (above) /25 (GNC2) with replacement Park Ward body 4 (below) /25 (GNC2) sporting Rolls-Royce Motor Club badge 4

8 horse power transport!) is a /50hp (1499) open-drive landaulette by Barker. The statue to the right of the picture is of Robert Clive, the 1st Baron Clive ( ). He was also known as Clive of India, the man behind the empire in British India. Baron Clive was Mayor and Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury. Is the Market Place scene largely unchanged today? Perhaps a Club member local to Shrewsbury would like to recreate the photograph with his or her own Club car and send it to me so we can see the then and now. Mike Spence sent in a delightful picture of his 8

9 9 5 (opposite) Amelia through the looking glass 6 (opposite top) Grouse and Grace (16EX) 9 7 (opposite middle) 16EX in Scotland 8 (opposite below) 16EX in Scotland granddaughter Amelia looking through the window of Mike s 1934 Bentley (B148CR) drop head coupé by Park Ward (5). The picture was not posed and so it is good to know that some enthusiasts can be captivated by our cars at such a young age. Colin and Joan Laybourn sent in some photographs (6, 7 & 8) of the New Phantom experimental chassis (16EX) with Barker body that was owned by the grandfather of their host when they were on a holiday in the Pyrenees last year. Their host, Jonathon Peat, said his grandfather, Henry Peat, used the car on his estate in Perthshire, Scotland. The life of 16EX is somewhat convoluted and the chassis has had several owners. However, further information on the Henry Peat connection was given in 1959 in an article written by Ian Graham, the car s owner at that time. The article, produced in Road and Track magazine in April 1959 and reproduced in our Club Bulletin B52 in January 1969, states that Henry Peat bought 16EX after the war. He used it to go to Scotland each year and to go to his office in London on most days. Henry Peat parked the car across the street from Ian Graham s apartment and Ian subsequently bought the car from Henry. Further information is available on pages of W J Oldham s The Rolls-Royce 40/50hp: Ghosts, Phantoms and Spectres. A good post-war photograph of 16EX is on page 38 of Ian Rimmer s Rolls-Royce and 9 (above) The first Royce car (15196), Marple, Stockport, taken in 1905 Bentley Experimental Cars. Coincidentally, Colin Laybourn is currently in the process of restoring Silver Ghost (8TE) that was owned by Sir W H Peat KBE, the grandfather of Henry and the great grandfather of Jonathon. What a difference a hundred years makes says member Tom Clarke. For years he wanted to know where this picture (9) of the first Royce car (15196) was taken in 1905 with the Hallam family. It was said that it was Marple, near Stockport in Cheshire; but, where precisely? Fellow member John Gratton came up trumps by identifying it as the lane off the B6104 leading down to Brabyns Park near Marple Bridge. Everything in the 1905 picture is still there in the photograph (10) taken in 2005 but the latter 10 (below) The same location scene as Picture 9, taken in

10 10 11 (left) /25 (GED 23) sports saloon by Carlton (below) Douglas, Isle of Man, May 1972 image shows a more forlorn scene. The original bridge now has a brutal steel one over the top of it, the guard's house has lost its charm, and much growth has been lost. A ready contender for the next property restoration TV programme perhaps? It is often said that things happen in threes. This is no truer than in the extraordinary chance discoveries I have made in researching Sir Henry Royce s proposed Wells cottage near his home in West Wittering. Readers may recall that in B273 (page 32) I commenced my series of Archives: From The Hunt House (No.1) with an article on Sir Henry s plans (and his active involvement in the design) in building a farm worker s two-bedroom, two-storey cottage somewhere in or near West Wittering, Sussex. The cottage was never (?) built. However, the intriguing aspect was the reference to Wells. Due to a chance subsequent discovery of further documents including diagrams of the new cottage, I followed up the article in B274 (page 32) Archives: From The Hunt House (No.2) with a highly plausible explanation for the derivation of the Wells cottage. I thought that would be the end of the subject and I could move on to a new archives topic! However, since then, my random rummaging in the archives has unearthed, from a different and unexpected source, further material that actually solves the mystery of Wells cottage. To find out the answer you will just have to read the article! (I promise to write on a different Archives subject next Bulletin, unless of course..) The Cars and their Owners article by Nick Finch on page 48 of B272 has generated more information on the Rolls-Royce that first inspired Nick as well as further background to his Thrupp and Maberly Bentley (B128DG). Firstly, on the subject of that inspirational car, Club member, Roger Nowell, recognised Nick s reference to the Rev Percy Clough 12

11 (left) Liverpool quayside, May (above) Eric Barrass, President RREC and his black 20/25. Roger is in fact the current owner of that very car which first inspired Nick to want a Rolls-Royce of his own. The car is a /25 (GED23) sports saloon by Carlton. Picture (11) shows GED23 as it looks today. Secondly, more on the history of B128DG has been provided by Tim Sargeant. In May 1972, Tim brought B128DG back from the Isle of Man along with eight others for David Baldock (a dealer in used Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars based in Kent), who had purchased them from the defunct Classic Cars IoM firm. The cars were collected from various sheds and garages all over the island and towed to the quay at Douglas from where they returned to Liverpool on the Manx Maid. Tim recalls that B128DG should have had a boot rack with it which was hanging on a nail high on the wall of one of the buildings but unfortunately there was no way it could be retrieved and it was left behind in the rush to get back to the boat. Did someone on the Isle of Man rescue it? Picture (12) shows the cars lined up on the quayside at Douglas, Isle of Man. B128DG is the third car in the queue. Picture (13) shows the cars lined up, after the ferry crossing, on the quayside at Liverpool. The person on the right of the picture is David Baldock. Eri Heilijgers sent in a rather dashing picture of our President, Eric Barrass (14), looking in fine fettle as he celebrated his 92nd birthday in January. Congratulations Eric. The CARs (Corrigenda, Addenda and Responses) column that I introduced to the Bulletin in the last edition has proved to be a hit in that it has generated considerable new information from the super sleuths amongst you. (Incidentally, I am sure that Maurice Richardson was not the only Club member to spot the deliberate spelling mistake of Resposnes on page 11 of B274. As Maurice correctly points out the first corrigendum for the corrigendum!!) Readers will find an even larger CARs following this editorial. Finally, it has been a sad time recently for the Club because some of our well-known and respected members have passed away. Readers will find obituaries for Graham Pearce (also see back cover), Pat Shurmur, William (Bill) Fuller and Mike Pittman in this publication. JULIAN SPENCER

12 12 CARs Corrigenda, Addenda & Responses The introduction of this column in the last Bulletin has proved to be a popular medium in which to collate, in one place, the identification of cars, members observations and clarifications of previous material. I hope it will be of use to researchers and historians in the future. I am grateful to the many Club members who contributed to the following material. B274, p6, PICTURE 2 The two Derby Bentleys are: Thrupp & Maberly saloon (B168KT) registered ELK 139 owned by Club member Robert Small in the USA, and Rippon two door pillarless saloon (B129EJ), now registered BUE 922, owned by Julian Paul in the UK. B274, p8, PICTURE 5 This is a Phantom II continental saloon by Barker and is similar to the prototype PII continental, 26EX. The chassis is possibly 58GX. It is believed the car went to the USA in circa 1958 and was previously sold by Paddon. B274, p8, PICTURE 6 This is a 1931 Phantom II (6GX), registration GP 5559, built originally as an elegant Freestone & Webb drophead coupé. It is one of seven PIIs bought new by Sir John Leigh of Whitley Park. (See Coachwork on Rolls-Royce pp ) It was subsequently damaged in a fire and was re-bodied with a Carlton two door tourer body. According to Complete Classics No 5 the car was last recorded in 1999 with a German owner. B274, p9, PICTURE 7 This Phantom II created different opinions between contributors. One member said it is almost certainly a sedanca de ville by Barker and it was entrant no. 24 at the 20-Ghost Club s Coronation Rally held in London s Kensington Gardens in July However, another member said it was bodied by Thrupp & Maberly, first registered GT 2789 in London in late The chassis is probably 4JS. A photo of a similar (possibly the same) car was published in B269, p12. B274, p10, PICTURE 9 The car shown on the Spanish postage stamps (reproduced below) is 1948 Silver Wraith (WVA59). It originally had a Park Ward saloon body but was updated by Pedro Serra who also bodied Phantom III (3CP140) using Silver Cloud elements. B274, p28 Richard Holland s magnificent Silver Cloud is chassis SKG33 and not SJG33. B274, p28 Larry Lim s 20hp is chassis GZK20 and not GKZ20. B274, pp65-66 B274, pp65-66 The car that is the subject of the article Living with a 1932 Rolls-Royce is a 20/25 with Freestone & Webb saloon body (GAU41). The original UK registration was FS JULIAN SPENCER

13 Spares Corner 13 by Tony James We take for granted the fact that if a part fails all we have to do is remove it, purchase a replacement and fit it in place. However, the concept of interchangeability of parts was not always considered to be an essential property of a mechanism. In the eighteenth century the equivalent of owning a Rolls-Royce or Bentley was to be the proprietor of one or more fine clocks, each hand made and unique. If a part became badly worn it was, and is considered to be the norm to have the replacement part specially made and fitted. Musing about the origin of the application of interchangeability of parts, the earliest reference I can find is related to warfare. A Mr Maudsley owned a company which supplied pulley blocks in Portsmouth for the rigging of British Admiralty ships. In 1802, Britain was at war with Napoleon s France and depended upon the Royal Navy s ships for the defence of Britain s shores. Thus the demand for pulley blocks for the rigging of the ships Sir Henry Royce s policy of taking the best that was available and improve it is reflected in the fact that parts for a Silver Ghost are interchangeable with those of another manufactured at the same time. far outstripped Maudsley Company s capability to supply them. Mr Maudsley designed and built machines to manufacture the wooden pulley blocks and their component parts. Thus mass production began. One of the original machines was still working in 1982 when production ceased. Until the nineteenth century all pistols and rifles were hand made and no two were identical even if made by the same craftsman. The Winchester Company in the USA was the first to produce rifles with all parts interchangeable so that they could be easily repaired in the field. Even nuts and bolts were unique to the craftsman who made the mechanism until Sir Joseph Whitworth conceived the idea of introducing standardised threads, a concept which by 1860 was universally accepted. Less than fifty years later, the first Rolls-Royce was produced. At that time not every manufacturer of motor cars had adopted the principal of parts interchangeability. However, Sir Henry Royce s policy of taking the best that was available and improve it is reflected in the fact that parts for a Silver Ghost are interchangeable with those of another manufactured at the same time. Of course, Sir Henry s policy of continuous improvement means that some parts for a late Silver Ghost are not interchangeable with those of an early model. Thus the pistons for the throttle and suction chamber from a late Ghost carburettor will not fit an early Ghost carburettor unless they are modified. On the other hand many chassis parts for the later Ghost are interchangeable with those on a Phantom I chassis. So it prevails throughout all the Rolls- Royce and Bentley models. For this reason, when you order a part for your cherished car, the supplier will ask you for its chassis number. We are fortunate to benefit from the parts supply philosophies of Bentley Motors for Crewe Genuine Parts, Authorised Dealers and also from the Independent Suppliers. There are many examples of dedication and co-operation which ensure that we can continue to preserve and use our cars. The overall parts supply situation displays an interesting combination of characteristics. Some parts are available from several suppliers, even if they originate from a single source. Other parts are uniquely supplied either from Crewe or from a Specialist. However, the overall trend seems to be that Crewe Genuine Parts and parts from Specialists are complementary. Also, to our benefit, when a supplier retires, another acquires his stock and continues or builds on the range of parts. Some illustrative examples are listed below. Do you know that between the mascot and radiator cap of your pre-1955 car there should be a thin Paxolin washer? The purpose of this washer is to prevent the top of the radiator cap from score marks and also to allow the mascot to be turned on the cap while retaining sufficient friction to keep the mascot, whether Spirit of Ecstasy or flying B, pointing in the straight ahead position. Jack Barclay list this washer, part number RE5847 for the Mark VI at 2.15 plus VAT. The dimensions of this washer are the same as those for 20/25, 25/30 and Phantom III.

14 14 Spares Corner continued Theo Hendrickson, telephone/fax +44 (0) has remanufactured washers for these models and the Phantom II, priced at 1.00 plus VAT. You pays your money and takes your choice. Theo has also remanufactured washers for 20hp, part number E52538 at the same price for Silver Ghost, Phantom I, part number E Theo will manufacture them if there is sufficient demand. Why not ask him nicely? Original radiator caps for 1930s models contained a copper washer at the top of the internal thread to provide a seal on top of the radiator filler. It is not clear how Rolls-Royce inserted this washer, so reproduction radiator caps do not include it, although the groove for it is usually present. Theo Hendrickson offers a hard Neoprene washer which does the job and can be easily inserted. Part number E611489, price 1.00 plus VAT. Jack Barclay supply a similar washer for Derby Bentleys. Thus you will be able to proceed gracefully without antifreeze smears on your radiator and bonnet. Theo is now the sole distributor for post-war six cylinder main and big end bearings with the agreement of Jack Barclay. This is a classic example of how Authorised Dealers and independent Specialists are co-operating to ensure that we The V8 engine, designed by Jack Philips, is still in production fifty years after its introduction. These are wonderful engines. are supplied with the parts we need. I am full of admiration for the dedicated people who work without publicity in our best interests. The post-war straight six engines are the final development of those designed by Sir Henry Royce and his team at West Wittering and Le Canadel. The V8 engine, designed by Jack Philips, is still in production fifty years after its introduction. These are wonderful engines. Provided the oil and filters are regularly changed and they are not subject to overheating or freezing coolant they are capable of lasting indefinitely. As wear occurs, replacement threaded parts, bearings, cylinder liners, pistons and seals will return them to as new condition. New liners and pistons are available from several sources as well as Authorised Dealers and Rolls-Royce and Bentley specialists. An example of an independent supplier is F W Thornton and Son Ltd, who, for more than a century, have been wholesale suppliers of engine parts to the motor trade. They supply pistons (various sizes) and liners for Silver Ghost, Phantoms, 20hp, 20/25, Derby Bentley, Mark VI & R Type, Silver Dawn, Silver Wraith and V8 engines. They can be contacted by Tel: +44 (0) or Fax: +44 (0) For many years, Dale Powers in the USA supplied parts for pre-war and early post-war Rolls-Royce and Bentley motor cars. Anyone seeking rare and difficult to find parts, particularly for small horsepower models would include Dale in their suppliers list. However, Dale has decided to retire and has sold his business and parts inventory to Pierce Reid of Stowe, Vermont, in the USA. Pierce and John De Campi are well known suppliers of tools for Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars. In partnership with Anderson Leveille of Moscow Mills Manufacturing ( Pierce has set up Bensport Spares and is planning to increase the manufacture of large horsepower parts. In production now are air valves for Silver Ghost carburettors, and Derby Bentley aluminium bodied jacks are planned. A website is being set up but Pierce can be contacted via on rpreid@pshift.com. The enterprise of individuals can result in the re-manufacture of parts which have not been available for years. The running boards of our pre-war cars were adorned with stainless steel channels with rubber-moulded inserts. Replacement channels with the correct rubber inserts have been available in aluminium from suppliers such as Paul Beck at Vintage Supplies, Tel: +44 (0) In the USA, Gene Epstein invested considerable funds to have stainless steel channels manufactured for his Wraith. As a result of his pioneering effort, if you telephone Jack Smidt Stainless Steel in the USA on and tell them the lengths and widths of the channels you need, you will be able to furnish your car with the correct stainless steel channels as per original.

15 15 CARS AND THEIR OWNERS NO. 134 GZR 37 A History MICHEL T KINT DE ROODENBEKE On 25 September 1938, GZR 37, bodied by Thrupp and Maberly, left the factory. This brand new and nice looking 25/30 Sport Saloon, priced at 1,100, was delivered to George Heath Ltd in Birmingham. The order form specified that the Rolls-Royce mascot should be a kneeling lady (price 3!). Less than one year later, the car was already sold to Colonel Robinson. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the car was laid up until 45. What happened to Colonel Robinson? I only found one piece of information; a certain Colonel Vincent Robinson received, after the Second World War, the Distinguished Flying Cross. Anyway, just after the war, GZR 37 was sold once again, almost new, to ACE Wheel Disc Co from Coventry, hence the registration number ACE 199. From 1948 to 1960 we find the car in Knightsbridge with her fourth owner, Mrs V C Marchant. From the information I have, the car was driven only by her chauffeur. He says that the car was rarely used apart from a regular Sunday morning trip to drive his mistress to the Guards Chapel in St James s. Perhaps becoming too old, Mrs Marchant sold her 25/30 to another officer, Colonel K W Merryless of Knightsbridge (11 Pont St Mews). He did not keep his new acquisition very long as in 1964, the Rolls-Royce was bought by P F Deeves Esq from Colchester. He obviously wished to keep and to use the car because he decided that an in-depth overhaul would be useful. I still own the original invoice from Page & Scott Ltd and some others. At that time, end December 1963, the speedometer indicated 71,282 miles. Mr Deeves kept GZR 37 until November 1979 when I became the 7th owner. The speedometer indicated 98,318 miles. From the mid sixties to November 1979, GZR 37 received relatively little use, and past MoT certificates, plus other invoices, all lead to the conclusion that the recorded mileage is almost certainly correct. At that time, I was looking for a pre-war British car with large headlights. Not an ordinary or standard one. It would be a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley. First, I became a member of the young Belgian Section of the RREC. One thing led to another, I received a proposition that attracted me so much that I bought the car during a phone call, but after seeing a photo. I must have been either very confident or reckless! Two months later, I was waiting for the arrival of my prestigious Rolls-Royce in front of the Cavalry & Guards Club in Piccadilly of which I am a member. It was there that I had arranged to meet the seller in order to pay for and take delivery of the 25/30. Itching with impatience on the pavement, in front of Green Park, I finally saw MY car arriving. My surprise was great. I was impressed. Yes, that Rolls had a proud aspect. It was especially imposing since the road, on that particular place, goes downwards from Hyde Park Corner to Piccadilly Circus.

16 16 I entered the car and, with the seller, went to Hyde Park nearby for my first course in automobile technique that lasted about half an hour. Alas, I didn t understand almost anything! My knowledge of the English language, at that time, was rather that used in the City where it was more often a question of, since I was a banker, yield, eurobond, balance sheet, information memorandum, profit & loss account, derivatives, etc, rather than ignition, coil, throttle, clutch, fuses, gear box, slush trap, crankshaft, etc. As you can imagine, I was at the mercy of the slightest anomaly or mechanical breakdown. I nevertheless received a temporary green card for the car from one of my friends, Michael Poland, one of the Names at Lloyds. I assured him that nothing wrong could happen during my return journey home, the car had been overhauled and the MoT was valid until next year. It s well known that Lloyds always takes all precautions! Having been initiated to the mysteries of driving the car, we went back to the Cavalry & Guards Club for lunch and I paid for my brand new motorcar. The amount paid, rather conveniently for me at that time, was acceptable because the balance had been found by selling my old and uninteresting stamp collection as well as some shares I received many years ago from my grandmother! At around 3pm we had to say goodbye. At the end of my business day in the City, I returned to the public car park where I sat for the first time behind the steering wheel. My first surprise, leaving the car park, was the reaction of the employee in the kiosk. Not a single Is this a new (imported) car, Sir?. Of course not, it s a very old one glance at my car. I would, at least, have expected a Nice car, Sir!. Suddenly, I found myself in the streets of London. Yes, I decided to drive my Rolls-Royce back home and alone through Dover and Ostend on one night in November I must have been audacious or irresponsible. After more or less one hour s careful driving it was the first time in my life that I was driving an old car I succeeded in leaving London. At that time the M20 was not yet in existence. The weather was gloomy, it was a rainy evening. Ah, the wipers were functioning, as well as the headlights except for the dipped headlights; the right one was out of order. I learned later that this was normal for such a car. The dashboard also remained in the dark. While driving, I was shaking at the idea that something disastrous could happen; as for example get a flat tyre. Where is the jack? How to remove the wheel? How awful! I dared to venture to think of all this. And the battery, where is it? Finally, I arrived safely in Dover just in time for the midnight ferry. The car entered first. There were very few cars but plenty of lorries. It was difficult to sleep, especially while thinking of getting through the Belgian customs. Arriving on a Sunday morning, I expected the custom offices would be closed. My decision was not to declare the car in Ostend but later. Wearing an English

17 17 jacket and a cap bought at Harrods, I drove GZR 37 slowly. The customs officer asked me in English, Is this a new (imported) car, Sir?. Of course not, it s a very old one, was my answer. He let me go without asking anything else. So finally, I arrived safely at home at around 9.30am. But what an emotion! What a journey! During these twenty five years, I may say that my car has remained loyal although, in the first years, I failed to look after it properly. Together we participated in a large number of rallies organised by our Belgian Section. In 1998, my 25/30 had her sixtieth anniversary. For this occasion, I decided to offer her a complete lifting. This was especially necessary for some wooden parts of the bodywork, the electric wiring, the chassis, the brakes, the woodwork, etc. Nearly all the internal and external parts were dismantled, cleaned, replaced or repaired. Even the full original tool set, inside the boot lid, recovered its original condition. The restoration took some time but the result is worthwhile especially the engine, after a complete overhaul, as shown by the photographs. Looking younger, my 25/30 is now ready for a second mandate. In the meantime, I already have designated its eighth owner, my son Renaud. I owe him this after his terrible fall from the car (at 50mph) on a Belgian highway when Renaud was only three years old! In order to celebrate with dignity and together the year 2000, GZR 37 attended the Chester World record on 28 May. The club succeeded that day in obtaining two world records, one for the Guinness book of records and the second one for the world s biggest Rolls-Royce traffic jam! Recently GZR 37 was fitted with an overdrive; it s really a useful modification to make long distance driving more relaxed! At the 2005 Annual rally, GZR 37 obtained finally one prize: the Benelux Trophy. The speedometer now indicates 106,585 miles. Finally, I must not conclude this commemorative article without mentioning how important the prevailing atmosphere of an automobile club is. I have had many occasions to appreciate all the contacts established with the Club and its British and Continental members. The warm welcome I always received, especially as a new Club member from Lt Col Eric Barrass, the close friendships that were created with some members, are of much importance to enjoy fully the ownership of one or more magic motorcars created or developed by Sir Henry Royce, Charles Rolls and their followers.

18 18 North of England Rally Harewood House, Sunday 6 August 2006 The 2006 North of England Rally will once again be held in the beautiful grounds of the home of the Queen s cousin, the Earl of Harewood on Sunday 6 August. Caesar Peirer, Switzerland and his 1922 Piccadilly Roadstar by F R Wood, New York, 267BG at last year s event As well as the gorgeous site for our cars, and your picnic, immediately in front of Harewood House, it is possible to stroll through the magnificent gardens, explore the Bird Garden, maybe take a trip on the lake, or wander along the woodland walks. Inside the House are splendid State Rooms, an outstanding art collection, and the fascinating Below Stairs exhibition. A children s play area, or more challenging adventure playground, will occupy younger members. Look on the website: for further details. Of course, members travelling from outside the County boundaries are encouraged to make it a weekend event by booking in to The Majestic Hotel, in Harrogate, where they will be welcomed with tea/coffee on arrival on the Friday, have the opportunity to follow a Dales Drive, or trip across to Hull, on the Saturday, and gather for dinner in the evening. After a leisurely run down to Harewood on the Sunday morning they will be able to participate in the Rally before making their way home later in the day or maybe stay over until the Monday, if time allows. As well as the large selection of motors cars and range of stalls we will have a Brass Band, to provide background music. A couple of examples of immaculately restored Rolls-Royce aero engines will provide a different sound when they are run up, no doubt bringing back many, many, memories for our slightly older members. COMPLETE THE ENCLOSED SLIP TO OBTAIN THE NECESSARY ENTRY FORM AND FURTHER DETAILS

19 The infrastructure of Morocco is extremely well-developed: the roads are beautifully maintained and our mobile phone worked everywhere 19 A Bentley R Type in Morocco KEITH RYAN As I was born in Crewe and then christened NGP 9 in London in January 1953, and have spent most of my life in England, I felt trepidation when my owners contemplated a fortnight s tour of Morocco in September 2005! My fears soon evaporated with the warm welcome we received from the French speaking Moroccans; my GB sign was continually greeted with broad smiles, waving hands, flashing headlights and thumbs-up signs throughout our 1200 mile trip around the whole country. How different to life in the UK! When occasionally we became lost, people went out of their way to put us back on track, often having first invited us to a glass of piping-hot mint tea, of course. And what a country! My owners last trip there in 1980 was spoilt by constant pestering and begging - that rarely happens now. The infrastructure of Morocco is extremely well-developed: the roads are beautifully maintained and our mobile phone worked everywhere, even on a dromedary s back in the middle of the desert. The variety of landscapes was astonishing, varying from cultivated farmlands to arid desert, plus, of course, the Atlas mountain ranges. Outside the towns there was little traffic, so motoring was delightfully relaxed. In towns and villages, I was surprised not only to see the 40km (24mph) restriction sign but also that everyone respected it. Just as well, as donkeys and pedestrians meander across the road in front of you without warning. And who were my twenty one fellow travellers on the rally? When I boarded the Marrakesh Express ferry at Sète in the South of France, I was relieved to see that I had several English companions, including several 1960s Jaguar E Types, but also a 1954 MG TF, a 1955 Jaguar XK 140, a 1969 MGB, plus a 1965 Silver Cloud III driven by Bernard de Colbert. Other participants included a 1946 Delage, a 1953 Porsche 356, a 1953 Peugeot 203, a 1955 Citroën Traction Avant, a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette, a 1959 Ford Mustang, a 1965 Lancia Flaminia, two 1970s Alfa Romeos, two 1970s Mercedes roadsters, a 1974 Porsche Carrera and, last (but only in this listing!) a 1992 Ferrari 512. The rally Escapade au Maroc was organized by Philippe and Dominique Chapeyroux ( ), a delightful couple of enthusiasts who were accompanied by a comprehensive team which included a doctor, two nurses, a breakdown lorry with mechanics, a luggage carrier with a trailer, and a camera man. In fact, there were only a few minor mechanical problems, quickly settled as were the stomachs, after a consultation with the doc. (Overeating was more common than overheating!). The first day took us from Tangiers to the beautiful 5 star Tour Hassan Hotel in the seaside capital of Rabat, where Mohammed V is buried. After lunch at the yacht club, we headed south 266 miles, getting our first test of a less fertile and arid region. Arriving at nightfall in Marrakesh, we were struck by the throbbing intensity

20 20 of this lively city. The next day, my owners let me rest while they visited peaceful gardens crammed with roses before wandering around the famous main Jemaa el Fna square, with its snake charmers, fresh orange juice and dates vendors, and travelling dentists with neat piles of pulled teeth. A horse and carriage provided the best means of visiting the rest of this fascinating town, especially the Medina. Monday 12 September had me trembling at the prospect of crossing the 2260m Tizi n Tichna but, by taking it easy and keeping at a constant 30mph, we took it in our stride and kept the engine at 80 C, whilst admiring the palm tree orchards. We lunched near Ait Ben Haddou, Morocco s most beautiful Kasbah, before moving on to the Berbere Palace Hotel at Ouarzazate, whose nearby studios and movie locations hosted Lawrence of Arabia and many other famous films. The next day s 172 miles started with the palm trees of Skoura, followed by the Valley of Roses, almond and apricot trees, and lots of ancient Kasbahs, leading to the tight twists and turns of the Dades Gorge, where the near vertical rock strata have been eroded into fins and razorback ridges of red, green and ochre. Was our admiring the scenery rather than the road book the reason we missed the lunch venue? How else could we have got lost on a single track road with no side turnings! After a night at Tinehir, we headed east to Erfoud, admiring en route the limestone Tadra Gorge and an irrigation system first developed in the 11th Century. We were struck by the number of children in the clean and tidy villages and the fact that, in this area, the women were more heavily veiled in black, before reaching the delightfully decorated Hotel Xaluca. 15 and 16 September were restful for me, NGP 9, as the humans all clambered with some trepidation on the dromedaries (one hump or two, with your mint tea?) for a two hour trek to the fascinating, undulating sand dunes of Merzouga, where they spent the night under canvas in bivouacs. Next morning, an early wakeup call preceded the extraordinary sight of participants struggling halfway up a huge sand dune to await the rising sun. The next day we drove northwards 245 miles to Fez, the Florence of the Islamic world. On the way NGP 9 in Morocco

21 21 we passed the impressive Ziz gorges and crossed the Middle Atlas at Zad (2128m). Then imagine our surprise to come across the clearly upmarket ski-resort Iframe (we thought we were back in Europe). At Fez, we stayed at the beautiful Merinides hotel, overlooking Fez El Bali, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco, and the oldest medina in North Africa. At 4am next morning, the 9th Century Kairouyine Mosque led the early morning call to prayers, followed by about 200 small mosques. The Fez medina is so intricate that a local guide is essential to avoid getting lost, but today s visitors are grateful that the 10th century builders installed a proper sewer system. A visit to the 14th Century Bon Inania Madrassa, a superb example of Hispani-Moorish architecture, was followed by walks around the various souks specializing in perfumes, spices, henna etc, and then the tanner s quarter, where young workers tread the skins in vats filled with dyes before stacking them on donkeys for delivery to the leather shops. Imagine our surprise when in one of the narrow alleys of the medina, our guide opened a door which took us into an elegant mansion, a 13th Century wealthy merchant s home with its riad (interior garden), now being used to market carpets and rugs, including some beautiful old, high quality pieces. Nightfall in the Fez medina was a busy, bustling place with no sign of the aggressiveness often found in our European cities. On Tuesday 12 September, we set off on the last (228 miles) leg from Fez to Tangiers, first crossing the major wheat growing region followed by a quite mountainous stretch up to the coast with again lots of beautiful scenery. After lunch at the Cabo Negro seaside resort, we followed the scenic coasted route to Tangiers in the afternoon, arriving at the palatial El Minzah hotel with its beautifully appointed rooms. The next morning, we strolled down to the medina, a maze of narrow streets above the harbour going from the Grand Socco to the Petit Socco, crammed with little shops where we made our final purchases, including a Harry Potter-style broomstick. We will have to return another time to explore the rest of this town which has been ruled by a variety of countries, including England ( ). It is more cosmopolitan than the rest of Morocco and Spanish is as much spoken as French. After a final lunch, complete with musicians and dancers, we moved off in convoy (for once) down to the port and the ferry taking us back to France. With hindsight, I now realize I was 100% right not to be put off by my preconceptions, but to go and discover for myself this quite remarkable country. I hope to have given you a taste of it (even if I didn t even mention the marvellous cuisine, with its pastillas and tagines). The rally was so enjoyable that I have no hesitation in recommending it to you. MOROCCO 2006 French Section Rally in Morocco 28 October 5 November 2006 The President of the French Section of the RREC, Alain Moullec, is organising what looks like a stunning and unusual event for the end of this year. It will be a rally in Morocco covering a total of 2164 kms (some 1350 miles) stretching from Tangiers to Agadir. The ferry to Tangiers leaves Sète (near Marseille) on Thursday 26 October and arrives at Tangiers on 28 October. From there, the rally will continue to Rabat, then onwards to Beni Mellal, Marrakech, Taroudant, Essaouira and then back to Rabat. The programme includes driving through some amazing scenery and the town of Rabat on the return journey will be the location for a Concours d Elegance with a very special gala dinner at the Hilton hotel. The rally has the backing of the King of Morocco, King Mohammed VI, and the full programme shows many occasions where the local culture can be sampled at the best and highest level. For further information please contact Alain Moullec alm.mpi@free.fr or write to him at 2, rue du Languedoc, Bretigny, France (English is not a problem!) The amount of work Alain has already put into this event deserves it to be a truly international event with pan-european participation. ERI HEILIJGERS European Liaison Officer

22 22 TECHNICAL SECTION Shutters and Shockers by Michael Forrest Inescapably, if the radiator is shortened, then all the shutters must be shortened, too. This apparently simple task was far more demanding and laborious than the work on the radiator. While the earlier Phantom I shutters appear to be in a self-contained box, which can be removed for work on the bench, this is not so, for the top ¾ of the box is separate from the lower reaches, which bolts onto the radiator bottom tank. Bolted in situ on the radiator, the mechanism of shutters is all but inaccessible. As soon as it is unbolted, all the carefully measured clearances and adjustments fall apart. The mechanism itself is not watchlike, but it certainly is clock like. And, since like clocks there is not much power available, then elimination in each bearing of the friction is essential. And this must not be achieved by excessive slack or shake in bearings. In the shutters alone, there are 52 separate bearings, not including those for the operating linkage which account for about 8 balljoints and at least 6 more bearings. Each shutter is adjusted individually by the usual range of adjusting washers, the only thing you can guarantee about them is that somebody, sometime, has had them off and they are either missing altogether or are in the wrong place. And not only the adjusting washers, but most elements of the shutter mechanism, for while there is only one right way of reassembling them, there are many wrong ways, some quite bizarre, as David Dudley found just after taking delivery of 65WR. 1

23 23 2 Picture 1 Only Rolls-Royce could pack so many pieces into an apparently simple mechanism: and do not forget that each shutter blade is made up of at least 11 separate pieces. We marvel at Rolls-Royce engineering, but just imagine the logistical nightmare of ordering and keeping track of parts and materials when virtually everything was made in-house and computers not even a twinkle. Part of the problem stems from the attempt to use the Ghost radiator, so the operating mechanism not only had to make its way from driver to front of engine, but then had to snake down between radiator and fan, under the radiator to operating levers at the bottom of the shutters, controlled by springs and multiple connecting rods at the top to keep them away from water and mud. It was some years before they got around to putting a comparatively simple tunnel through the header tank, keeping all the mechanism compact and up top, avoiding that vulnerable dive under the radiator. I believe this came in with the F2B series, with many other modifi cations, as the largely Ghost derived Phantom I started to take on many of the characteristics of the emerging Phantom II. The ad hoc arrangement of these shutters, a comparatively clumsy bolt-on addition to the Ghost radiator, so characteristic of the Phantom I, but accepted because Rolls-Royce did it, is exemplifi ed by the eight red-brown washers, centre foreground. For the shutter box is simply bolted through the radiator tubes, pulled up against the matrix and located by it, and these leather washers spread the load over the tubes. A rubber ferrule is also pushed into the tubes to prevent the through bolts from touching and chafi ng, but it is an uneasy arrangement, redolent of an add-on accessory from elsewhere. On the other hand, it is beautifully made. Picture 2 Regrettably, pictures of the dismembering of the shutters have disappeared somewhere into Post Offi ce archives but doctored items are recovering well. Despite the arrangements for locating the shutter box, I found it remarkably accurate, confi rming the extreme accuracy achieved in assembling the matrix. For shortening, the shutter box must be positively located in a repeatable position, without shutters but with the bearing strip (just below shutters, picture 1) and the lower support strip (just below the bearing strips) in place, the latter complete with bearing pins. Measure with the greatest accuracy possible the distance between these upper and lower bearing

24 24 3 abutments, for this must be the fi nished length of the shutters, less the required,.010" to.015" clearance and the thickness of adjusting washers which varied, as original, from.020" to.050" thick. If there are any signifi cant differences between sides, check and correct the cause. Ideally, one would hope to be able to make all shutters the same length, correcting differences with adjusting washers. After careful marking, the bottom ends can be sawn off and shutters fi led up to the line. The stub bearings are inserted only just over ½", so can be recovered later from the sawn-off lengths. Picture 3 Shutters should be numbered, but check and mark again if necessary, preferably by etching, as number stamps, however small and lightly used, will tend to show on the other side. Before cutting off the ends of shutters, it will be worthwhile to mark which end fi ttings belonged to each shutter. Above the structure of the shutters can be seen. Back and front pressings, the back narrower than the front, form a circular tube when placed together. Soldered together, with end fi ttings inserted and also soldered but not pinned, the two halves are rivetted together with nickel silver rivets near the ends, the outer halves countersunk and polished, the inner ends shallow round headed. The above picture is of the top bearings, which include the operating levers, and are left untouched. The lower ends have simple fl anged bushes only, and replacement is comparatively simple after shortening. Picture 4 The very delicate brass casting bolts into the top edge of the shutter frame using domed head nickel silver bolts. Check before reinstallation that it is not distorted, for it is not robust. Check also the even more delicate multiple connecting strip which unites the 8 shutters on each side. This is doubly important as 3 of the shutters only are fi tted with tophat washers and split pins, so any misalignment can allow unpinned shutter blades to escape, which would look most untidy. Return springs are all you have to overcome the combined friction of the 60 odd bearings and connections, and originals are probably rusted and frail. So replace as necessary, ideally with stainless steel, which you may obtain from engineers merchants, or which you will probably have to wind yourself from orthodontic wire. They too are tophatted and pinned, so unless you are an ambidextrous midget it is simpler to assemble the shutters on their bearing strip, with springs and connecting strip, fully split pinned, then bolt the whole inside the frame. This is intensely frustrating, as the unpinned shutters fall out in profusion. But you will get there eventually. Picture 5 The bottom bearing strip is usually held in position by nickel silver screws through side members of the

25 25 4 frame bottom left below. If you are simply rebuilding existing shutters this will hold the frame together while you present it to the radiator, but the holes have clearance and should not be used for location or setting shutter endshake, which can only be done adequately in position on the matrix. If you are shortening a radiator or shutters, the hole will not yet be there, and it will be necessary to juggle the frame into place with the minimum of shutters falling out. Ensure frame is pushed snugly into the top edges 5

26 26 and corners of the radiator proper, bolt into place not neglecting the leather washers for the through bolts, nor the rubber grommets inside the tubes themselves. Investigate any misalignment, and if inevitable, enlarge holes in the shutter frame rather than leaving out the grommets. If such holes have to be enlarged or slotted, a conscientious owner would lightly rivet in a fi tting patch of nickel silver and redrill, otherwise shutter frame alignment could be a problem in the future. Failing that, remember Henry is watching you, so don t go out in a thunderstorm. I believe that Springfi eld was not too happy about the barbarity of putting bolts through brass tubes with only a wall thickness of.006" to.007" and fi tted reinforced tubes at this point. However, I know of no failures from these through bolts. This bottom bearing strip is located by a fl ange on the upper surface bearing on the front edge of the bottom tank, and by the countersunk attachment bolts. Make absolutely sure all mating faces are free from debris and burrs and dings. Finally, mark through for the screw from the side frame. Picture 6 While the bearings for 14 of the shutters are relatively short and will tolerate minimal misalignment, the centre pair, which takes shutter operation which has passed down the back of the radiator, and underneath, now has to pass it back up to the top. This shaft is the only one which is taper pinned to the shutters. Loads are relatively high, the bearings correspondingly long. Long bearings are most intolerant of misalignment, in this case characterised by free running changing to tightness as soon as the bottom bearing strip is bolted up. If this is so, check fi rst that the shutter itself is not bent or bowed, which is best done by putting this bottom drive shaft in a good three-jaw chuck, or preferably a collet, and rotating slowly by hand to see how far off centre is the other end. Tweak gently to correct. If this fails to correct the tightening up, then the housings seen below are out of line. The top end of this bearing is tapered externally fi tting into a tapered socket in the lower bearing strip. Check to see that they bed fully, and have not been interchanged, for they were individually fi tted. Correct if necessary. If all else fails, check and correct the bedding of the bearing strip on the face of the bottom tank, especially if you have shortened the radiator. Picture 7 Operating levers on the shutters are very short indeed, and operating loads correspondingly high. Space is very tight, but not that tight. As a general principal, levers are kept long, giving low loads on shafts, bearings and rods, and a correspondingly 6

27 27 smooth and friction-free operation and feel. Coupled with the awkward and unnatural movement of the shutter control for the driver, even when adjusted as well as is possible, this mechanism does not compare with the feel of virtually all the other control systems on the car. I have little doubt that this results from the compromise necessary when the Ghost was reengined and shutters added, literally, to a Ghost radiator never designed to take it. Undoubtedly, too, vertical shutters are more diffi cult to mechanise than horizontal ones, especially if they are then required to open symmetrically either side of the centre. Aesthetically this vertical, handed layout is far more pleasing than the horizontal shutters, if the 20 Register and Springfi eld early Ghost owners will forgive me. Picture 8 The countershaft bottom rear of the radiator converts up and down movement from the top of the radiator into fore and aft, underneath to the shutters, it is transformed yet again into vertical rotary movement, and shutters open/close. It was the lugs supporting these brackets, screwed and soldered onto the Ghost radiator which transformed the fi rst few hundred into Phantom radiators. 7 8

28 28 9 Picture 9 View under the radiator. These abnormally slender control rods do not have to be so, for there is adequate room to go up a size or two. Perhaps the reason lies in those oddly shaped ball joints at the bottom of the picture, which have very long springs internally. In order to open the shutters, the rods operate in tension, so broadly speaking, the driver can open the shutters under adverse circumstances. But attempts to force shutters closed, either due to seizure or foreign body, will put the rods in compression and they will bow, after the ball joints have reached the end of their spring travel. This will ensure the shutters can always be opened, but once forced open, cannot be closed until the cause of obstruction is removed or repaired. I am not convinced by this hypothesis, but can construct no other reason for the odd proportions and construction of this linkage. Picture 10 Exploded linkage of curious design for Henry Royce. The snap-on ball joints appear elsewhere, such as the carburettor and starting carburettor linkage, where space is at a premium for the classic Royce balljoint. It offers quicker disconnect facility, but this would seem academic in each of these instances. 10

29 29 They do not adjust, of course, but slack can be taken up by removing the wire circlip in the rim, and substituting one of a slightly thicker gauge, until the ball can just be pushed in. The lighter, spring-loaded version, below, has an extraordinarily small ball. Wear is compensated for automatically, and assembly is by feeding the ball, stalk fi rst, down into the socket until the shank falls through the slot in the socket. Both these ball joints seem familiar from other vintage vehicles. Were they a proprietary brand bought in? Picture 11 Complete frame and shutters, duly shortened and adjusted, ready for installation. The microfi lm general arrangement drawing shows maximum opening as 70 degrees, plus or minus fi ve, from the athwartships position, not from the fully closed, which starts off about 5 degrees. This is odd, as with a linkage virtually devoid of backlash and carefully adjusted, the shutters will open almost the full 90 degrees. Now it may be that optimum cooling occurs at 70 degrees, the angled fl ow giving a scouring effect in the tubes which a straight fl ow will not provide, but I doubt this. With a badly adjusted, or worn linkage, it is not inconceivable that the shutters are signifi cantly less than 70 degrees fully open, especially when subject to wind pressures. If shortening a radiator, which I suspect few will do, an overhaul of the linkage will also take place. But it would be well worthwhile for others to check critically the shutter performance and settings, and spend a weekend or so putting it right, correcting the endfl oats to stop that irritating rattle, and fi nding that due to enhanced airfl ow, that new radiator core will not be necessary. Picture 12 Massive, impressive, simple, derived from function. Even the shutter box, thought of as an add-on accessory, has an honest practicality, and nickel silver, despite Staybrite and even chrome in some Springfi eld cars, has a particular glow which is incomparable. 11

30 Shutters are currently fi nished in bright natural nickel silver, but the original order did specify shutters to be fi nished in matt nickel, not clear if this means dull nickel plate, or matt fi nished nickel silver. Presumably not a common fi nish? Any other instances? Stove enamelled shutters were not unknown, either in black or to match coachwork, and a very few chassis had the whole radiator black fi nished, and very severe and smart they looked, too. The radiator general arrangement drawings warn ominously that stoving temperatures for painting must not exceed 150 degrees C, otherwise the whole thing falls apart. Seeing this splendid radiator, is it really enhanced by screwing a mascot on top? Picture 13 In 2002, Bruce Gardner from Australia, mailed me for free the essential parts of a front shock absorber link to replace one which had inexplicably gone missing from 37LC. This restored the faith of many of us in human nature. A missing end fi tting, above, was made to complete 14

31 31 15 the item. Naturally the threads are to Mr Royce s ideas, so no standard taps and dies will do, even if it were desirable with threads of this size and fi ne pitch. Those with access to lathes with Norton gearboxes, who simply dial up the appropriate tpi will spare a thought for those of us slumming it with ancient lathes and a cupboard full of loose gearwheels which have to be calculated and then carefully meshed into place to give the requisite pitch. Naturally, the pitch of the cap and the adjusting screw are different, so it all has to be done twice. But such machining gives similar satisfaction to that derived from the skills necessary to drive early motorcars, as more modern craftsmen slink quietly away, looking thoughtful. Picture 14 That deceptively simple tube, with a balljoint each end is shown complete, alongside the handed original. It is a design which was repeated in many chassis, with detail changes, both back and front, and is a simple concept permitting quick and easy adjustment of both balljoints at the same time by one screw. Picture 15 A problem frequently encountered in restoration, whether sleeving to recover a shaft, or picking up a locking hole for a replacement part, as here, is simply to fi nd the hole precisely for redrilling. Techniques commonly used are simply drilling further holes elsewhere, or putting a hole in by guesswork in the forlorn hope that a bulls eye will result. The fi rst is untidy and potentially confusing, or even weakening, while the second will invariably fail. Simply scribe a line precisely through the centre of the existing hole, and extend it to a convenient point. Set a fi xed distance on scribers, mark off and centre punch this distance from the centre of the original hole. Tighten the replacement in place, or shrink the sleeve as appropriate. Then extend the scribed centre line back over the new part, mark off the measured distance, centre punch and drill. If extreme accuracy is required, drill undersize then open up the hole as necessary with Swiss fi les until concentric and just undersize, then fi nish with a drill or reamer.

32 32 Annual Rally and Concours JUNE 2006 KELMARSH HALL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE MORE DETAILS Progress with the planning of this event is now well advanced. Your response to the flyer in the January Bulletin has been exceptional however, if you have not yet entered please complete the flyer included with this Bulletin to receive your rally pack. If you intend joining us it is much quicker to enter the rally field on both days, and be parked in your preferred class on the Sunday, with a pre-paid windscreen pass. You will also save 5.00! As most of you are aware, Winplus Europe Limited support the Concours d Elegance with their Out of the Blue car care products. This year they will again be offering their product gift pack to all owners of cars entered for judging. Please visit their marquee to collect your pack giving them your name and class number. The Judges seminar held on 21 January was very well attended and from reports I have received should produce a more consistent approach to the judging and marking. This will also help to ensure that the results are received by the Chief Judge to enable his team to attach the rosettes to the winning cars within the timetable outlined in the last Bulletin. The prize giving, as I said previously, will be a parade this year. To comply with Health and Safety this, of necessity, will be a roped off arena that will give plenty of opportunity to view and photograph the prize presentations. After receiving their prizes, the cars will parade and be parked in the arena and when all prizes have been presented, ropes will be dropped to allow everybody to enter and view these superb cars at close quarters. If you are a class elegance (blue rosette) or prize winner (green, red, purple rosette) please take your car to the designated area. There will be marshals waving yellow flags to assist you to assemble in the correct area. Ask them if you are unsure. Please drive slowly and carefully when moving to the collecting areas and be aware of pedestrians, particularly children. Bonhams have very generously agreed to continue their Friday evening reception and in order to ensure the atmosphere is in keeping with the occasion Bonhams staff will manage the reception and entry which will be as follows: Entry will be by pre-booked ticket holders only. Details and application form for tickets to be included in the rally pack. Ticket holders only (max. two people per ticket) will be allowed into the reception where a minimum donation of 5.00 per person will be requested. This donation will be split 50:50 between Bonham s charity Great Ormond Street Children s Hospital and the SHRMF. NO TICKET NO ENTRY. NO DONATION NO ENTRY. If you are considering attending their Auction on the Saturday, you will receive a 50% discount on the price of the Auction catalogue on production of your valid RREC membership card. Also, to encourage members to enter their cars for sale, Bonhams will offer a special seller s commission rate of 5% (normally 10%) plus VAT entry fee to sale. Again on production of valid RREC membership card. Entries accepted at Bonham s discretion. By supporting the Bonhams auction you are also supporting our Club, as a proportion of the net sales commission is donated by Bonhams to the RREC. This year, as you will hopefully have read in your rally pack, Bonhams have agreed to judge, and present a bottle of champagne for, in their judge s view, the most elegant pre-war small hp Rolls-Royce and most elegant Derby Bentley.

33 33 For added attractions we will again provide a free minibus to ferry members from the rally field to Kelmarsh Hall. This will operate continuously throughout the day on the Sunday giving the opportunity to travel up to the Hall and either travel back to the rally field or view the Hall gardens and leisurely stroll back by the lake. The staff of Kelmarsh intend to offer other attractions including a selection of plants and possibly shrubs that can be purchased. The Hall will be open for guided tours, organised by Kelmarsh staff except while the luncheon is being served. See their signs for details. Have you visited the Club website? Do you want to know more or have some points to discuss? This year there will be an area in the Control marquee designated for the website and members of the IT group and consultants will be on hand to give demonstrations and discuss any queries you may have. If you have not yet registered to access our site, this you will be able to do on the day. This site provides a lot of information, too much for me to include, and is also a useful tool for members to communicate with each other worldwide. At the time of submitting these notes Patsy is preparing to mail to all the Trade and ancillary supporters inviting them to once again attend the rally and give you the opportunity of locating that elusive item you have always wanted. Following your requests Patsy is trying to include a varied selection of stands to hopefully satisfy most of these. But please bear in mind that this event is the Club s Annual Rally and the emphasis must be based on this. CARAVANS AND CAMPING As agreed with Kelmarsh Hall for our 2005 rally the following will again apply for 2006: NO TENTS WILL BE PERMITTED. (Trade area excepted). All caravans and motor homes MUST book in advance and be self sufficient. Please take a moment to read the accompanying article by Jane Pedler our Chief Marshal. If you are willing and able to give a little of your time to help, it really will be appreciated by both us and members. Hopefully the weather will be more like we expect for June this year so we can leave the winter woollies and anoraks in the boot (trunk). Patsy and I are looking forward to meeting friends old and new at Kelmarsh this year. TREVOR BALDWIN EVENT CHAIRMAN Marshalling at the Annual Rally You will have read in the last two Bulletins various updates regarding the Annual Rally at Kelmarsh Hall, and I hope you also noticed a small paragraph about volunteering to do a spot of marshalling. You will all have noticed the marshals at the Annual, in their smart yellow jackets and waving their yellow flags, and have probably been very grateful to be guided so expertly and efficiently into the correct parking slot. This is where I paraphrase a famous leader of the British army, Your Club Needs You! Many of the members of the marshalling team have been doing the job for many years now, and none of us are getting any younger. Last year I ran the marshalling on Sunday with twenty people, which is not really enough, either for efficiency of operation, or for the dreaded Health and Safety implications! Ideally I would like to see two people on each class line, one to collect and one to direct, plus someone on all vital junctions and entry points. In addition there is the small matter of comfort breaks (to quote our dear President), and it would be nice if every marshal did not have to stay at his/her post all morning. Thus I am appealing to all members, but especially the young and fit, or not-so-young and fit, or even the not-so-fit, (in fact everyone) to give up a couple of hours over the weekend to help out. The more volunteers there are, the shorter the shifts will be. It is a lovely way to meet your fellow members, and see the cars at their best (ie. moving) and in extremis to tell other people where to go (in the nicest possible way of course!) We will supply the yellow jacket and the flag, but please bring your own wellies and suncream. If you feel you could help then please contact me either by , phone or fax (see page 2 of the Bulletin). I will then take your details and the times you are available for marshalling, and put you on my list. If you are entering a car in the Rally, and it is humanly possible, I will allocate you to that class (but no promises!) Don t worry if you have never done anything like this before it is really not hard and I try and buddy new people with an experienced marshal wherever possible. JANE PEDLER CHIEF MARSHAL

34 34 Bentley Flying Spur type four door Continental Sporting saloons IAN DIXON POTTER H J Mulliner S type Flying Spur The recent introduction of the new Bentley Flying Spur is an appropriate moment to consider the original Flying Spur which was one of eleven variations of four door sporting saloon produced between 1957 and 1965 and based on the S Series Continental chassis. In 1954 the R type Continental was introduced. Initially only one body style was available, the fastback two door coupé coach built by H J Mulliner of Chiswick and inspired by the 1949 Cadillac coupé which it strongly resembled in all respects other than the arrangement of headlamps and radiator. This and later continentals differed from the standard saloons in a number of respects. The lower sleeker bodywork was more aerodynamically efficient. The body was entirely made of aluminium unlike the standard car which was predominantly steel. As a consequence it was significantly lighter. In the R type and S1 continentals a raised compression ratio, more efficient exhaust and much higher gearing combined to produce a considerably faster car. The Continentals also sported different tyres to the standard saloon. H J Mulliner built 193 R type continentals and between them Park Ward, Franay, Graber, and Farina produced a further fifteen. The H J Mulliner and Park Ward two door body styles continued for the longer and more spacious S type continental which also sported a completely different fascia to the standard saloon with the incorporation of a rev counter (as with the R type Continental) and the grouping of the dials ahead of the driver. The S1 Continental had the larger engine which featured on the later R types and in 1956 gained a further increase in compression ratio together with larger carburettors and redesigned head with larger inlet valves. There were those who felt that such a large car with such generous rear accommodation should, from both a stylistic and practical point of view, have the convenience of four doors and so in 1957 the first and ultimately most numerous of the four door continentals appeared. This was the six light Flying Spur by H J Mulliner named after the heraldic emblem of the Mulliner

35 35 Bentley S1 Continental by James Young family. In fact Mulliner originally produced an almost identical but slightly taller body style for the standard S1 chassis and a two door variant for both standard and continental chassis. Herbert Nye and the team at Crewe cooperated on the design of the bodywork which was not unlike a stretched version of the two door continental excepting the notchback effect at the tail and larger boot. The most distinctive element of this style was the pronounced curve in front of the rear wheel arch echoing the shape of the separate wings of earlier cars and terminating the swage line three quarters along the length of the rear door. As with all the other four door continentals the flying spur was significantly lower than the standard saloon giving rise to the false impression of greater length and an altogether more sporting appearance. Despite the fact that this car was mechanically a Continental with all the features which distinguished this model from the standard cars, Rolls-Royce Ltd wanted the four door car to be referred to as the Flying Spur rather than the Continental although H J Mulliner persuaded the company to adopt the Continental nomenclature. Between 1957 and 1965 there were eleven variations of the four door continental produced by three coachbuilders and powered by two different engines. Pressure from customers persuaded H J Mulliner to produce a four light version of the same body style sometimes referred to as the blind rear quarter flying spur. The absence of a large rear quarter light may have introduced a blind spot but aesthetically this car was an improvement on the six light, the heavier C pillar better integrating the roof with the lower body thus creating a more flowing homogenous design with stronger more purposeful rear quarters. The character of the four light was more sporting and gave the impression of being hewn from one piece of metal rather than being divided by a more extensive glazed area. The same could be said for the difference between James Young s four light and later six light variations of their four door continental. H J Mulliner s four light model continued to be available for the S2 and S3 continentals but was always produced in much smaller numbers than the six light. James Young of Bromley also decided to produce a four door continental sporting saloon. This model, often referred to as the James Young flying Spur was very similar in design to the H J Mulliner four light although the James Young design was smoother and more subtly curvaceous than the Mulliner car. The doors and wings were more rounded in profile with greater tumblehome and the boot line curved distinctly downwards in comparison to the more rectangular boot of the Mulliner car. Whereas the Mulliner cars had sidelights mounted on protuberances on top of

36 36 The James Young body featured a continuous unbroken swage line from front to rear and was one of the first and most successful body styles on a Rolls-Royce or Bentley chassis produced by an English coachbuilder Bentley S2 Continental by Hooper the front wing, the James Young cars had a cleaner frontal appearance with the wing line curving down uninterrupted by sidelights which were mounted much lower. In this respect the James Young car was closer in frontal appearance to the earlier R type continental. Other subtle differences were the use of sharper edges to the bottom of the front windscreen, the use of a chrome surround to the rear window and James Young s distinctive square buttoned door and boot handles. More significantly, the James Young body featured a continuous unbroken swage line from front to rear and was one of the first and most successful body styles on a Rolls-Royce or Bentley chassis produced by an English coachbuilder which fully embraced the full width body concept without relying on a visual suggestion of the separate wings of earlier cars. This is a subtle but very significant departure which although heralded by some of the French, Swiss and Italian stylists was never more successful than on the James Young four door Continental which some regard as the most attractive of all variants of the model. There were only twenty two of these cars built although some of these may have been two door Continentals. A fourth variant of the S1 four door Continental was produced by Hooper although there were only six built to this rather eccentric design which featured hooded headlamps positioned on the extremity of the wings, odd shaped side windows and a drooping swage line which terminated just in front of the rear wheel. Although not to every one s taste this was a very Bentley S1 Continental by James Young

37 37 Bentley S3 Continental Flying Spur by H J Mulliner distinctive car with a slightly more modern feel than the other Continentals largely as a consequence of the position of the headlamps. This body style continued virtually unchanged for the V8 engined S2 although there was only one car built, this being the last ever body produced by Hooper. The six light and four light H J Mulliner Flying Spurs continued for the S2 with the six light again being by far the most numerous of all the four door S2 Continentals. Both cars had a lower radiator shell compared to the S1, with the bonnet sloping downwards rather than being parallel to the roofline, and featured revised rear lights and boot lid. The James Young four door continental also continued but only as a six light variant (with a wrap around rear window) which replaced the four light variant which was only available on the S1 Continental chassis. Whilst the S1 Continental was mechanically quite different to the standard saloon, the V8 engined S2 was virtually identical mechanically to the standard S2 with the exception of higher gearing and the use of four pot braking system on the front brakes. If one compares the prices of the various S2 Bentleys in 1959 it is interesting to note that the H J Mulliner two and four door continentals were identical in price ( 8119) whilst the James Young two door continental ( 8197), whilst being slightly more expensive than the H J Mulliner cars was not as costly as the James Young four door ( 8296) which was the most expensive of all variants and nearly 50% more expensive than the standard saloon ( 5661). For the S3 variant four door continentals were only available from two coachbuilders, H J Mulliner and James Young. James Young dropped their two door continental and continued only with the four door which was unchanged from the S2 in appearance with the exception of the new twin headlamp treatment of all S3s. The H J Mulliner version continued to be available as a four light and six light although the six light now featured smaller rear quarter windows. As with the S1 and S2 the H J Mulliner Flying Spur was far more numerous than the James Young (291 H J Mulliner S3s produced compared to only twenty S3s produced by James Young). In addition to these eleven variations on the Bentley four door continental there were also a number of Rolls- Royces produced with both the H J Mulliner and James Young Flying Spur type bodywork. To confuse matters further some of these were built on the continental chassis and others on the standard chassis. Nearly half a century after the introduction of the original Flying Spur the name resurfaces on the new Bentley sporting saloon. Only time will tell if, in another fifty years, examples of this new model are cherished and appreciated as much as the original models described here.

38 38 Archives: FROM THE HUNT HOUSE No. 3 The Devil is in the Design(III) The following archive document adds yet further intriguing information to the previous Archives articles (see B273 and B274) on Sir Henry Royce s plans to build a new two-bedroom, two-storey Wells cottage near his home, Elmstead, in West Wittering, West Sussex just before his death in Whilst my intention with this series of Archives articles was to tackle different subject areas in subsequent Bulletins, it would, nevertheless, be remiss of me not to complete this story now that new information has come to light. Before reading on, readers may wish to reacquaint themselves with the previous two articles in this series in order to put the following into context. The previous two articles left unsolved questions on the location and provenance of Sir Henry s proposed Wells cottage because it was never built; at least, it was certainly not built by Sir Henry. We knew it was planned to be somewhere in or near West Wittering and, with the help of Club members Nick Savage and Maurice Pitchford, the most likely explanation for the Wells reference was Reginald Wells. Reginald Wells was an artist turned builder who constructed distinctive thatched cottages in Sussex which, to this day, are generically known as Wells cottages. However, the exact provenance and location of Sir Henry s Wells Cottage can now be revealed. The document shown is the location and drainage plan for the proposed Wells Farm Cottage. The plan is dated 18 April 1933 (Royce died four days later). The reverse of the plan is marked: Rolls-Royce Ltd. Neg. No. CHP 665. The site plan reveals that Sir Henry proposed to demolish an existing cottage (possibly ruined or in disrepair) running at right angles to the road and build

39 39 the new replacement cottage on a fresh site set further back and facing the road. A farm yard and farm sheds were immediately to the left of the building site. The smaller location plan shows that the site was known on the ordnance survey map of that time as Wells Farm. And now for the location. It is in the south east corner of West Wittering, not far from Elmstead, and satellite imaging reveals that the area has since been developed with residential housing. The site is on the north side of the junction between the B2179 (Cakeham Road) and a new cul-de-sac called Wellsfield (hence the name!). I have added a location map to assist identification. There is just one small piece of the jigsaw remaining and I would appreciate the assistance of a Club member either living near West Wittering or, perhaps, a Club member making a small detour on their next Section visit to Elmstead. Do the farm buildings and/or old cottage at Wells Farm still exist? Was Sir Henry s Wells Cottage ever subsequently built? What is there now? A picture of a Club car at the exact location would be interesting to see. JULIAN SPENCER Mystery solved! Location of Wells Farm Cottage, West Wittering

40 Silver Ghost (1499) (see Editor s Notes)

41

42 42 The Hunt House ~PROFILE~ Each issue we feature a member of staff... MKVI AND SILVER WRAITH REGISTER Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Crewe Built Cars September 2006 Helen Saxby Just over a year has passed since I joined the RREC as the Club Shop Manager. The first year was not easy with the death of our boss Peter Baines within the first three months. I did not have a chance to know Peter for long but I am grateful for the short time I did. I had never met someone with such a vast wealth of knowledge and also a great sense of humour, especially his limericks! The shop itself has been a challenge. There are many things to do to improve it and provide a better service for you the members. This is, however, going to take time, so I hope you will be patient with me whilst I set things in motion. If you are thinking that I am regretting accepting this position, you couldn t be further from the truth. I have a beautiful place to work, and a wonderful set of colleagues. Even at the busiest most stressful times, we still manage to have a laugh. My duties are not just limited to the Club Shop. I also help with the annual subscription renewals, annual rally admin, mail outs, answering the phones and meeting visitors to The Hunt House. I haven t met a lot of the Club members, but the ones I have had the pleasure to meet have been very welcoming and encouraging. I hope this year I will have the opportunity to meet more of you, and that you will be placing plenty of orders through the Club Shop! Shrigley Hall This is being written in February and since you last heard about this event (see B274, p39) some seventy five people have expressed interest and many of you are booking places, mostly with MK VIs, R Types, Silver Dawns & Silver Wraiths. Even if you haven t booked yet and you do not own one of the early post-war cars, there may still be a chance that you can join in. Read on. The event starts in the Lake District at The Inn On The Lake on the banks of Ullswater and ends in the Peaks National Park, at Shrigley Hall. If you cannot manage the whole tour, you will still be welcomed at the weekend in the Peaks, which will include a day of celebration at the factory. Both hotels are set in stunning scenery and you will enjoy drives of various shades of gentleness (ahem!). Once at Shrigley Hall, there is a Gala Dinner on the Friday night and Saturday will be a very special day at the Factory, to celebrate sixty years of car manufacture at Crewe, which started of course with the Mark VI and Silver Wraith models. But we have agreed with Bentley Motors that it would be nice to set these cars off with examples of their predecessors and their successors and a display will be made covering cars from each decade of Crewe production. So the weekend is much more than a factory visit, it is a celebration and will culminate, we believe, with a firework display! If you would like to join in, please contact: Malcolm Hobbs, Nutwood, Coleford Road, Tidenham NP16 7JD or malcolmhobbs@compuserve.com

43 Wanna Make a Connection, Victoria? Part I For over four years I had waited for GZK 41, a hp Hooper limousine, which had been in the McAlpine family since new. It had become an indirect victim of legal impasses following the death of His Lordship. I fell in love with the car which I had never seen but, as described, it appeared a rare specimen indeed with numerous desirable features and was fully restored. To cut a long story short, although it had my name on it when it was finally released from the deceased s estate, deep depression prevailed when I was told that the car had been sold to another party. There was nothing I could do about it. Had it been a dog, I would have had entitlement, but a car, not a chance. The good friend who had been instrumental in locating and securing GZK 41 for me, searched for quality alternatives for several months on my behalf and finally he hit the button with GAK 5, a 1924 Barker limousine in excellent condition. Rather earlier in chassis type than I had in mind, with rear wheel brakes only and a three-speed gearbox, but a most attractive package with just 296 recorded miles following a 1997 complete engine rebuild by A & S Engineering and a re-trim by the late Roy Creech. After almost a year in my ownership the car won both Touring and Elegance awards at the 2005 Annual Rally at Kelmarsh. The only work done on the car in my brief custodianship has been JOHN WHETTON 43 to have a complete carburetter rebuild, timing checks, tappet adjustment and a robust and reliable overdrive system, all by Elliotts of Chesterfield. According to the history file and the original order form from Jack Barclay s, C Hartridge of Seer Green, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire was to be the first owner, but the name had been crossed through and alongside a new client s name added, Wanamaker, 26 Pall Mall, London. This name rang a bell. Could it have been Sam or some other famous person by that name, I wondered? RARE BITS GAK 5 has a number of interesting features other than its exquisite Barker coachwork. Between the cylinder head and the radiator header tank is a beautifully designed steam pressure relief valve not normally seen on our cars. Bearing in mind that the 20hp chassis, despite the overflow pipe from the header tank, did not carry a relief valve inside the radiator cap, I suppose this device was installed to allow any boiling coolant to spray the engine compartment rather than making a mess of the nickel radiator. The other feature is far more appealing. Fixed between the front mouldings above the dashboard is a long, rectangular, glass-fronted, chrome-plated light box measuring 19cm by 3.5cm (7.5 x 1.5 inches) and GAK 5. Instructions for the chauffeur. The light display unit above the dash GAK 5. Close up of steam pressure relief valve

44 44 GAK 5. Penelope and Joanne Power reunited with their father s car after 46 years bearing eight instructions for the chauffeur. Electrically operated and with eight, internally located bulb sockets, the instructions are as follows: HOME, RIGHT, LEFT, STOP LEFT, STOP RIGHT, TURN, SLOWER, FASTER. The operating half of the system, expected to be somewhere in the rear compartment behind the division, was missing. The entire mechanism appeared rare and such an interesting item of automobilia cried out to be re-instated, not just because it is part of the car s history and would undoubtedly provide a fascinating demonstration piece but also one that might be used by her ladyship (my wife, Christine) on those chauffeured (me) shopping trips. CHANCE ENQUIRY In November 2004, I received an from the late Peter Baines. A lady by the name of Joanne Power had written in to him with two old photographs of a 20hp Rolls-Royce that her father, The Reverend Patrick Hewatt, the vicar of Grantchester, near Cambridge at that time, used to own in the 1950s. Peter quickly identified the car from the registration plate as being GAK 5 and asked if I might choose to make contact with her. This event and the two photographs appeared in the Editor s Notes on page 7 of Issue 268 (Jan/Feb 2005) of The Bulletin. One of the images was of Shane Chichester, Chief of Inspectors, Rolls-Royce Corps of Travelling Inspectors with the car outside his home, The Rough, near Farnham, Surrey in the mid 1950s. (See John Fasal s book on the Rolls-Royce Twenty for further details of Mr Chichester.) A considerable amount of exchanges between Joanne Power and me ensued and significant additions to the history of the car were made as a result. Joanne confirmed that the chauffeur communication system was in place during her father s ownership and the device in the rear compartment consisted of a circular dial affair with eight buttons with instructions corresponding to those on the light box on top of the dash. She thought that it was probably surface mounted. As young teenagers, Joanne and her elder sister Penelope had fun in the back of the car pressing the buttons willy-nilly during their various outings, much to the annoyance of their father up front. In the end, he decided to remove the button system, its fate unknown.

45 45 CHANCE DEVELOPMENTS At the 2005 Annual Rally at Kelmarsh Hall, the car was up for judging. I had not taken this leap forward with my cars before and I was interested to see how GAK 5 fared in the touring section. The car was duly inspected and fascination was expressed by the team on being shown the steam-relief valve and the chauffeur s light communication system above the dash. Following the later sight on the mascot of two rosettes flapping like a flag in that stiff northerly wind that day and the emotion this provoked for me, Christine and I strutted down the avenues of stalls and marquees. At Paul Beck s stall we bumped into one of the judges who informed me with considerable enthusiasm that he had just seen the missing part to the communication system in a marquee shared by David Duckworth. He had told David about the other half in the chauffeur s compartment of my car and said that David wanted to buy it. We ran round to David s stall and there it was in a glass covered display unit. The engraved words on the creamy white dial matched those on the light box in the car. The buttons described by Joanne Power were all there. Since the entire system appeared to be so rare, I wondered if the dial half was the actual one discarded by The Reverend Hewatt around fifty years earlier. Wishful thinking perhaps, but a possibility. The bezel was in need of renickeling, but this was it; I had to have it. I beckoned David over and sensing my ecstatic mood he was not prepared to budge on the price. Neither was I prepared to sell the other half to him and so a deal was struck. The three of us walked briskly over to the collection ring, David firmly clutching the button system, for him to see the light box. He wanted to buy the car, or so he said. Tony James was close by and the pair of them viewed the entire system with intrigue and enthusiasm. RESTORATION & HEADACHE INSTALLATION I spent the next week or so dismantling the button dial system, housed in a three inch diameter brass casing, cleaning the eight terminals, the two eight-leaf spring brass contacts and tweaking them to provide some degree of equal sensitivity, removing the light box from the chauffeur s compartment (this took an age; removing the mouldings above the dash was not easy and had to be done with great care), finding eight suitable low power bulbs, which I had to modify, wiring the entire system up on the workbench to a spare battery and testing the thing out. It worked! I was halfway, or so I thought. Now for the wiring job proper. It was evident from the design of the dial device itself and an absence of evidence of it having been inset into the inner panelling of the division that the system was probably surface mounted with quite a thick conduit descending to a half inch hole in the floor board just behind the division. It would have proved a relatively easy task to reinstate it as it was originally, but unsightly and impractical in view of the trim and other restorations that took place in Concealed wiring and flush mounting of the button device had to be my preferred option. Headaches, tears, sweat and frustration were to overwhelm me for several days. Using two, six filament home security alarm cables and a separate earthing wire, the light box was first wired up, including a positive feed, circuit tested, re-installed and the dash mouldings replaced. The three cables were taken forwards along the offside upper ash frame member of the scuttle and down to be fed beneath the floor boarding to the right hand side of the accelerator pedal and then aft along the chassis to beneath the hinged front seat tray. The next stage of the routing was, for me, the most ambitious and frustrating in that I now had to find a way up into the narrow cavity of the wind-up division chamber to bring the cables up behind the glass. A sliding glass division would have been child s play in comparison. I had never looked inside a wind-up division chamber let alone fathom a way of pushing wires up through it without taking the entire division out of the car. The winding gears and chain and the sliding window supports were to prove daunting obstacles. The cables were dangling beneath the floor boards but where, exactly, was I to drill through to hit the correct spot to take the wires vertically up into the small space behind the glass? The design of the lower part of the division wall on the passenger side did not help matters, but there is a nicely concealed cavity below the front seat back rest, centrally located. Drilling up into here would allow the cables to be one step closer to the finish line and a strip of electrical connectors installed in the GAK 5. Instructions for the chauffeur. The button dial system behind the division

46 46 cavity was to provide opportunity for future testing and disconnection in the event of failure and to give me a useful junction for the next and most difficult stage. I drilled horizontally through the front panel of the division close to the electrical junction strip just installed and, having removed the mouldings and veneered panel to the rear of the division earlier and with the glass wound down, I dangled a length of white curtain wire, complete with an eye screwed into one end, behind the glass. Using a torch and hooked piece of wire I managed to view the eye on the end of the white curtain Edwardian social protocol dictated that the male owner of such a car would have sat on the offside wire (thank heaven it was white, otherwise I would have had grave difficulty in locating it) and pulled it through the hole I had drilled. So far, so good. After tying three pieces of string to the eye, three separate pull-throughs were soon in position behind the glass and tied off in the car s rear compartment. In the meantime, the male, threaded conduit connection of the button system casing had been sawn off (no need for surface mounting now) and both the case and bezel nickel plated by VHR in Sheffield. The exact location of this part of the system was critical. I had been reliably informed that Edwardian social protocol dictated that the male owner of such a car would have sat on the offside and therefore any communication devices needed to be located on that side and from an ergonomic standpoint the button system had to be positioned directly in front of him and coming through the veneered panel below the top moulding of the division. Two hours of careful hole-cutting and filing through the panel, secured in a bench vice, followed by cutting and chiselling into the rear inner panel of the division chamber, enabled the system to be fixed so as to appear like a flush-mounted clock. A hole drilled all the way through the rear inner panel at the bottom of the cavity now created for the casing enabled the final part of the cable routing to proceed. The curtain wire was in action again to bring the pull-throughs back into the cavity and, with careful force, each of the three cables was eased through the division and out into the open air at last. Connecting the entire system up to the positive feed and earth and try it out was now crucial. The earlier recording of the colour coding of the filaments of the two alarm cables according to which terminals of the button system corresponded to which of the eight instructions had been a good move. Bingo! The mechanism now worked in situ, thank goodness. FATIGUE AND OVER-ENTHUSIASM OVERWHELM GOOD METHOD For some reason, probably to check that the cables now ascending the division chamber were neither too long nor too short and were not interfering with the gear chain mechanism, I wound up the glass. As the glass rose, so did the button device still attached to the cables! Glass rattling expletives prevailed for some 45 seconds. Inadvertently, and working half blind, I had drawn the cables over the top of the offside gear pulley attached to the sliding glass support. It should have gone beneath it to maintain freedom for both. Another hour or so was spent to disconnect, to reinstate pull-throughs with the division raised full height to complete the job. With all panelling and mouldings back in place, tools put away and a good glass of claret in hand, I sat in the back of the car and played with the buttons, just as Joanne and Penelope Power had done fifty years earlier. Not a wire to be seen but, since the case itself is now invisible, why on earth did I have it nickel plated? However, I did feel very happy with the outcome; ingenious and energysaving for an owner who might be regarded as being reluctant to communicate verbally with the chauffeur, I thought. Naturally, that Christine might develop similar habits has crossed my mind! I must say that I like a proper car to have a name. On acquiring GAK 5, I did christen her, but the correspondence with Joanne Power prompted a rapid change. Her father owned a succession of Fordson trucks on to which he installed a mobile home top. These were used to transport hoards of children here and there and GAK 5 was used on these trips to carry the overflow. The trucks he called Albert and so GAK 5 took the obvious name of Victoria. After fifty years an old lady would never be happy with a new name and so Victoria it has to be. NOW FOR THE INTERESTING BIT The final connection is one of high significance for me and one of those chance affairs the bookmakers might put in the frame of millions-to-one. The first owner was Mr R Wanamaker of 26 Pall Mall, London. Andre Blaize researched the car s history, as did Ben Grew. Guarantee number 817 was issued to R Wanamaker of 26 Pall Mall and Ben confirms that it was Rodman Wanamaker, the son of John Wanamaker, who founded what became the largest departmental store in USA, located in Philadelphia. On his father s death in 1922, Rodman took control of the business which had long since been extended to include a second store in New York. Very much a recluse, Rodman Wanamaker avoided limelight and, according to Internet obituary descriptions, he loved the beautiful things of life;

47 47 furniture, tapestries, jewellery, books, music, musical instruments, pictures, flags and uniforms. He made several gifts to the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Sandringham and presented a gem-studded cross to Westminster Abbey that is still in ceremonial use today. He also had a love for cars, having owned from new: 64GE, S177MK, S185RK, 4TC, 29GN and purchased second-hand: 59YB, 121BW, 11YE and 7YG. PGA GOLF TOURNAMENT My own internet searches on the man revealed that he was an avid, if not an outstanding, golfer. He hosted a lunch in 1916 at New York s Taplow Club for America s top professional golfers and at the event The Professional Golfer s Association was formed. The Rodman Wanamaker Trophy became the prize fiercely competed for at the annual PGA Tournament and for which the top professionals still compete today. I read somewhere that at the age of sixty one he was a member of the USA golf team in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Allegedly, they won the silver medal behind Argentina, but my own books on Olympic history and statistics disallow this as fact since there is no record of a golfing competition in the Olympic Games of that year. If true, however, having bought GAK 5 early in 1924 whilst living in London, I have a feeling that the important sporting events of 1924 may have influenced Wanamaker s activities and location and by July of that year he possibly returned to America having sold the car to Mr A W Mathew of Woking, Surrey and later, The Mayfair Hotel, London. Rodman Wanamaker died in 1928, aged 68, having suffered from an increasingly debilitating kidney disease for some eight years. ATHLETICS: THE BINDING CONNECTION In January 1965, I had the honour of competing in The Millrose Games, the world s most prestigious indoor athletics meeting and held at Madison Square Gardens, New York. I won The Wanamaker Mile, was presented with an inscribed gold watch and the cup that went with it. Sadly, I was not allowed to bring this magnificent trophy back to England. A photograph of me with the cup appeared the following day in The New York Herald Tribune. My internet searches on The Millrose Games have yielded the fact that the trophy I won is actually The Rodman Wanamaker Cup. In 1902, Rodman established an athletics club in New York for the health and fitness benefit of all company employees. It was called The Millrose Athletic Club, named after his country residence in Pinkertown, Pennsylvania, and in 1908 the indoor athletics meet was inaugurated. By 1914, the Games had been relocated to Madison Square Gardens and since its inception, winners of the various events have included well over 120 Olympic and world champions and around 100 Author, John Whetton, winner of the Wanamaker Mile in 1965 world indoor records have been either tied or set. The mile race is traditionally held at 10pm, not good for an Englishman; 3am at home and physiologically the worst possible time, especially when you only flew into New York 48 hours prior! Why 10 o clock? The race had to coincide with the local radio news so that the legendary sports announcer, Ted Husing, could relay the commentary live on the 10 O Clock News. What an incredible coincidence it is that the current owner of GAK 5 won a trophy forty one years ago at an athletics meeting established by the first owner of this car in the first few years of the last century, in a race named after the same man and associated with a trophy in his name. Now, how could I possibly sell Victoria?! (Editor s Comment: An extraordinary coincidence indeed. The second part of this fascinating article will appear in the next Bulletin. Without wishing to embarrass the author, he was a highly successful middle distance runner in the 1960s. Besides winning the Wanamaker Mile, John was a finalist in the 1500m at both the 1964 (Tokyo) and 1968 (Mexico) Summer Olympics, representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He was the European Indoor 1500m Champion in 1966, 67 & 68. He was the European 1500m Champion in 1969.)

48 48 Goodwood News ANDREW BALL ROLLS-ROYCE 101EX - ANNOUNCEMENT 101EX is the latest experimental model to come from Rolls-Royce, hand-built to explore a design direction for a modern coupé. Following the same uncompromising approach employed for the Phantom, the new car is an engineering-led design in a sleek coupé body. 101EX shares its state-of-the-art, lightweight, aluminium space frame chassis technology with the other Rolls-Royce models, albeit in a body that is shorter overall. Power comes from the Phantom s advanced, direct-injection, 6.75-litre V12 engine, which delivers effortless performance. The styling of 101EX is more driver-focused than that of the longer Phantom. Currently there are no plans for 101EX to be put into production. It is an experimental car that explores future design directions.

49 The low-slung body of 101EX has been created by the Rolls-Royce design team under the direction of chief designer Ian Cameron. While the space frame technology has been borrowed from the Phantom, 101EX is shorter and lower than that model: the wheelbase is 250mm shorter and the overall length is down by 240mm. All body panels, therefore, are new. 49

50 50 Goodwood News ROLLS-ROYCE 101EX - ANNOUNCEMENT 101EX is powered by the same 6.75-litre engine as the Phantom. Using advanced direct fuel injection with variable valve lift and timing, the V12 combines power with outstanding combustion efficiency. Designed to develop massive low-down torque, it delivers 75 per cent of its maximum pulling power at just 1000 rpm, giving the smooth, unstressed performance associated with Rolls-Royce. New nine-spoke, 21-inch, forged aluminium wheels are used on the car, making them as tough and as light as possible. The unique exterior design features a discreet, streamlined grille, complete with Spirit of Ecstasy mascot that flows seamlessly back into the aluminium bonnet and windscreen surround. LED sidelight and direction indicators complement the round xenon driving lights. Long, elegant coach doors, hinged at the rear, allow easier access to the 101EX interior than conventional front-hinged doors. Each door closes at the touch of a button. The 101EX interior has been designed for elegance and maximum comfort for all of its occupants, featuring machined aluminium, the finest leather and exquisite rosewood and red oak veneers. Even the side and rear windows have wood surrounds. The interior uses traditional materials in a modern way, says Alan Sheppard who, together with Charles Coldham, was responsible for the car s interior design. Front slim-line, bucket-style seats offer outstanding comfort. Rear seating is exceptionally spacious for a coupé, with privacy ensured by the sweeping C-pillars. 101EX is a response to the interest expressed by current and potential Rolls-Royce clients in a coupé, says Rolls-Royce chairman and CEO Ian Robertson. It is an experimental car only, but one designed and engineered to a high standard. It radiates refinement, performance and presence. It is the company s second experimental car in 24 months, following 100EX, which was seen at Geneva in 2004 and marked the company s Centenary. It shows that Rolls-Royce continues to operate from a position of strength, and that we are keen to explore new directions for the brand, adds Robertson. Rolls-Royce s first experimental car, 1EX, was built in 1919 and based on the Silver Ghost. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS No of doors/seats 2/4 Vehicle Length 5609 mm Vehicle Width 1987 mm Vehicle Height unladen 1592 mm Wheel-base 3320 mm Fuel Tank Capacity 100 litres Engine 6749 cc direct-injection V12 Transmission Type 6-speed automatic Steering Type Rack and pinion, speed-sensitive variable-rate power assistance Tyre Size Front 255/50R21 Rear 285/45R21 Wheel Size Front 8 1/2J R21 Rear 9 1/2J R21 In contrast to production Rolls-Royce cars, 101EX s body is made of carbon-fibre composite, albeit over the same lightweight aluminium construction seen in the Phantom. The bonnet and windscreen surround are finished in brushed aluminium, while the door handles and large, oval exhaust tail pipes are hewn from solid aluminium. Phantom-derived boulevard lighting provides a hospitable glow at night. In addition, the extraordinary Starlight headliner uses fibre optics embedded in the leather headlining to give the impression of a star-filled night sky. Controlled by a dimmer, it can exude a soft glow or be raised to reading-light levels. Interior storage space includes a parcel shelf cabinet and wood-faced rear seat stowage areas. Front door pockets tilt outwards to aid access. The luggage compartment is large and trimmed in leather to match the cabin. RR monogrammed umbrellas are stowed beneath the boot lid.

51 51 The V12 engine is made from aluminium. It uses four valves per cylinder and twin camshafts per cylinder bank, and features fully variable valve-lift control and variable valve timing. This most advanced of V12 engines also employs direct fuel injection, to improve performance and fuel efficiency. At 1000rpm, the engine is already producing just over 75 per cent of its peak torque figure. The electronically-controlled, six-speed automatic transmission features shift by wire technology, so there is no mechanical linkage to the gear selector. The front suspension uses double wishbones; at the rear there is a multi-link system. Air springs offer unmatched comfort and automatically adjust according to the vehicle s load. Exactly the same engineering attitude that was behind the innovative Phantom has been used for 101EX, says Ian Robertson. It is a no-compromise approach using what is ideal, not what is convenient. In 101EX you will find a marvellous blend of high technology and craftsmanship of engineering and personality. A blend that has put Rolls-Royce Motor Cars back at the pinnacle of motoring. Editor s Comment: The Editor is grateful to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for releasing this information and images in confidence and prior to the official announcement at Geneva so that it could be included in this edition of the Bulletin.

52 52 To Stroke a Cheetah an autobiography by Captain D B Hopkins This may seem an unlikely title for a book that might appeal to members of the RREC, but to quote Eric Barrass, Once started it was hard to put down, the style is so free-running and the humour lights it on its way. It is the best read Iʼve had for years. It is, in fact, the autobiography of Club member Derek Hopkins. His association with Rolls-Royce products goes back to 1954 when he first flew a Royal Air Force Canberra powered by two of the worldʼs first axial flow jet turbines, namely the Rolls-Royce Avon. This engine also powered the Hawker Hunter, in which the author became a member of the ʻMach 1ʼ club. One of the authorʼs claims to fame is that had it not been cancelled, he would have been the first RAF instructor on the British TSR 2 aircraft. On the ground, he chauffeured the late Princess Margaret, and he provided the limousines for the funeral of ex-prime Minister Harold Macmillan; all told in a way that supports the statement in the foreword that ʻmany of his experiences will make you laugh and some will make your hair stand on endʼ. You can obtain a copy of this amusing and highly readable book from the Club shop, price 20 or, if you prefer, an autographed copy direct from Derek at 6 Frankton Avenue, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3QX, price 21, which includes postage to the UK, or 22 to other parts of Europe. How did the Cheetah get into the act? For the answer to this you have to read the book! MALCOLM TUCKER Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit & Silver Spur Bentley Mulsanne, Eight, Continental, Turbo R, Brooklands & Azure by Malcolm Bobbitt Available from the Club shop p&p Malcolm Bobbitt knows his onions, when it comes to matters Rolls-Royce. A prolific writer and solid researcher, he has come up with an information packed volume about the SZ platform cars. Following a well proven format, the 208 pages contain chapters on development, launch, Rolls-Royce variants and Bentley derivatives, along with advice on buying and much more. There is a plethora of photographs and drawings, many unknown to me; all well captioned. Bobbittʼs style makes the assimilation of facts easy, and the content of the text and technical appendices will give potential SZ model purchasers all the facts needed to make a short list of the ʻcar for youʼ. The book designers have chosen to use three columns, fully justified, per page and this causes irritating dissimilar gaps between words even some words joined. A few images are reproduced with an opacity that makes it difficult to appreciate, and on more than one occasion the text runs into images. Mr Bobbitt would do well to have a word in the ear of his publisher. Not withstanding these production faults, I highly recommend this book as a way to learn all you need to know about these cars in an easy and entertaining way. MALCOLM TUCKER Book Review

53 53 REGISTERS Derby Bentley Annual Rally June 2006 Your Derby Bentley team is planning to attend this summer s Annual Rally. I shall be in my Arnold saloon (CVM134), James in his Barker drophead (WG3939) and Julian in his distinctive Rippon fixed head coupé (BUE922). Do make yourselves known to us and stop for a chat as you wander by. Happy motoring! DOUGLAS REECE Registrar Hamish Orr-Ewing wrote to me recently explaining that he had resolved a serious problem on his car and felt it might be of interest to other members of the Register. He writes - A year ago I bought an additional Bentley to compliment our litre VDP tourer, this being a litre B8MR 1938 De Villars owned by S G Thompson overdrive Park Ward saloon (B201MX). This was the last saloon produced before the launch of the Mk V. As usual when one buys a car from the 1930s there was much work to be done, but the car ran quite well with nothing so seriously wrong that it was dangerous to use. I was, however, warned that the front tyres must be inflated to 38psi to prevent shimmy. Anyone unfortunate enough to have encountered this phenomenon will know how alarming it is. I set about restoring a number of worn elements of the front axle and steering and played around with tyre pressures hoping to get rid of the threat of shimmy; but it was still there making one very apprehensive when driving on bad roads. There remained the possibility that the tyres were the source of the problem. Unusually the car was fitted with 6.50/7.00 X 17 Michelin Cable Comfort cross ply tyres. Nobody from whom I enquired had previously encountered Michelin tyres on a Derby Bentley, but there was a consensus of view that Michelins have very soft walls and these might contribute to shimmy. The Michelin tyres were in good condition so somewhat reluctantly I ordered a pair of 6.00/6.50 Dunlop Forts for the front wheels. The result was remarkable. The steering was much more precise and directionally stable and despite deliberate efforts to provoke shimmy there has been no trace of it since fitting the Dunlops. It is conventional that one should not fit different makes of tyre front and rear and I had expected to have to replace the rear tyres also with Dunlop Forts if those on the front proved successful in curing the shimmy. However, to my relief I find that with the Michelins on the back wheels at 30psi and the Dunlops on the front at 26psi the handling is excellent. A most fascinating observation and it would be of interest to hear any other such experiences. Usually the frightening shimmy can be directly traced to decay or failure in the A frame or occasionally a defective tyre on one wheel and I had never heard of a particular type of tyre giving the specific problem. Ramblings One of the rather nice things about carrying on a discussion through the Bulletin is the splendidly gentle pace of proceedings. Not for us the current style of knee jerk reaction and instant response so favoured by our politicians, but rather the considered, gently modulated and intensely cerebral exchange of ideas over months or years rather than hours or days. Many of our highly literate members read Tony Herbert s letter to the Bulletin in the November/December 2005 issue and several have since commented to me with some incredulous, some supportive, and a few mostly 20/25 owners, unbelieving!

54 54 For those with a short memory span, myself included, Tony had commented that he had owned, driven and enjoyed the pleasures and delights of his 20/25 for a Derby Bentley formed a giant leap forward having stability, road holding, directionality, comfort and performance. number of years and that it had clearly demonstrated the quality of engineering built into this pre-war chassis. He felt that the handling and driving characteristics of his Derby Bentley formed a giant leap forward having stability, road holding, directionality, comfort and performance which could be used in total confidence in present day motoring conditions. He went on to comment that a new Derby emerging in the fifties and reaching a pinnacle in the sixties would have placed the Company in an unassailable market position for many years and asks why it is that the Board failed to realise the B20MR 1938 Vanden Plas owned by S C Robertson achievements of Bentley during the thirties by having such a chassis ready in time for the upsurge of wealth at the end of the forties. It would be too easy just to suggest that Tony remove his rose coloured glasses as the answers lie as much in a mix of economic and social changes as in engineering and design. On the engineering issues, it had been recognised by the mid 1930s that the Derby chassis and suspension required complete rethinking and that the engine layout was being overtaken by competitors. The chassis was very much based on twenties thinking and originally designed for a much smaller car. With the lighter series this gave rise to a degree of comfortable understeer but, with the increasingly heavy 4 1 4, it changed to oversteer and, according to some of the Company s internal assessments, had a lack of rigidity giving an unpleasant and uncomfortable ride regardless of the suspension setting. The suspension itself was almost past its sell-by-date as the new independent front suspension approach marketed by Humber and several other manufacturers offered a far improved ride. Indeed, we almost had French Citroen parts fitted as the Experimental Department fought for agreement on change. At the same time experimental overhead camshaft engines started in the latter days of W O Bentley, were appearing and while still unreliable, offered great potential. The life of the Derby Bentley had already been extended largely through the introduction of overdrive. The problems in the car giving the biggest headaches to the Company were all to do with crankshaft vibration and Rolls- Royce had to warn customers about the dangers of high speed driving. Indeed, while the rev counter was red-lined at 4,500rpm, anything over 3,750rpm began to start vibration. Something had to be done to avoid a bad reputation and thus lose high class customers in the period before the brand new model Mark V was launched. The company had been experimenting with overdrives for some years and now introduced their new gear box, coupled to a stronger back axle assembly and smaller wheels, together with a Marles cam and roller steering box. The gear box overdrive meant that a higher top speed could be obtained with lower engine revolutions and thus less chance of having crankshaft vibration. Even more interesting is that the engine s cam profiles had been modified so that the power delivery dropped greatly over 4,200 rpm. This meant that while the 4,500 limit was still there in essence, there was little point in staying in a lower gear much above 4,000rpm and thus the driver would move quickly into overdrive for extra speed. While the actual performance of the overdrive cars was not greatly different to the standard car, the way in which it was achieved, the ability to motor at high speed for long periods of time, and the comfort - in terms of lower engine revs and thus noise and vibration, created a vastly improved car and probably the zenith of what we regard as the Derby Bentley. In the big wide world, the competition were improving at a

55 55 fast rate and a lower cost and these factors were indicating that, as far as the Company was concerned, the life of the and Derby Bentley line was drawing to a close. Next the Mark V still produced at Derby and still bearing the proud name of Bentley, but is this car really what we term a Derby Bentley? This of course raises the whole question of what defines a generic group of automobiles and the standard answer is any two out of chassis, engine and body. Bodies at this stage were still largely coach built by companies distinct from Rolls-Royce although the Company was in the stages of bringing that operation in house. Compared with the previous Derby Bentleys, the Mark V chassis had a different wheelbase, because the Company was moving towards standardisation of output, and the chassis was much stronger with diagonal bracing and bigger sections. With independent front suspension the whole thing had moved a long way from our original Peregrine light car design. The engine not only was mounted in a different position on the chassis but was of a new design with a totally different head, crankshaft, bearings and even clutch. The change in layout created much more space inside the car and space was a feature that our Derby Bentleys never truly enjoyed. More importantly, through standardisation, the new design of Derby Bentley could be produced at a lower cost base and be far more price competitive in the increasingly mass produced market place. Even the testers commented that the Mark V was a different car and a new type of Derby Bentley. Alas this great leap forward never had time to develop into long term production and the sort of gradual improvement which had occurred over the previous seven years. Instead came the war and with it huge social and economic changes. The high class base of customers aristocracy, landed gentry and captains of industry had been much changed through death, taxation, and the war based 1950s Mark VIIs and John Butterworth at Brooklands economy. New industries using new materials and technical developments born out of five years conflict were coming to the fore and, with little consumer money available in the UK, all manufacturing emphasis was on overseas markets, especially the USA. Company strategies changed with Rolls-Royce placing their greatest emphasis on aircraft engines, an area in which they reigned supreme. They were, after all, first and foremost an engineering company. On the car front, the company being still averse to any real connection with motor racing, the emphasis was on spacious prestige saloons. The Mark VI produced in 1946 kept the front suspension approach of the Mark V but otherwise was a very different car and by the early fifties the Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars had more or less merged through the current trend of badge engineering. Had the Derby Bentley as we know it been continued into the fifties, all the signs are that it would have been hopelessly outclassed in terms of performance, price, comfort, and drive quality. Not because the Derby is a poor car but because other manufacturers had moved further ahead. If one compares the Mark VI or R Type ( ) with the Jaguar Mark VII ( ) for issues other than longevity and reliability, the difference is enormous with the Jaguar much lower in price but streets ahead in performance, room and appearance. By the early fifties those who could afford such cars were far more interested in what the great advertising slogan encapsulated Space, Pace and Grace and far more likely to change their car every couple of years rather than seek long term ownership of a reliable work horse, no matter how well bred! An interesting aside is that the magnificent XK engine developed by Heynes, Bailey and Hassan (thus another car with a Bentley connection) was discussed in great detail during wartime fire watching at the Jaguar factory and then developed in 1946/47. The new saloon the Mark VII, was not scheduled to come into being until 1950 and in order to prove the engine Lyons decided on a limited run of sports cars which would act as very good guinea pigs in a self funding test programme. The result was the XK120, first built out of aluminium because of the

56 56 shortage of steel but destined to become the start of the great classic car of the fifties. Just reflect that the Derby Bentley was that car for the thirties and had an equally inauspicious start. Here was a car created to bear the acquired name and aura of Bentley - a name which had been acquired to restrict competition rather than provide another product line and to meet a perceived gap in the market but on the exact nature of which marketing and production could not agree. Royce s failing health and resulting indecisiveness had caused enormous delays in arriving at any technical decisions and eventually our car came about in a quiet palace revolution from the formidable combination of Hives, Sidgreaves and Wormald. They took much of what was available from other research and development programmes and thus combined a chassis and an engine both already largely developed but for entirely different purposes. The result, like the XK, was a masterpiece of its time and we in the Register are fortunate to enjoy these superb vehicles. In one of Malcolm Henderson s fascinating and delightful articles I learnt that the great W O Bentley had once described the Derby Bentley saying It was a mongrel of a car. How true and, in common with so many mongrels, what an outstanding and enjoyable end result. Future Events Technical Seminar 6/7 May 2006 This year the Small Horsepower Seminar will be covering the 20hp, 20/25, 25/30, Wraith and Derby Bentley and, as usual, will be at The Hunt House. Attendance at the last couple of Derby Bentley seminars has been disappointing, perhaps because of being held in July or perhaps because everyone knows all about maintenance. However, for new owners and those who require to brush up their knowledge attending the May seminar should bring the usual fun and delight as always provided by our great tutors Steve and Will. The Derby Bentley Register Weekend Friday 22 September 2006 to Sunday 24 September 2006 The hotel is Linden Hall, just north of Morpeth, a Grade II listed Georgian house in 450 acres of park and woodland. It has good food, comfortable and wellfurnished bedrooms, a pool and spa, an 18-hole golf course (reduced rates), tennis courts, billiard room, etc. Friday night's dinner will be a relaxed affair in the hotel's own pub, the Linden Tree. Saturday will be free to just lounge around or visit some of the many Northumberland attractions, followed by an equally relaxed drinks reception and dinner in the hotel's restaurant. On Sunday there will be a moorland drive to lunch near Hexham with, perhaps, a very low-key treasure hunt and maybe an afternoon excursion to Hadrian's Wall, a World Heritage Site. Why not come on Thursday or stay until Monday at the much reduced B&B rate of 45 per person, or both? Visit Beamish Open Air Museum on the way up and Kielder on the way back? Places to see are: Alnwick with its castle and wonderful new gardens (maybe a party visit on Saturday with lunch in the town if enough want to go); Lindisfarne Priory and Castle on Holy Island; Wallington House and garden (National Trust); Belsay Castle and garden (English Heritage); Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh castles, as well as, pele towers and bastles, a reminder of Northumberland's turbulent past; Cragside Lord Armstrong s extraordinary Victorian mansion (National Trust); the Cheviot Hills; and, the magnificent coastline from Berwick to Amble, and much, much more. The cost for two nights DB&B with wine at dinner, plus Sunday lunch will be 203 per person ( 406 for 2 people and a car, 203 for a single). Apply to Julian Paul, Upper House, Ughill, Low Bradfield, Sheffield, S6 6HU julesatughill@aol.com) Finally It is with great sadness that we report the death of Graham Pearce, a lovely man who was well known to many of you. While not an official member of the Derby Bentley Register, Graham and Helen have come on many of our weekends in their R Type and always livened the occasions greatly with their presence. Graham was exceedingly knowledgeable and capable on pre-war Rolls-Royce motor cars and Bentleys and did much to keep many of our Derby cars running and their owners enthusiastic. He was a big hearted man always willing to help out and he will be greatly missed. I know I speak for you all in saying that our thoughts and best wishes go to Helen. JAMES TUCKER, News Editor for the Derby Bentley Register Mark VI & Silver Wraith With much sadness, we note the sudden loss of our member Graham Pearce who was a very supportive member since 1995 when Registers were formed. I am sure members will join me in sending our condolences to his wife and family. On the new members front, from the UK we welcome Malcolm Tucker HJM R Type (B87RS), Paul Knapp Mark VI (B216CF), Tim Milbank Mark VI (B332FV), Simon Buck Freestone & Webb Silver Wraith (WOG58), Anthony Lewis Mallaleau Mark VI (B 56HR), Peter Smith Mark VI (B205JN), Anthony Peake R Type (B130ZY), Mrs Wilhelmina Church R Type (B164ZY), Chris White Mark VI s (B350BH, B478CF, B142EY, B46HR, B202MD), Paul Farrant R Type (B248UM), Robert M Ward HJM Mark VI (B366DA), Simon Everson Mark VI (B229GT) and from overseas Johann Marais R Type (B205TO South Africa), Barrett Davis HJM Silver Wraith

57 57 C Ghezzi s R Type (B56SR) newsletters and these will shortly be available on the site. Past and future members suggestions will be placed in a separate area. This will avoid the need to wade through a mass of information, much of which is now out of date. Arrangements are progressing well for the Diamond Jubilee and we are now able to open the event to Club members who are not on the Register. Rooms are still available for the weekend so if you are interested then please contact Malcolm Hobbs on Helga owned by Lloyd Missen in New South Wales (SFC138) rolling home About 170 bottles waiting for Helga s return limousine (WTA75 Texas), Hans Jorgen Enemark HJM Mark VI (B140NZ Denmark), Klaus H Steffens Freestone & Webb Mark VI (B63AJ), Peter N Heydon Worblaufen drop head coupé Mark VI (B88LFV USA pictured in B274/70), Xavier Gilbert Franay Silver Wraith Limousine (WZB26 Switzerland), Clauzio Ghezzi R Type (B56SR Italy), pictured, and Maarten Prinsze James Young Helga owned by Lloyd Missen in New South Wales (SFC138) going home on a tow truck Silver Wraith saloon (WFC80 the Netherlands). By the time this Bulletin is issued, members should have received newsletter fourteen with an interesting article on Horns, Headlining and Radiator Top Hoses. There is also an update on spares from Eric Healey. Please notify your Registrar if a copy has not arrived by either post or attachment. Our e-list has just reached the 200 mark with Maarten Prinsze signing up so if you are overseas and connected to the Internet then why not ask your Registrar for an e-copy? Also, Simon Coss has now established the planned area for members stories and cars within the Register site. Mike Kendrick, our Technical Adviser, has been busy extracting each of the official technical articles from our fourteen or malcolmhobbs@ compuserve.com for further information. Also, Bentley Motors are looking for a Standard Steel Mark VI to display as an early production example. If any Club member owning an AK or AJ series car would like to take part then please contact the Registrar. We recently heard from Lloyd Missen, one of our long term members in New South Wales who is also Registrar for our cars within RROCA. Lloyd has embarked on a repaint of Helga, his Silver Dawn (SFC138) and has been very careful to record the various parts as they came off (some 170 bottles worth). Let s hope all the bottles are empty when the job is done! TONY JENKIN Registrar

58 58 S E C T I O N N E W S East Anglian Section It is time to look forward to yet another new season; as we said last year, time to unlock the barns, take the car covers off, rinse the leathers, find the polish and charge the batteries - ours as well as the cars! It is well worth remembering that we are an Enthusiasts club, not just a social club involving classic cars. It is something we all need to remember because there is nothing more enjoyable than getting involved with the oily bits of these wonderful cars, as well as just driving them. After all, we have a great deal of very knowledgeable members who know such a lot about these very special cars, and the information is just a phone call away. The Club Conference is possibly the highlight of our year. This is held at The Hunt House in March annually and is attended by most of the Club Management Committee and representatives from all of the overseas and UK sections. This is the only chance we have for all Sections and Registers to get together to pass on their thoughts and members ideas. Not just in the syndicates, but in all the small groups discussing a wide and varied range of topics well into the night; long may it continue. If you have changed your car or any other details, please let The Hunt House know and indeed your Section Secretary as well. We all need to keep our records up to date. Our Section Rally in May is now full, but you can join us for the dinner on the Thursday evening 11 May 2006 at Fanhams Hall, Ware, Hertfordshire SG12 7PZ. Book direct (Lynn White, Events Co-ordinator ) 25 p/p black tie, ample safe parking in a wonderful old Hall. We wish all our Club members and friends safe and enjoyable motoring for TERENCE G WRIGHT Future Events 23 April 2006: Pensthorpe, Fakenham, Norfolk. Details from B & R Crevald ( ) 7 May 2006: Best of British Car show I.W.M Duxford 10am to 6pm 9.00 p/p (pay at the gate) 9 to 12 May 2006: Section Rally at Fanhams Hall, Ware. Rally fully booked, book dinner only 25 ( ) 14 May 2006: Visit to Stody Lodge, Gardens Melton Constable Norfolk details Peter Perrow ( ) 11 June 2006: Special Visit to Shuttleworth Museum, Flights in the Tiger Moth. 17 to 18 June 2006: Annual Rally Kelmarsh Hall Northamptonshire Support our Club, come along and join in. 16 July 2006: At Home with Julia & Murray Ferguson, Happisburgh, Norfolk August: Kirsey Mill, Hadley Suffolk, Watermill date to be confirmed (owned by a descendant of Henry Royce) 27 August 2006: Little Gransden Air & Car Show Bank Holiday Weekend details, Victor Stirling ( ) 2 to 3 September 2006: The 10th Annual Rally at the Manor, West Ashby Horncastle Lincs, details Larry Riches ( ) 17 September 2006: Burghley House, Stamford, Lincolnshire September: Suffolk Sports Car Engineering they make a modern version of the Jaguar SS100. Evening visit. Gliding at Shipton Airfield nr Norwich an evening visit. (Date to be confirmed) 10 December 2006: AGM & Christmas Luncheon, Diss, Norfolk East Midlands Section During the winter we have returned to our monthly programme of one main event and a pub meet. The January pub meet at the Anchor Inn at Hathern proved to be more popular than usual with about fourteen members. Christmas Lunch at Scalford Hall Sunday 11 December 2005 Following a very popular lunch in January 2005, we returned to Scalford Hall, near Melton Mowbray, for George Milburn s 1951 Bentley Mk VI (B4MD)

59 59 Reg White s 1920 Silver Ghost (75CW) with Neville Daniel s 1973 Silver Shadow (SRH16627) our Christmas Lunch. There was a good selection of Club cars and sixty six members attended. A number of notable birthdays were being celebrated in December, George Milburn on 9 December and Tony Jolley on 31 December and there was a special celebration of Joyce Towers (the Chairman s mother) 95th birthday (on 10 December). Members had signed a card and a large bouquet of flowers was presented to Joyce by Jo Bell. The event was enhanced by the celebration of Joyce Towers birthday and the presentations. Many members asked to return next Christmas. As usual with successful and enjoyable events, members were reluctant to leave, only the approaching dusk hastening their departure. Lunch at Donington Manor Hotel Sunday 29 January 2006 Our New Year lunch was held at a new venue, the Donington Manor Hotel at Castle Donington. Coming from the M1 junction at Kegworth, we passed through the very attractive small villages at Lockington and Hemington. With seventy seven members (a record), the car park became very full with our large cars. It was the first outing of George Milburn s Bentley 1951 Mk VI with a Mulliner body (B4MD). It is a later version of the car with a front wing line which reached the middle of the rear wing (rather than joining at the bottom). George s car is the second with the larger 4.5 litre engine. Reg and Ann White came in their 1920 Silver Ghost tourer (75CW) quite courageous on a cool but dry winter day. Both cars have been resurrected from the almost dead. Victorian Weekend at Tetbury May 2006 This is a reminder to members of our May Weekend at Tetbury, near Cirencester. This weekend may be full, but you can contact Jeff Dennis on to see if there are any vacancies. The weekend is at the Close Hotel in Tetbury with overflow accommodation at the adjacent Ormands Head Hotel. On Saturday there will be a visit to see Concorde at Filton, Bristol and a Victorian Gala Dinner in the evening. On Sunday the cars will be judged by the Mayor of Tetbury and a presentation made to the Mayor s favourite car. Then, members can visit the Mechanical Music Museum at nearby Northleach. An action-packed weekend. If you live near Filton, you can arrange with Jeff Dennis to join the Saturday visit to Concorde. DAVID TOWERS Future Events Sunday 7 May 2006: Lunch on Midland Railway, near Swanwick, Derbyshire. Contact John Newton on Thursday 11 May 2006: Visit to Lea Rhododendron Gardens, near Matlock Contact John Newton on Friday 19 to Sunday 21 May 2006: Victorian weekend at Tetbury (see above) Contact Jeff Dennis on Sunday 4 June 2006: Visit and picnic at Catton Hall, near Burton-on-Trent Contact Rob & Jo Bell on Saturday 17 June 2006: Open Day at Rolls-Royce, Hucknall Contact John Newton on Wednesday 21 June 2006: Midsummer Barbecue at Scalford Hall, near Melton Mowbray Contact David Towers on Sunday 2 July 2006: Polo at Leamington Spa Contact Jeff Dennis on Sunday 9 July 2006: Picnic at Broadwell House, near Leamington Spa (with the Paulerspury Section) Contact Adrian Denham on Friday 15 to Sunday 17 September 2006: Weekend at the Caley Hall Hotel at Old Hunstanton, Norfolk Contact Rob & Jo Bell on Pub Meet at Anchor Inn, Hathern: These are held on the 3rd Thursday of the month 20 April, 18 May. From June to August other events are held on the pub night. Note: Events after 9 July are included in the Events list in the Bulletin Essex Section Our AGM at the Three Rivers Country Club was well attended with our Chairman, Mike Wright conducting the Section formalities in record time. He thanked the three retiring committee members, Ron Sack, John Arthy, and Tim Pike, for their contribution and welcomed aboard three new escapees from a local institution that are mad enough to join our committee, they being: Godfrey Baillon- Bending; Steve Richardson; and, Len Oakley. Our MC representative and good friend of Essex, Tony James, presented twenty year badges to Ron

60 60 and Pam Monks and yours truly. May I remind members that it is your responsibility to claim your long membership badge. One member at the AGM with thirty years membership was still waiting for The Hunt House to contact him! The meeting progressed into a mini conference that was enjoyable and informative. Bill Medcalf explained the Peter Baines Wing appeal where a member who donates 250 or more will receive a red car badge and lapel badge, one of a limited edition of 100. His appeal to our Section saw fourteen members donate the required amount on the day. Well done Essex and Bill. Tony James brought us up to speed on The Hunt House activities and the Crewe parts situation and his opinion relating to the future of parts was encouraging. The day finished with a splendid lunch and a rumour that Essex girl, Chantelle, was joining our Section. Oh my God! Sixteen cars from Essex have booked for the Euro Rally in Norway this year, the most supportive Section of this event over the years. With this in mind the committee has decided to venture over the channel next year for a long week-end in northern France, watch this space. TONY COPSEY Future Events Saturday 18 March 2006: Horse race night at Danbury Church Hall Sunday 2 April 2006: Lunch meet Three Rivers Country Club Sunday 16 April 2006: Easter bonnet parade at Hylands House, lunch at The Cricketers Fryerning Sunday 28 May 2006: Gardens/picnic TBA Sunday 25 June 2006: Hyde Hall picnic Sunday 9 July 2006: Section Rally at Ingatestone Sunday 30 July 2006: Mystery tour For further information of events please contact our Secretary Mike Batt on Great Western Section By now our AGM is in the past and hopefully a full committee is in place, full of new ideas. As this is our 20th anniversary year it was thought that we should mark the occasion. Garden Party and Tea Dance Sunday 9 July 2006 Highnam Court The main celebrations for our 20th anniversary will be at Highnam Court on Sunday 9 July Highnam Court s lovely gardens will be the perfect setting for our celebrations. Our day will start late morning with a reception, followed by a luncheon buffet. After lunch there will be time to explore the gardens and Highnam Church, which contains beautiful wall decorations. (Editor s Comment: Highnam Church was described by John Betjeman as The most complete Victorian church in this country. Extensive frescoes adorn the church, painted by T Gambier Parry.) With a little music to add to our pleasures and afternoon tea, this is an occasion to dress to impress. We look forward to welcoming all of our friends. MALCOLM HOBBS, CHAIRMAN Future Events Wednesday 26 April 2006 Visit to The Hunt House This is an opportunity for new members to visit their Club headquarters and for the not-so-new members to revisit and see the changes that have taken place since their last visit. Details are in our January newsletter or contact Pat Smith Tel: Sunday 21 May 2006 Dewstow Hidden Gardens, Caerwent Henry Oakley purchased the Dewstow Estate in Edwardian times and embarked on the creation of a unique garden. The gardens were lost after the Second World War and rediscovered and restored by the present owner. Details are in our January newsletter or contact Sarah Whitehead Tel: Wednesday 21 June 2006 Mid-week lunch at The Slab House We have tried out different venues for our mid-week lunches but we still get asked, when are we going back to The Slab House?. So here we are. Put this date in your diary. Details are in our summer newsletter or contact Pat Smith Tel: PAT SMITH Middlesex Section Spring is upon us and by now all those necessary jobs should have been carried out on our Club cars and then given a special polish. It s the start of the eventing year when we should enjoy our vehicles and the good comradeship of the Club. With this in mind, 23 April 2006 is not only St George s Day or, to the literati, Shakespeare s birthday, but has been designated by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs as Drive it Day. (Editor s comment: See also the letter in the Correspondence pages.) You are encouraged to use any Club or classic cars on this day as those from our Section who are visiting Kelvedon Hatch will be, but if you are unable to use them just park them on the drive for all to see. Unfortunately the visit to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich has had to be cancelled due to lack of support, though it was an outing to which I was looking forward. Magic Circle This was a return visit after our successful event a couple of years ago when it was greatly over subscribed. It is an unusual and interesting place complete with bar and museum featuring famous

61 61 magicians and tricks through the ages and billed as the finest magical headquarters in the world. To start, we sat at small tables and the magicians circulated in turn to the tables with tricks and slight of hand. Even sitting close you were still unable to see how they were done. After a refreshment break we seated ourselves in the small intimate theatre for what I can only describe as the best of magic. In front of our eyes we had people sawn in half, doves and flowers produced from fresh air and the ubiquitous card tricks. I will long remember the building with its spectacular helical staircase and famous emblem of the circular zodiac. A very cheery evening to warm the heart on a cold and damp night in January. Rocola This is a restaurant we have visited before in Denham and returned by popular request. We had expected the usual number of people to turn up and made arrangements to suit but I m pleased to say unexpected members kept turning up and swelled our numbers considerably. Both the Magic Circle and Rocola were arranged by our Section Chairman, Mike Underwood, to whom we give our thanks. TIM NEALE Future Events Sunday 23 April 2006: Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker and lunch. Visit an installation left over from the Cold War, organiser is David Oxford Sunday 14 May 2006: South of England Rally, Caterham, this is a new venue which comes highly recommended, organised by Surrey Section 16 to 18 June 2006: Annual Rally, Kelmarsh Hall, a must for all members, organised by The Hunt House Sunday 16 July 2006: Uxbridge Auto Show, Club stand, a very large show for all the family to enjoy, organiser David Oxford 22 to 23 July 2006: Chiltern Open Air Museum, Chalfont, rescued historic buildings, Victorian farmyard all in forty five acres, organiser Brian Packman Sunday 13 August 2006: Royal Hospital Chelsea, meet the pensioners and see the marvellous surroundings where they live, organiser Mike Underwood Sunday 20 August 2006: Ashlyns Hall Car Show, run by Section member, Bill Hughes, in his own grounds in Berkhamstead, organiser David Oxford Sunday 16 September 2006: Destination Westminster, take a trip around the Palace of Westminster and see where your MP works followed by tea on the terrace, organiser David Oxford Sunday 19 November 2006: Section AGM Northern Section Apologies for the lack of a Section report in the last edition of the Bulletin. This is a quick catch-up on what has been happening. Tartan Rally 25 September to 1 October 2005 A full week event was a new experience for sixty six members who made the journey to the Forest Hills Hotel, at Aberfoyle. Jack Anderson had gone to a lot of trouble to organise a brilliant programme in stunning surroundings so it was a pity about the rain. Spirit Workshop 22 October 2005 Once again we were able to enjoy the facilities, knowledge and skills of Bowling-Ryan to enhance our members knowledge of their cars. Ian Rimmer added his wisdom to that of the Bowling Ryan staff. Halloween Lunch and Magician 30 October 2005 Torrential rain greeted early arrivals for this event but this did not dampen the enthusiasm of some forty three members who came to be amazed by Harry Robson with his special blend of table top magic. Lunch and Speaker 20 November 2005 Anyone who fancied a nap after the excellent lunch at the Portal Golf Club was in for a rude awakening. Mary Moore had invited Chester s Town Crier to entertain us and this he did in a most interesting and amusing manner. His stories ranged from an American tourist asking if he could buy a video of the Great Fire of London, to his attempting to give a wedding proclamation on horseback without first having learnt how to ride a horse. However, he did manage to announce the forthcoming wedding between our committee member Carolynn Whittaker and our former Treasurer John Smith without incident. Visit to The Hunt House 23 November 2005 Once again Graham Eastwood organised one of his trips to The Hunt House which are so highly valued and enjoyed by our members. The day coincided with Jo Baines s retirement from catering at The Hunt House so the lunch was rather special. Presentations followed the lunch and I gather it was a rather moving occasion. Christmas Lunch 11 December 2005 Our annual Christmas Lunch was held this year at the Barton Grange Hotel, near Preston. Ninety seven members and guests attended and there was an impressive array of proper cars gracing the parking area. The raffle raised 445 thanks to the generous prizes donated by members. As an alternative to a prize, winners were able to take part in Jack s play your cards right. Joe Hall took the risk and walked away with 50 cash. Jack thanked Carolynn for organising the event and we then dispersed to prepare for our own Christmas festivities. Annual General Meeting On 29 January 2006 we held our AGM at the Park

62 62 Royal Hotel, Stretton. About eighty people attended the meeting and of these fifty people stayed on for lunch. Our Chairman Jack Anderson announced that he was standing down, as was newly married committee member Carolynn Smith (nee Whittaker). John Beecroft had been nominated to stand for the committee and he was appointed without need for an election. Tony White was co-opted to the committee and he has agreed to be Treasurer. I was appointed as your new Chairman and my wife Mary has taken on the job of Newsletter Editor. Jane Pedler was the Management Representative and she told us about the progress with the Peter Baines Wing to which I hope you have all made your contribution. She was also pleased to announce that Wing Commander Julian Spencer has now been formally appointed as General Secretary. We were pleased to hear that the Health and Safety problems that affected the prize giving at the National Rally at Kelmarsh last year had, hopefully, been overcome. She concluded by telling us that plans for next year s celebrations of the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the Club were well in hand. Birthday Celebrations The Northern Section is forty years old this year. We will be celebrating the first meeting of the Section on the 25 April 2006 with an informal evening gathering at Briars Hall, Burscough. In July we will hold a Ruby Anniversary Rally at Lytham-St-Annes where we hope a number of founder members will be present. GRAHAM MOORE Future Events 2 April 2006: Lunch & Interactive Theatre, Burscough 25 April 2006: Birthday Supper, Burscough 7 May 2006: Coachbuilding with a Difference, Crewe 26 May 2006: Bentley Motors Visit, Crewe 16 July 2006: Section Ruby Anniversary Rally, Lytham 9 December 2006: Section Visit, BAE Warton Oxford Section In October 2005 we had two visits to the Castrol Technical Centre located just outside Pangbourne. Two visits were necessary because they are restricted to either eight or sixteen people. We were welcomed upon arrival with refreshments followed by an introductory talk on the history of the company and an explanation of the site layout. Castrol is now part of BP together with Duckhams. In the automotive world in the UK, Castrol is seen as the premium brand whilst Duckhams is promoted in the price conscious sector. In some overseas markets however, BP will be sold instead depending upon which brand has a known presence and acceptance. We were then given a tour through some of the laboratories where oils and greases are developed. Various analytical techniques were demonstrated which were used to determine the Members second visit to Castrol with Shadow II (SRH33303) belonging to Ian Ross

63 63 different aspects of performance required and we saw samples of oils which had been contaminated or left too long without being changed. We then moved on to the Engine Test Laboratory where a variety of engines (petrol, diesel and motorcycle) were used to evaluate the performance of the oils against set criteria. This was a very enlightening and thoroughly enjoyable tour pitched at an understandable level. Our cars proved to be of interest to them also and they asked for an official photograph to be taken of members with one of the cars. Subsequently, they provided us with a DVD containing that photograph with others taken within their test laboratories showing some aspects of the work undertaken there. After each tour we moved on to Pangbourne where Bentley Pangbourne laid on an excellent buffet lunch followed by a brief talk on the Company and a tour of their showrooms which allowed us to examine closely all the cars on display. For those who wished, members vehicles were examined by their mechanics on a ramp and a report issued on what they considered needed to be done. The two tours complemented each other perfectly and, for the technically minded, proved to be two extremely interesting days. In November we held our AGM and lunch at a new venue, the Oxford Thames Four Pillars Hotel which proved to be excellent in all respects. The meeting was well attended by members, spouses and friends. Particularly pleasing was the involvement of members in the proceedings with many suggestions for future events which the Committee will take on board. Regretfully, we have lost our President, Gerald King who wishes to spend more time with his family, and Martin Lowry due to relocation further north. However, both will remain as Section members and we thank them for all their contributions and wish them well. The remainder of the Committee were re-elected en bloc. Philip Hall from the Management Committee then addressed the meeting with an interesting report on activities at The Hunt House and fielded questions afterwards about transferring car records to disc. Altogether, I felt this was a very successful meeting. Our next event at Waddesdon Manor on 11 December 2005 proved more popular than I was expecting. Sixteen Rolls-Royce and Bentley motor cars were prominently parked in the main drive to the front of the Manor. The models I noted were a Derby Bentley, a Bentley Mk VI, a Rolls-Royce 20/25, Bentley S Types, Silver Shadows and T Types and a late model Bentley Continental R. Sixty one members appeared to thoroughly enjoy the spirit of Christmas captured in trees and lights and followed in the footsteps of the Three Kings of the Orient through the sumptuously decorated East Wing searching for gifts they left behind. After a little shopping or strolling in the grounds, we enjoyed an excellent late lunch in the Manor restaurant and finally it was headlights on for the homeward journey in the cold but dry night air. On 29 January 2006 we returned to Wyck Hill House in the Cotswolds for lunch in their conservatory overlooking a beautiful valley which was bathed in sunshine for the whole day. This was enjoyed by thirty six members and guests and proved once again to be an excellent venue. GERALD GARRATT Future Events These are the only events with firm dates: 26 February 2006: Lunch at the Donnington Valley Hotel 10 March 2006: Tour of Hook Norton Brewery and lunch 7 May 2006: Visit to the Atwell Wilson Motor Museum 24 June 2006: Historic Oxford with Paulerspury Section 25 June 2006: Bloxham Steam Fair 28 August 2006: Uffington Car Show 2 September 2006: President s Dinner 3 September 2006: President s Picnic Paulerspury Section The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs have instigated a Drive it Day on St George s Day, 23 April The occasion is part of an ongoing campaign to raise public awareness of the historic vehicle movement. You can join in by using your car that day. If you are not going on a Club outing, then just use your car for your normal everyday activities. If that is not possible, at least get the car out of the garage and on to the drive where everyone can see it. If you haven t already registered for a password for the Club website, please do so now and then you will also have access to the Paulerspury Section web pages. Details of future events will appear and we are hoping also to have a photo gallery of past events. Our annual New Members Lunch took place on 12 February 2006 at The Hunt House. The Section likes to be inclusive and therefore tries to encourage new members to take part in Club events. It can be quite difficult to turn up when you don t know anyone else so our first event of the year is planned to make new faces as welcome as possible. It also gives them the opportunity to have a look round the Club headquarters, described by Philip Hall as the best car club premises in the world, and rightly so. We were delighted that a large number of new members took the opportunity to attend this year and we hope to see some of them at Section events in the future.

64 64 Bill McGregor and Steve Dolan s Bentley Continental S2 Flying Spur (BC81AR) The lunch is also great for old members too as it is the first chance in the year to catch up with Club friends that they haven t seen since last year. Last but definitely by no means least there was a fantastic collection of cars gathered in The Hunt House courtyard in spite of the wet weather that day. With regard to future events, we try to have a good mixture but please do let Val Yates know if you have any ideas that we can use. It can be particularly difficult to find suitable technical visits, especially at weekends. It used to be quite easy to arrange factory tours. However, nowadays companies allow open visits less frequently, mainly, I understand, because of security issues. If you have a company that might be able to provide an interesting tour or talk, or you know someone who does, please let Val know. Lastly, whilst we hope that you will be interested in going to all our events, I would urge you to consider booking for the driving day and picnic. This takes place at Adrian Denham s farm at Broadwell near Rugby. You may be put off by the thought that you will be sitting in a rough field somewhere and that you don t particularly like picnic events but in reality Adrian and his band of helpers mow two paddocks until they look as good as anyone s front lawn. The paddock in front of the farmhouse is where the car parking and picnicking takes place (or barbecuing if you take your own meat). The other paddock (which normally has sheep grazing in it) is transformed into a fantastic driving course. We went to the event last year and it was great fun watching all the drivers complete the not too difficult course at varying speeds. Adrian is hoping that there might be a few more women taking the driving seat this year and having a go. Don t let him down girls! Future Events 10 May 2006: A visit to Trafficmaster at Cranfield 20 May 2006: A trip and dinner on an old Thames Sailing Barge Paulerspury Section New Members Lunch at The Hunt House 7 June 2006: A visit to Coton Manor Gardens, Northamptonshire 24 June 2006: A visit to Oxford 2 July 2006: A visit to the Leamington Spa Polo ground (joint with East Midlands) 9 July 2006: A driving day and Picnic (joint with East Midlands) Please refer to the Events List in this Bulletin for date of all future Paulerspury Section events for 2006 or contact Events Coordinator Val Yates on for further details. KATHY MARTIN Scottish Section In my Notes for B274 I said: Highlights of the business of the Section AGM (on 4 December 2005) will be in the next issue, and here they are. With my Hon Treasurer s hat on, I reported that, with one exception, the events held during the year had each either broken even or shown a slight surplus. (The Bonnets-up lunch in October had shown a 10 loss.) We ended the year with the balance at the bank down by 69 to 1,499. Nevertheless the Section s finances are in good shape, and the Committee had decided to hold the 5 charge for those wishing to receive the Newsletters for With my Hon Secretary s hat on, I said that Section membership had not changed significantly over the year, going from 255 at mid-october 2004 to 249 at the corresponding date in The number electing to subscribe to the Section newsletters had reached 200 for the first time (compared with 196 in 2004), of whom seventeen were outside Scotland. The fourteen events organised by the Section during the year had attracted high levels of support. The elections resulted in the Section Committee for 2006 consisting of Robert Daniel (Chairman), Peter Kendrick (Hon Sec/Treasurer), Nicol Cleland,

65 65 The Scottish Section s Charles Palmer Trophy being handed to winner Peter Philip (right) at the AGM on 4 December 2005 Alistair Macaskill, Alan Palmer, Peter Rae, Linda Salt and Robert Wiles-Gill. The winners of the Section s awards, which were presented at the meeting, were: Robert Wiles-Gill for the Adam McGregor Dick Quaich (for the second time), and Peter Philip for the Charles Palmer Trophy (see photos). PETER KENDRICK South Eastern Section By the time you read this our AGM will have taken place at the end of February 2006 unfortunately too late to meet the deadline for this issue. A report will therefore appear in the next Bulletin. Meanwhile our Secretary and members of the Committee have been working tirelessly, putting together a full programme for our Section. We continue to get together for lunches during the winter months. Sunday 8 January 2006 The Bull Inn, East Farleigh This was our first meeting in 2006, when we like to welcome members who have not attended one of these lunches before and thirty four people sat down to lunch in our separate dining room. Although this meal did not measure up to previous standards, the bonhomie of the members and friends more than compensated for any shortcomings in the quality of the meal and the service provided. Sunday 5 February 2006 Railway Tavern, Appledore This was a first-time venue, arranged for us by new Committee members Mike and Jenny Caridia, and a very good one it proved to be. The ambience was good, the lunch and the service excellent. No less South Eastern Section. Derek Smith s 1921 Silver Ghost (2UG) in the foreground next to Stephen Fabman-Beker s 1996 Silver Spur (TCH57940) and Mike Caridia s 1987 Corniche II (HCH20802) Robert Wiles-Gill (right) receives the Adam McGregor Dick Quaich from Chairman Robert Daniel at the Scottish Section AGM on 4 December 2005 South Eastern Section. Mark Tidy s 1990 Bentley Mulsanne S

66 66 than fifty eight people enjoyed the Tavern s warm hospitality and it was nice to welcome friends whom we do not often see. Future Events We have two more lunch dates arranged both at well tried hostelries. Sunday 9 April 2006 will find us at The Ramada Jarvis Hotel, Hollingbourne and Sunday 7 May 2006 at the Holiday Inn, Wrotham. The month of May is always a busy one for us. Sunday 14 May 2006: South of England Five Section Rally, at a new venue Woldingham School, near Caterham, Surrey. Our Section will again be in control at the gates. Wednesday 17 May 2006: Leonardslee Gardens in Bloom May 2006: Our Section French Rally at Bollezeele, where we enjoyed a previous stay in Sunday 28 May 2006: Hall Place, near Sevenoakes this proved a popular venue last year, when we had a leisurely picnic in beautiful surroundings, accompanied by a brass band. Sunday 4 June 2006: Brattles Farm, Staplehurst an interesting collection of farm machinery through the ages. Details of all these events can be found in our Section Magazine or from our Secretary. ISABEL SPENCER South Western Section The South Western Section would like to draw all up-country members attention to our events as listed below: Sunday 7 May 2006: Mystery Drive/Lunch, Tiverton area (Being organised by John and Peggy Pearce). Admin charge only 2 per car. We meet for coffee where we will be given our instructions. Wednesday 31 May to Monday 5 June 2006: Brittany Tour. We still have vacancies and upcountry members are very welcome. Brief details: Based at Hotel du Chateau at Josselin (an historic town of old timber framed houses, about ninety miles south of Roscoff). We depart Plymouth on 31 May 2006 at 2300 hrs on the overnight ferry, returning on 5 June 2006 at 1630 hrs on the day ferry. Cost is 319 per person based on two persons per car (includes overnight cabin on ferry and four nights half board.) Lunches, coffees, drinks with meals are not included. There will be a small extra supplement charge (approx 30/ 40) for single travellers requiring separate accommodation. For more information and booking forms please contact our organiser: Tom Jones: Tel: or ; tom@chez-jones.demon.co.uk Sunday 9 July 2006: Powderham Castle picnic with the Crash Box Club of Devon. This is a popular ongoing event with brica-brac and automobilia stalls. A good family day out with welcome drinks/canapés at 7.50 per car. Sunday 30 July 2006: Open Day and Picnic at the home/farm of John and Liz Field at Greenham, Somerset Drinks upon arrival are 2.50 per car Sunday 20 August 2006: Open Day and Picnic at the home of Fred and Marion Cane at Aish, near Totnes. Welcome drinks and canapés, and swimming pool. Cost is 2.50 per person Saturday 9 September 2006: Circumspective Auto Trail and Lunch Commencing with coffee at our rendez-vous, being organised by Patrick Simpson and James Tucker. Charge is 2.50 per car Sunday 8 October 2006: Dartmouth RN College Rally and picnic Sunday 19 November 2006: AGM & Lunch, Devon Hotel, Exeter Sunday 10 December 2006: Christmas Lunch venue yet to be decided For further enquiries and details please contact our Secretary, Beryl Stone. All up-country members will be made very welcome BERYL STONE Surrey Section Over sixty members and guests attended the Section s 22nd Annual General Meeting at the Manor House Hotel, Newlands Corner, on Sunday 29 January 2006, with most staying for an excellent luncheon afterwards. The meeting saw the re-election of the current committee and there were a number of complimentary remarks on the success its members had achieved, in particular with the Newsletter. Our 2006 calendar of events commences with our annual New Season Lunch at a new venue, the Reigate Manor Hotel, on 5 March Then, on 28 and 29 April 2006, we have our Spring Break at the Marriot Goodwood Park Hotel which features a visit to the Rolls-Royce Plant, lunch at the 1950s Vitra Café overlooking Goodwood race circuit, air flights and skid-pan driving, visits to local attractions, and not a little wining and dining. These events are always very social occasions and we are always pleased to welcome members from outside the Section who may wish to join us. On 27 May 2006 eighteen couples set off for a sixteen day tour to the Italian Lakes. The outward journey involves two overnight stops in France and one night in Switzerland in a hotel overlooking Lake Leman, before reaching our destination of Menaggio on the shores of Lake Como. There we have lake excursions, a visit to the Riva boat factory, and some other quite spectacular sightseeing trips before returning home via the St Gotthard Tunnel, Mulhouse naturally with a visit to the Schlumpf Museum and further breaks at Epinal and Rheims.

67 67 On 16 July 2006 we have another of our annual Family Days which includes a mystery tour starting, this year, from the Bramley premises of Montague and Co. The destination is, of course, a mystery but you are assured is an interesting place we have not visited before. This is intended to be a day out for the family so please bring your kids or grandchildren or lend them your Club car! In August 2006 we have two major events. The first is our Trophy and Annual Rally which will be held as part of the Cranleigh Lions Classic Car Show. Entry is free (members from other Sections are welcome to join us) and Surrey Section trophies will be awarded to the winners of the various competition classes. Then on 27 August we will have our own static display area at the Wings and Wheels day at Dunsfold aerodrome where, along with other vintage and classic cars we will be treated to flying displays by the Red Arrows, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, a Hawker Hurricane and Spitfire, a Sopwith Triplane, and many other interesting aircraft. At the request of a number of members, the Committee has taken steps to arrange a series of Sunday lunches at various Surrey hostelries throughout the coming year. The first of these is at The Mill alongside the River Wey at Elstead on 2 April 2006, followed by the Hautboy at Ockham on 7 May 2006 and Botley Hill Farmhouse, high on the North Downs, on 2 July Later in the year we will be arranging Sunday lunches at venues which include The Royal Oak in Stafford Wood, The Dog and Duck near Redhill, and the Royal Oak at Pirbright. All these have been carefully selected for their convivial ambience, good cuisine and adequate parking facilities. Dates and further details will appear in the Section Newsletter and please join us when you can. ANDY COURTNEY Future Events 2 April 2006: Sunday Lunch, The Mill, Elstead 28/29 April 2006: Goodwood Spring Break 7 May 2006: Sunday Lunch, The Hautboy, Ockham 14 May 2006: South of England Rally, Woldingham School 27 May/11 June 2006: Italian Lakes Tour 2 July 2006: Sunday Lunch, Botley Hill Farmhouse, Warlingham 16 July 2006: Family Day & Mystery Tour 20 August 2006: Trophy & Annual Rally, Cranleigh 27 August 2006: Wings & Wheels, Dunsfold 10 December 2006: Christmas Lunch, Albury Park Mansions Welsh Section During the winter months a faithful band has met for first Tuesday lunches. Various restoration projects have been progressing in the Principality and we hope to see these at our future motoring functions. Welsh Weekend April 2006 Everyone who has booked in at The Metropole, Llandrindod Wells, should have received a letter from me outlining arrangements. Please telephone Harry Griffiths litre Bentley 2 door high vision saloon by H J Mulliner (B99KU), registration DFY177. (It appeared on the Bentley Motors stand at the 1937 London Motor Show at Earls Court. A photograph of the car new appears in Bernard King s excellent book Complete Classics No 4 page 272 lower

68 if you have not done so. There may be a cancellation vacancy if you have not already booked. Full details appeared in Bulletin 274 page 84. Swansea Waterfront Museum Visit Tuesday 2 May 2006 Meet for coffee at The Marriott Hotel, Sea Front, Swansea at 10.30am where secure parking for Club cars has been arranged. We intend to walk over to the new Waterfront Museum and return at 1.30pm where lunch is available from an extensive bar menu. White Hart, Llanddarog Tuesday 6 June 2006 Meet for lunch at this excellent hostelry a few miles east of Carmarthen. There is an opportunity, afterwards, to visit the Botanical Gardens at nearby Llanarthne where there have been many changes since our last visit. KELVIN PRICE Wessex Section Well the last Wessex Section article got lost in hyperspace, so we have quite a bit of catching up to do. As planned, (back in December 2005, can you remember that far back?) we had a very pleasant lunch at the Botleigh Grange Hotel (organised by Club member Brian Ricketts thank you Brian) and on 11 December 2005 we had our Section s Christmas lunch/party at the Bridge House Hotel in Fordingbridge. The 15 January 2006 saw us at our AGM and lunch at the Passford House Hotel in Lymington. The Wessex events list for the first part of 2006 has already been published and posted out. We already have over twenty events listed on it and we will have even more once we have fleshed out the autumn months. Note: 2006 is a bit special for the Section, as we will be organising our first, long weekend/holiday event for many years (thanks to Brian Archer). The Section finances are in a good shape (thanks to John Ryley), and the membership continues to grow. We must be doing something right as we now regularly attract subscriptions from a number of members from outside the Wessex Section s geographical area. So far, we have twelve brand new members for If you are one of them, please do try to attend at least one Section event in 2006, you will be made most welcome. At the time of writing it s early February and still very cold. However, my wife (Karen) has just spent over seven hours (outside!) cleaning our engine (lots of lovely brass, copper and bronze!) and it looks lovely. It is a pity that, in this weather, it only lasts a few hundred miles, but what an enthusiast. Of course, I helped; I made the tea! The Wessex committee hopes that you all are well and we look forward to seeing new members and old friends once again in CHESS FERRIER West Midlands Section Festive Lunch at Hogarth s Hotel, Bentley Heath, Solihull Sunday 11 December 2005 The weather was fine and we had a good turnout of twenty four cars lined up in Hogarth s Car Park. Eighty one guests sat down to lunch which was followed by speeches in which the Secretary, Geoff Herrington, announced his retirement from the Committee, following three enjoyable years. He announced that the future Secretary would be Brian Bremer. The afternoon was rounded off with a raffle, which raised 171 and which has been donated to the Peter Baines Memorial Wing. A light-hearted game of Bingo then concluded the afternoon; the caller was Hazel Bremer trying to rise to the standard set by David Parkes in previous years. Everyone enjoyed a fine day out in the company of friends. In the Section s January Newsletter the Chairman, Steven Malek, paid tribute to the very able work that our Secretary, Geoffrey Herrington, has done for the Section during his three years of tenure. On 1 January 2006, Geoffrey handed the reins over to Brian Bremer, who had been shadowing him for the past year. We welcome Brian to his new role and I am sure he will carry on the tradition of this Section in recruiting very capable and efficient Secretaries who have served it thus far. The West Midlands Section Committee has plans for 2006 events well under way, particularly our planned weekend in France: Discovering the Loire Valley Saturday 9 September to Friday 15 September 2006 The Trip will include: Ferry crossing (probably from Portsmouth to Le Havre). Drive to Saumur or Tours in the Loire Valley where we will be based. Two organised day tours. Two organised dinners. Some free time to shop or discover other local interests. Further details and a booking form are available from our main Organiser, Roy Caldwell, if Section members are interested. The closing date for receipt of non-refundable deposits is 1 March Roy s contact details are: Roy Caldwell, The Woollen Mill, Evesham Road, Church Lench, Worcestershire WR11 4UB. Telephone: , Rjcaldwell269@btinternet.com There is a transport theme running through our events this year, as not only are we taking our cars to various venues but we are also taking a train ride and visiting two aeroplane venues during the year,

69 69 Yorkshire Section, Lake District, 2005 not forgetting the ferry to France! We also have some of our old favourite events which have proved so successful in previous years, particularly our usual Fun Day in July, Section Rally at Ragley Hall in August and our Men and Motors evening in November (celebrating 25 years of the Silver Spirit). JILL MALEK Yorkshire Section Congratulations are definitely due to Duncan Feetham on his election to the RREC Management Committee and this confirms the old adage if at first you don t succeed try, try, and try again. The Section AGM proved to be another successful event with a full house at The Healds Hall Hotel. An excellent meal was followed by a quick run through the necessary procedures of the Meeting and rounded off by an informative address by Jane Pedler, representing the Management Committee. Along with husband Rob, she then joined the excited throng bidding for the wide range of articles on offer in the fund-raising auction before heading home with a few choice bargains under their arms. Duncan was once again persuaded to part with his braces as a condition of sale with a very nice picnic basket to one of the Mackrill brothers. One wonders where this precedent is going to lead to next year! Duncan s elevation means that we now have vacancy on the Section Committee and the search is on for a volunteer to step in. Meanwhile the Section Committee members have elected Michael Broadbent as their Chairman, and John Chapman as Vice-Chairman. Although he accepts that he has a hard act to follow, Michael is adopting the Scouting DYB DYB (do your best, do YOUR best) and, as a true enthusiast, will soon find his feet I am sure. The first foray into the wild blue yonder sees Section cars driving up the Yore Valley to Masham for a visit to The Black Sheep Brewery on 2 April Luncheon is booked and tours of the brewery arranged. Members will also be able to wander around the nearby town and take in the beautiful country air. On the last day of the month we will be visiting Nostell Priory, a National Trust property which has been renovated and improved over recent years. Parking is being arranged in front of the house and coffee will be laid on at The King s Arms in the morning should people wish to pause on their inward journey. In May the aim is to picnic at Bolton Abbey with lots of opportunities for walking and visiting the nearby Embsay Steam Railway. Later in the year, Gordon Holmes is once again arranging a weekend based in Kendal and I include a photo, which gives an idea of the cars, and people, participating last time. If you are interesting in joining this event please give Gordon a call - his contact details are in the Section Newsletter. IAN HICK

70 70 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO Dear THE EDITOR Sir LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE CEDITOR O RLETTERS R ETO THE S EDITOR P OLETTERS N DTO ETHE NEDITOR C ELETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ENSURING INSURANCE REASSURANCE It is all too easy to complain about poor service - but rarely do we applaud service beyond the call of duty. In May 2006, I will be driving my hp Thrupp & Maberly tourer (GOK65) through many EU countries and then on through Serbia, Macedonia and Turkey over four days. Insurance cover as extended by Equity Red Star through Richardson Hosken gives cover for all EU countries but no others. After writing to them, they have increased the insurance cover to include the whole of my European itinerary with only an increase in the excess to 500 for the non-eu countries and with no additional charge. Club members should be aware of this and continue to support what appears to be a fi rst-class service from Richardson Hosken (albeit a little diffi cult to contact them by phone!). ANDREW M SINGTON WHATEVER HAPPENED TO..? There are many tasks the aged retired pensioner does but they are, I suppose, of little consequence to the thrusting thirty and forty year olds. But recounting one's hardships, amusements, distresses, etc, all within living memory, is a great occupation. Hence the constant increase in books of the past. The experiences of the living are the best because anyone can research a topic later and weave it into a story without necessarily abiding by factual correctness. On talking to Julian Spencer he said why don t you put pen to paper and write down a few memories of what the Club was like when you joined. So, I think it might be an idea to start a NOSTALGIA page on which people can cap each other s stories of the past. Some of us might then gain the satisfaction of feeling, Ah yes, I too remember that! So to start the series off, perhaps headed Whatever happened to?, here are a few instances that I witnessed. 1. Whilst attending a course in Warminster in 1957 I met the newly appointed vicar who had just swapped his Brought motor cycle for a lovely little Barker Coupé. He had all the engine in bits in his study in the vicarage, his wife was busy remaking the Bedford cord seats, great enthusiasts. I had a Barker Limo at the time which was our connection. 2. He suggested going to Downton Engineering which was run by Danielle Richmond. I took my car to Richmond to have it spruced up. Then later in 1958 I went to Hong Kong. On arrival back in the UK four years later I found my car in a builder s yard near Salisbury! The builder wouldn t sell it. 3. There used to be a very good scrap yard in a mews near Shepherds Bush, the man only took old Rolls-Royce motor cars, such a pity as he was torching so many old Ghosts. At that time I didn t know a great deal about Rolls-Royce motor cars. Mr Jarvis had a workshop nearby and built very fi ne open tourer bodies and restored Ghosts. 4. Did you ever visit Wade Palmer s scrap yard near Romsey where he broke only Rolls-Royce motor cars and later had his store in the woods? These are just a few recollections of the early days when cars were bought for under 100 and restored at home or on the roadside on a Sunday morning as I did whilst living in Earls Court. All the paraphernalia of modern life and restrictions didn t exist then. There were many dealers, restorers and local garages all having a go and, of course, if you had the slightest inkling of the mechanics of the car, you tried to fi x it yourself. Old cars were acceptable in the 50s and 60s but gradually as they were restored and people started to put a price on them, like all antiques, theft then crept in and they had to be looked after. I am sure that there are many people in our Club that have tales of the 50s and 60s that would make fascinating reading, also tales and stories about collections of cars and early restorers, long since gone. CHRISTOPHER LEEFE (Editor s Comment: As we approach the Club s 50th anniversary in 2007, I am keen to publish the reminiscences of long-standing members who have seen and experienced the development of our Club during its fi rst fi fty years. I am sure there are many of you out there who could provide valuable and interesting insights and take up Christopher Leefe s lead.) REAR GUARD ACTION How wonderful it was to be reminded by the picture of Yuri Gagarin (B272 p10) of those far-off days fi fty years ago when I came to Crewe as an Engineering Apprentice. On arrival in the big city, I was put into Rolls-Royce-approved digs at No 21, Claughton Avenue, where not only was there water laid on and an inside lavatory (neither of which I was used to in my rural Lincolnshire home) but they also had a television set! This was a big fl oor-standing job with a fl ickering grey-and-white screen all of nine inches

71 71 across. My landlady, Mrs Dunn, had two sons, both in their early teens, and the highlight of our week s television viewing was any programme that included a beautiful and talented cabaret-singer of the day called Yana. Her biggest hit was a number entitled Climb Up The Wall. She had a voice, face and fi gure to die for, and it might well have been a close study of her subtle curves that set me on track for a career in the Body Styling Department at Pym s Lane! What on earth, you might ask, has all this got to do with Yuri Gagarin, the fi rst man in space? Well, many years on I did happen to read that when the great man visited England to be shown to the nation from the back seat of an open Bentley S2, it was Yana s car that was used, her surname being Guard, and the car bearing YG 1 on its number plates! I wonder what became of the fondly remembered Yana. Being a little old fashioned, I cannot think of any female singer of today with anything like her talent to say nothing of her exquisite taste in motor cars! MARTIN BOURNE (Editor s Note: Pamela Guard, or Yana as she was known, was a frequent visitor to television in the 50s and, indeed, she later had her own show. Her biggest hit was Climb Up The Wall, released in She also attained fame on another count, when she loaned her Bentley, with its distinctive, registration number, YG 1, to Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet Astronaut, when he visited Manchester on 12 July (The registration was, of course, personalised for both Yana and Yuri.) Sadly, Yana died in the late 1980s at the age of 62.) PHANTOM IVs The recent reference to the small number of cars built on the Phantom IV chassis has prompted me to write although I am not sure if these notes will be of any interest but at least I can get them off my chest. After serving in the army during the war I started work at H J Mulliner in 1947 as what would now be called a management trainee but in effect was a general dogsbody. I well remember the excitement when we were asked to design and build the coachwork on the fi rst Phantom IV chassis for Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip and he came down two or three times to our works in Chiswick when he visited our drawing offi ce where he took great interest in many details of the construction and detail of the interior arrangements. If I remember right the project was code name Nabha, who was I believe an Indian Maharajah who was a pre-war customer, to conceal the identity of the actual customer. For some reason the manufacture of the spare wheel covers in the front wings was left to the last minute and I, with no qualifi cations, had to help the foreman panel beater wheel them up over the weekend. I still have a picture of the car in my study at home. I understood that in fact this was the favourite car of their Royal Highnesses as it was the fi rst of their OBITUARY William Fuller In his eighty eighth year, on 1 January 2006 Bill Fuller was a founding member of the Upper Canada Section of the RREC and served as Section Secretary into the 1990s. He was born in Hamilton and lived in Brentford, Ontario for most of his life. He was a true enthusiast for life, cars, aircraft and people. His knowledge of the historical significance of developments, events, and significant people was astounding. He wrote stacks of letters (I have one stack). He was a champion and supporter of causes and was famous for his lengthy telephone calls. (After all, Brentford was the home of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.) He carried the scars of burns received in a flying accident in the 1940s all his life, undeterred. His Mann Egerton 20/25 (GYH41) never got off the ground, but he could discuss the history of its coachwork and those of that time in great depth. His input and influence will be sorely missed by the Upper Canada Section. ROGER HADFIELD OBITUARY Mike Pittman It is with much sadness we have to report the death of Mike Pittman in France on 15 December 2005 shortly after his 70th birthday on his way to an appointment at Limoges Hospital. Mike was an active member of the RREC serving on the East Anglian Section committee during which time he took on the position of the Section Newsletter Editor and took over from me as Section Secretary from 1996 to He and his wife Eileen regularly attended Club and Section events in their Silver Shadow II and Phantom II tourer. These were Mikeʼs pride which he maintained and regularly drove whenever possible and which both he and Eileen greatly enjoyed. Mike and Eileen moved to live near Limoges in France to enjoy a leisurely retirement taking their cars with them. Since moving to France, Mike with Eileen regularly came over to attend the Clubʼs Annual Rally and the East Anglian Section AGM and Christmas lunch to keep in touch with their friends and fellow members. Mikeʼs career was predominantly with the military, specialising in top-secret electronics such as the development of heat-seeking cameras. All those who have had the pleasure of knowing him will miss Mike and our sympathies go to his wife Eileen and their daughter Lois. TREVOR & PATSY BALDWIN

72 72 Rolls-Royce cars which was started before The Queen came to the throne and is, I think, still in occasional use today. We carried on doing occasional work on them at Chiswick into the 1960s and I had cause to go to the Royal Mews to inspect the car where security was not nearly so tight as we simply drove straight through the gates and simply waved to the gatekeeper who I suppose knew us. I am sure you couldn t do that now! Another job we took on then was maintenance of the suspension of the horse drawn carriages which Hoopers used to do as we had taken on two of their specialists when Hoopers closed down. Whilst Hoopers built the Landaulette, I think I am right in saying that we built the majority of coachwork on the Phantom IV chassis although I no longer have records but no doubt you do at The Hunt House. I think we were chosen to build these cars as we at any rate regarded ourselves as the most technically profi cient of the surviving post-war coachbuilders as we, under Stanley Watts, our technical director, developed the all metal light construction which enabled the Bentley Continental to be built owing to its very light weight, as I have written about previously although of course this construction was not used on the Phantom IVs. Three interesting cars that we built were those for General Franco one cabriolet and two limousines and I believe at least one of them is still in use today. The armour plate was very heavy, having to be man-handled by a gang of bodymakers on to the fl oor of the body which had solid mounts onto the chassis and the doors and window glasses were massive. The bodies were built on the top fl oor of the three storey building in the New Kings Road that H J Mulliner had taken on to increase capacity and there was some doubt whether the 3-ton lift would carry the weight. The armour plate supplied by Vickers was in the division so that the chauffeur was not protected, nor were the occupants protected from mines as there was no armour in the fl oor. An offi cer from the Spanish Embassy came down to inspect and wanted to fi re a rifl e at the armour to check its effectiveness but of course we couldn t allow it because of ricochets. Another interesting Phantom IV was that for the Shah in-shah of Iran which was a 4-door cabriolet (yes a proper cabriolet) and was by those standards a modern design of rounded panels. I remember John Rowe from Hythe Road, (well known in Rolls-Royce circles in London) had to go out to Teheran to service it but I believe it has now been broken up because the traditional coachbuild of timber and steel did not stand up to the climate. Scale drawings of these and all post-war H J Mulliner designs were put together by Herbert Nye in an album which I think has found its way to the archives at The Hunt House. Herbert Nye s initials were H G R N which were in the corner of all his drawings and his name is not widely known so that he has received very little credit for his work. He was H J Mulliner s equivalent of Peter Wharton of Park Ward who has contributed to the Bulletin in the past. John Blatchley, of whom much is written, is quite rightly much acclaimed for his design work at Gurney Nutting and at Crewe, particularly for the outstanding design of the standard Crewe Silver Cloud which was diffi cult for the coachbuilders to compete against but the work of Peter Wharton and Herbert Nye should not be forgotten as they regularly produced a number of designs each year. ARTHUR JOHNSTONE AUNTIE WHO? I joined the club in 1995 and after much deliberation purchased a Silver Dawn (SKE 44), a manual car which is a delight to drive. However as a relatively new chum to all things RR, I am fascinated that R s benefactor, the Auntie on his mother s side, remains nameless. Well to me at least. I have read some thirty books on RR, the men, models and the histories, and the Bulletin from October 1995, and none of them mention Auntie by name. I fi nd it inconceivable that this wonderful woman remains nameless and mysterious. If I am correct in my assumption that Auntie is unknown, then to think that R never documented such an important infl uence on his life is incredible, that the historians in the club have not solved the mystery is beyond belief. Without Auntie s infl uence, I doubt we would be able to enjoy the cars we cherish today. Without being apprenticed, would R have become a spanner man of such note? Auntie s contribution to the story deserves better. Is there a modern day Sherlock or Shirley Holmes in the Club or has the mystery already been solved? MICHAEL NEWHAM, AUSTRALIA (Editor s Comment: I am pleased to say that our Club does have modern day Sherlock Holmes -type investigative historians. The mystery of Auntie has already been solved. In 2004, Tom Clarke wrote on this subject in his RR Centenary article in Flying Lady. I am grateful to Tom for reproduction here of some salient material about Auntie : A maternal aunt in Fletton, Peterborough, spared what extra money she could. It is thought this was Mrs Betsy King (b.1842) who, like her sister-in-law Mary Royce, was born in Empingham (also not far from Alwalton) and who later lived in Lincoln on her own means. Royce s fi rst lucky break came when his aunt in Fletton agreed to support him at the Great Northern Railway s New England works in Peterborough where he began in September 1877, aged 14. His aunt would have provided the difference between his meagre wage and his lodging and living costs. In November 1880, when Royce s aunt could no longer support him at the railway works, he went to live with a sister and her husband, Fanny and William Gerrard (a wool oil extractor), at 12 Ingleby Street, Kirkstall, Leeds.

73 73 DRIVE IT DAY I wonder if the membership knows that 23 April of this year is national Drive it Day when owners of all licensed historic vehicles are to be encouraged to drive their cars out on the open roads so that they can be seen by the PUBLIC. If we do not obtain public acceptance of our hobby then our cars will be bound up in red tape and legislated off the roads to designated museums (see how licensed guns have been compulsory purchased off owners who have only used them in licensed gun clubs). A spin-off of driving your historic car on the road is that it will attract more members to our hobby. Indeed, it was due to one of our current members regularly driving his pre-war Rolls-Royce in West London that attracted me to this hobby. ROGER TOWNSEND HAUNTING HORROR In the spring of 1959 this young lad from a tiny village in the Lincolnshire Marshes thought all his birthdays had come at once. Accepted as a Rolls-Royce Engineering Apprentice at Crewe in 55, a Junior Body Designer in 56, and after a short spell in the factory in 57 back in the Body Offi ce on drawing board and full-size body layouts. Then after two years, Miss Jenner retired from the Styling Offi ce, the holy of holies, and at the age of twenty one I was asked if I would like to take her place. I jumped at it, and remained a member of the department for the next thirty three years. The fi rst years under John Blatchley and working alongside the still sadly-missed Bill Allen were absolute bliss. Then in 1969 John took early retirement because of his wife s health and moved to the south coast, his place being taken for the next fourteen years by erstwhile engine designer with artistic leanings, Fritz Feller. Life under Fritz was very different, for unlike John, he held the fi rm belief that you ll never get it right fi rst time, so don t even try, and although a complete pain at the time, with hindsight I have to admit he was absolutely right. Many are the occasions I have found myself thinking as I walk around at the RREC National Rally, Good lord! Did I really design that? A cross the poor old Stylist always has to bear is that every single thing he does is out in the open for all the world to see and Jeremy Clarkson to scoff at. So one day I might share one or two of these horrors with you, but not yet. However, my Champion Horror of All Time I will share with you, for thanks to the Editorial in B274 the damned thing has just come back to haunt me with a dreadful vengeance. Furthermore, not just one discreet little picture of it tucked away in a quiet corner somewhere, but two socking great big ones on page 11! Being the lad in the department I used to get all the odd little jobs, and this one started on 29 October 1967 when John called me into his offi ce and told me that present stocks of the chrome/enamel Rolls- Royce Motor Club Badge designed by Miss Jenner and made by Wilmot Breeden were almost exhausted. Would I therefore design a new one that could be cast at Crewe in the new Investment Foundry? I was told to keep the existing wings and don t spend more than a

74 74 couple of days on it. After a few sketches and a model, Styling Scheme SG 4456 was drawn and issued to the foundry on 31 October It was a simple affair, and I think I can now divulge was infl uenced more than somewhat by the fact that I d just bought a 1955 MG ZA from D O Section-Leader Les Griffi n. This was a truly magnifi cent motor, and is why you might just spot the similarity between the MC on the badge and the traditional MG logo, my own little joke, hope no-one noticed. But when they showed me the fi rst ones off I was absolutely horrifi ed, the black-enamel fi ll-ins were uneven and scruffy (they were never supposed to be red as your pictures show) and compared with the exquisite Jenner original it was a complete disaster. I was not allowed to waste time on a second shot, but help was at hand for not long after the Motor Club quietly faded away, and thankfully that horrible little badge with it. So thank you, Mr Editor, for spoiling my whole week, and should the opportunity ever arise to smash up the tool with a very big hammer can I please have fi rst go? MARTIN BOURNE FLOODS AT CREWE As promised, the following is a short resumé of both my family s and also my involvement with Rolls-Royce in Crewe. My mother joined Rolls-Royce in March 1941 and throughout her time there she was secretary to the Plant and Equipment Engineer a Mr J Valentine (JV) who was one of the original seven persons to come from Derby in July 1938 to plan the building of the Crewe Factory. My father joined in 1946 upon demob from the RAF. After an initial six months training spent at the Service Department at Hythe Road in London he transferred to Crewe after all the changes to the Factory had taken place. Following the changeover from aero engine production to cars, he was one of the fi rst two people to be employed in the Car Test Department and worked on the very fi rst cars made in Crewe, ie. he worked on the fi rst Bentley Mark VI, the fi rst Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith chassis and subsequently Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn and Bentley R Type. He sadly died in 1961 during Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II/Bentley S2 production and worked in total at Crewe for fi fteen years. Overlapping at Crewe with my father was his elder brother (my uncle) who joined in 1950 and worked until retirement on the company s internal transport (in fact my uncle is unique as he worked at Crewe until he was 67) - unheard of today. Finally, I joined in 1963 as an apprentice and upon completion of my apprenticeship worked in the Quality Engineering Department with Ian Rimmer for many years. During my time at Rolls-Royce I was involved with Silver Cloud III/S3 Silver Shadow/T Type Silver Spirit/Mulsanne and fi nally Silver Seraph/ Arnage models fi nally retiring in 2003 having completed forty years of service. It is ironic and unique that my father should work on the very fi rst production Rolls-Royce from Crewe and I worked on the very last a record that nobody else can boast. TONY FLOOD EVENTS LIST Will Section Secretaries and Registrars please send all fi xture dates to the General Secretary for co-ordinating for the Events-List.-Members are advised to contact the Section Secretaries for further details of the events published below. Please note: Timely booking is essential. March Motoring Heritage Centre, Alexandria. Scottish Section Mk VI, R Type, Silver Wraith, Silver Dawn Seminar, The Hunt House 26 Royal Chase, Shaftesbury. Wessex Section 26 20th Anniversary AGM and Lunch, The Batch Country Hotel, Lympsham. Great Western Section 26 The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Middlesex Section 26 Spring Road Run with a Difference. Paulerspury Section 31 Mar-2 Apr Season s Start, Celle mit Autostadt Wolfsburg. Germany Section April 2 Lunch and Interactive Theatre, Burscough. Northern Section 2 Severn Valley Railway Trip. West Midlands Section 2 Museum of Flight, north Berwick. Scottish Section 2 Black Sheep Brewery Tour and Lunch. Yorkshire Section 2 Visit to Ristes, Nottingham. East Midlands Section 2 The Mill, Elstead. Surrey Section 2 Lunch, Three Rivers Country Club. Essex Section 7-9 Kent Weekend. Paulerspury Section

75 75 9 Spring Rally Steam Railway Museum, Strasshof. Austria Section 9 The Ramada Jarvis, Hollingbourne, Kent. South Eastern Section 9 AGM, The Hunt House, 2.30pm 16 Easter Bonnet Parade, Hylands House. Essex Section 19 Westland Manufacturing. Wessex Section 21 St George s Day Dinner. Paulerspury Section Welsh Weekend, Metropole Hotel, Llandrindod Wells. Welsh Section 22 AGM, Burgrestaurant Leopoldsberg, Vienna. Austria Section 22 Memorial Meeting, Elms Lane, West Wittering. Central Southern Section 23 Lunch at Whitworth Hall and visit to Brancepeth Castle, Durham. North Eastern Section 23 Pensthorpe, Fakenham. East Anglian Section 23 Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker and lunch. Middlesex Section 23 Benelux Rally in Dutch Brabant. Belgium Flemish Section 25 40th Birthday Supper, Burscough. Northern Section 26 Visit to The Hunt House. Great Western Section Goodwood Weekend and Visit to Rolls-Royce. Surrey & Central Southern Section Spring Meeting, Mühlheim near Offenburg/ Frankfurt/Main. Germany Section 29 Concours Preparation (All models) Seminar, The Hunt House 30 Picnic at Nostell Priory. Yorkshire Section 30 Scottish Maritime Museum, Braehead. Scottish Section May 2 Swansea Waterfront Museum. Welsh Section th Anniversary of the Silver Shadow Rally from Crewe to Scotland, Nethybridge Hotel. Post 65 Register 3 RMYC Sandbanks, Poole. Wessex Section 5-7 Weekend at the Brome Grange Hotel, Norfolk. Essex Section 6 RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire. West Midlands Section 6-7 Small horsepower Seminar (20hp, 20/25, 25/30, Wraith, Derby Bentley) The Hunt House 7 Coachbuilding with a Difference, Crewe. Northern Section 7 Mystery Road Run and Lunch. North Eastern Section 7 Atwell Wison Motor Museum. Oxford Section 7 Valley of Danube Rally. Austria Section 7 The Holiday Inn, Wrotham. South Eastern Section 7 Lunch on Midland Railway, near Swanwick. East Midlands Section 7 Mystery Drive & Lunch, Tiverton. South Western Section 7 The Hautboy, Ockham. Surrey Section 7 Classic Car Rally, Duxford. East Anglian Section 9-12 Section Rally, Fanhams Hall, Ware. East Anglian Section 10 Visit to Traffi cmaster (Smart Max). Paulerspury Section 11 Lea Rhododendron Gardens, near Matlock. East Midlands Section Nethybridge Hotel. Scottish Section hp Holiday Rally, France. 20hp Register 14 Day at the Races. Paulerspury Section 14 South of England Rally, Woldingham School, Marden Park, Woldingham, Surrey 14 Visit to Stody Lodge Gardens, Melton Constable. East Anglian Section Phantom, Lake District Rally. Derby Phantom Register 15 Visit to Morgan Motors and Lunch at The Yorkshire Grey. West Midlands Section 17 Leonardslee, Lower Beeding. Central Southern & South Eastern Section Fermanagh Lakes Rally, Manor House Hotel & Country Club, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. Ireland Section Victorian Weekend, Close Hotel, Tetbury. East Midlands Section 20 Evening Wherry Trip, Ipswich. Paulerspury Section 21 Asparagus Rally, Sachsengang, Groß Enzersdorf. Austria Section 21 Dewstow Hidden Gardens, Caerwent. Great Western Section 21 Exbury Gardens. Central Southern Section French Rally at Bollezeele. South Eastern Section Annual Meeting, Germany/Denmark Section 26 Bentley Motors Visit, Crewe. Northern Section 27 May-11 June Italian Lakes Tour. Surrey Section 28 Picnic. Essex Section 28 Hall Place, Sevenoaks. South Eastern Section 31 May-5 June Brittany Tour. South Western Section June 3-5 AGM & Jubilee Meeting, Sweden Section 4 Wookey Hole. Wessex Section 4 Borde Hill Gardens, Haywards Heath. Central Southern Section 4 Brattles Farm, Staplehurst. South Eastern Section 4 Picnic at Catton Hall, near Burton-on-Trent. East Midlands Section 4 Section entry at Borders Vintage Auto Club (Lauder). Scottish Section 6 White Hart, Llanddarog and Botanical Gardens, Llanarthne. Welsh Section 7 Visit to Coton Manor. Paulerspury Section Coppa Bella Machina (concours). Belgium Flemish Section 11 Special Visit to Shuttleworth Museum. East Anglian Section 11 Fort Nelson, Portsdown Hill. Central Southern & Wessex Section

76 76 17 Open Day at Rolls-Royce, Hucknall. East Midlands Section 17 Ball of the Roses, Castle Hotel Weikersdorf, Baden near Vienna. Austria Section 17 Annual Dinner and Dance, Kettering Park Hotel ANNUAL RALLY, Kelmarsh Hall, Northamptonshire 18 Father s Day at Harewood House. Yorkshire Section hp/Phantom, Notts/Derbyshire Rally in celebration of 70th Anniversary of the 25/30 and Phantom III 21 Midsummer Barbecue at Scalford Hall, near Melton Mowbray. East Midlands Section 21 Lunch, The Slab House. Great Western Section 22 Ladies Day at Ascot. Thames Valley Section Cork Run, Seaview House Hotel, Bantry, Co Cork. Ireland Section 24 Visit to Oxford. Paulerspury & Oxford Section 25 Bloxham Steam Fair. Oxford Section 25 Picnic. Austria Section 25 Godinton House, Ashford. South Eastern Section 25 Hyde Hall picnic. Essex Section 28 Henley Royal Regatta. Thames Valley Section July 2 Bentley Wildfowl, Halland. Central Southern Section 2 Botley Hill Farmhouse, Warlingham. Surrey Section 2 Scottish Deer Centre/Barbecue, Auchtermuchty. Scottish Section 2 KM Pageant of Motoring, Hop Farm, Beltring. South Eastern Section 2 Visit to Leamington Spa Polo Ground. Paulerspury & East Midlands Section 5-9 Third International Rolls-Royce and Bentley Meeting, Velden, Carinthia. Austria Section 7-9 Wicklow Run, Rathsallagh House Hotel, Rathsallagh, Co Wicklow. Ireland Section 8 Henley Music Festival. Thames Valley Section 9 Michelham Priory, Sussex. South Eastern Section 9 20th Anniversary Celebrations, Highnam Court. Great Western Section 9 Picnic at Powderham Castle, Kenton. South Western Section 9 Driving Day & Picnic. Paulerspury & East Midlands Section 9 Rally at Ingatestone. Essex Section 16 Best Presented Car, Lulworth Castle. Wessex Section 16 Ruby Anniversary Rally, Lytham. Northern Section 16 Visit to Castle Howard. Yorkshire Section 16 Annual Fun Day, Shropshire. West Midlands Section 16 At Home with Julia & Murray Ferguson, Happisburgh. East Anglian Section 16 Family Day & Mystery Tour. Surrey Section 16 Danson House, Bexleyheath. South Eastern Section 16 Picnic at Wallington Hall. North Eastern Section 16 Uxbridge Auto Show. Middlesex Section 16 Groombridge Place. Central Southern Section 19 Golf Day. Paulerspury Section Chiltern Open Air Museum, Chalfont. Middlesex Section 29 Axford Fete. Wessex Section 30 Belmont House (Concours), Faversham. South Eastern Section 30 Park House, Drumoak, Aberdeen. Scottish Section 30 Open Day & Picnic at John & Liz Field s Home, Somerset. South Western Section 30 Avington Park, Central Southern and Wessex Section 30 Music Festival/Picnic at Andrew & Jacky Lilly s home, Lowsonford. West Midlands Section 30 Wilton Horse Trials. Great Western Section 30 Cannon Hall Rally. Yorkshire Section 30 Mystery Tour. Essex Section August 6 North of England Rally, Harewood House, Leeds. 6 Lacock Abbey. Wessex Section 6 Wings & Things, Woodchurch. South Eastern Section 6 Garden Party, Chateau Leach. Central Southern Section 12 Astle Park Rally. Northern Section 13 Royal Hospital Chelsea. Middlesex Section 13 Kelburn Castle & Country Park, Largs, Ayrshire. Scottish Section 13 Cowdray Polo, Midhurst. Central Southern Section 13 Filching Manor, Polegate, Sussex. South Eastern Section 13 Woburn Rally. Paulerspury Section Tatton Park Rally. Northern Section 20 Glynde Place, near Lewes. Central Southern Section 20 Wine Tour and picnic. Thames Valley Section 20 Dibble Bridge Picnic. North Eastern Section 20 Shadow Motor cars visit and barbeque, Sittingbourne. South Eastern Section 20 Picnic at the home of Fred & Marion Cane, Aish, Totnes. South Western Section 20 Section Rally, Ragley Hall. West Midlands Section 20 Trophy and Annual Rally, Cranleigh. Surrey Section 20 Ashlyns Hall Car Show, Berkhamstead. Middlesex Section 26 Aug-2 Sep 18th Euro Rally, Norway 27 Little Gransden Air & Car Show. East Anglian Section 27 Clevedon Flower Show and Kenn. Great Western Section 27 Visit to Renishaw Hall. Yorkshire Section 27 'Wings & Wheels', Dunsfold. Surrey Section 27 Emmetts, Ide Hill, Sevenoaks. South Eastern Section 27 Scone Place & Dundee & Perth Polo Club. Scottish Section Hampshire Pageant of Motoring, Romsey. Wessex Section 28 Uffi ngton Car Show. Oxford Section 31 Aug-4 Sep Island-hopping in the Hebrides. Scottish Section

77 77 September 2 President's Dinner. Oxford Section 2-3 Silver Ghost & Derby Phantoms Seminar, The Hunt House th Annual Car Rally, The Manor, West Ashby. East Anglian Section 3 Richard Holland s Garden Party, St Mary s Bay. South Eastern Section 3 PRESIDENT S PICNIC, Buscot Park, Faringdon, Oxfordshire 5-14 Belgium Rally. South Eastern Section 9 Circumspective Auto Trail & Lunch, near Newton Abbot. South Western Section 9-15 Trip to Loire Valley, France. West Midlands Section 9-17 The Mosel Valley Rally, Mosel. Central Southern Section 10 Fort Paul, near Hull. Yorkshire Section Diamond Jubilee Tour, Lake District to Derbyshire. Mark VI and Silver Wraith Register Weekend at Caley Hall Hotel at Old Hunstanton. East Midlands Section 16 Destination Westminster. Middlesex Section 17 Kingston Lacy, Wimbourne. Wessex Section. 17 Tredegar House Rally, Newport, Gwent. Welsh Section 17 Autumn Rally. Belgium Flemish Section 17 The Woodman, Ide Hill, Sevenoaks. South Eastern Section 17 Traquair House & Kailzie Gardens, Peeblesshire. Scottish Section 17 Burghley House, Stamford. East Anglian Section Northumberland Weekend. Derby Bentley Register Rally round Grossglockner, Hotel Grüner Baum, Bad Gastein, Salzburg. Austria Section West Sussex Weekend. Paulerspury Section 24 Hollycombe Steam Museum, Liphook. Central Southern Section 26 Sep-1 Oct Centenary Rally, Isle of Man. Isle of Man Section 27 Underground Factory. Great Western Section 27 Visit to Concorde at Filton, Bristol. West Midlands Section 29 Sep-2 Oct Cotswolds Rally. Wessex Section 29 Sep-3 Oct Autumn Meeting with General Meeting, Schloss Schobber near Hameln. Germany Section 30 Sep-1 Oct Coachwork & Trim Seminar, The Hunt House October 5-12 Autumn Leaves Tour to West Cornwall. Thames Valley Section 7 President s Day in and around Worcester. West Midlands Section 8 New Members Lunch. Northern Section 8 The Ramada Jarvis Hotel, Pembury. South Eastern Section 8 Britannia Royal Naval College Rally & Picnic. South Western Section 13 Kendal Weekend. Yorkshire Section 14 Festive Autumn Meeting. Austria Section 22 Cruachan Power Station. Scottish Section 22 Workshop Day, Roundstone Car Centre, Angmering. Central Southern Section Silver Spirit, Silver Spur, Mulsanne etc. Seminar, The Hunt House November Brandenburgische Hubertusjagt with Bentley Motors. Germany Section 5 Autumn Lunch at RAC Epsom. Thames Valley Section 5 London to Brighton Run, Moto, Pease Pottage. Central Southern & South Eastern Section 15 Men & Their Ladies & Their Motors. West Midlands Section 15 Visit to The Hunt House. Northern Section 18 End of Year Dinner. Belgium Flemish Section 19 AGM. Middlesex Section 19 AGM & Christmas Lunch. South Eastern Section 19 AGM & Lunch, Devon Hotel, Exeter. South Western Section Historic Seminar, The Hunt House 26 Lunch and Theatre, The Mill, Sonning. Thames Valley Section December 3 AGM & Christmas Lunch. Central Southern Section 3 AGM & Christmas Lunch, Perth. Scottish Section 9 Visit to BAE Warton. Northern Section 10 AGM & Christmas Luncheon, Diss. East Anglian Section 10 Christmas Lunch. South Western Section 10 AGM & Christmas Lunch. Paulerspury Section 10 Christmas Lunch, Albury Park Mansions. Surrey Section May-12 June Silver Ghost Centenary Celebration, Tour. Silver Ghost Register June 50TH ANNIVERSARY ANNUAL RALLY at Kelmarsh Hall 12 August 50TH ANNIVERSARY WHEELS ON ROAD 6-14 September Silver Ghost Centenary Celebration, Cornish Tour. Silver Ghost Register September 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WEEKEND

78 78 OBITUARY Graham Edgar Pearce 25 March 1947 to 4 January 2006 Graham Pearce's Funeral, 20 January The hearse is carried by a 1935 Fire Engine with the fireman's Guard of Honour Graham was a unique person, larger than life, with great energy and enthusiasm for work and play. Graham was always on hand to help, whatever the problem, if it was not in his field he always knew someone he could call on. His wide circle of friends covered every trade and profession. He was a great organiser and the South Western Section will be much the poorer without him. I have known Graham for twenty years, ever since I joined the RREC. I met Graham at the very first event I attended and, because of our same surnames (though not related), we formed a special friendship. He often jokingly referred to me as Father. Graham loved everything Rolls-Royce and Bentley and would drop everything to deal with what he called our funny cars. His garage was to local Club members, a second Hunt House. Whenever I took my car in, there seemed to be a jungle telegraph which summoned other Club members to his premises. When I took cars in for MoT I never expected to return home until evening even if the MoT was scheduled for mid-morning, it made no difference. He served twenty seven years as an auxiliary fireman which meant that very often his bleeper would go off. With a cheery wave of his hand he would grab the nearest mode of transport whether a car, motorcycle or bicycle, and off he would shoot. He would say, You are in charge, if I am not back before you have to go, just shut the door when you leave. Graham was wearing his fireman s uniform when he first met Helen at a dance, she mistakenly thought he was in the Royal Navy! They celebrated their silver wedding last year. Graham was a great traveller especially with his 20hp. He attended many Section events in Great Britain and Europe both with the South Western Section and the 20hp Register. He made many friends in France and representatives came over to attend his funeral. Graham s funeral took place on Friday 20 January 2006 at St James Church, Exeter. I had the honour and privilege to be asked by Helen to drive her in my 20/25 and to lead four other pre-war Club cars. We followed the cortege of a vintage fire engine on which the coffin was placed. A further two fire engines carried the firemen guard of honour. Seldom has the city of Exeter seen such a funeral. All traffic was cleared from the main streets to allow the procession to proceed. A cavalcade of some fifty cars, with police escort, followed the cortege to the church which was packed to over-flowing. Such was the esteem in which Graham was held. Graham was a very special person, his hospitality was second to none as many Club members who stayed with him will know. He had a great zest for life and packed more into his fifty eight years than most. Our Club and Section has lost a character of great charm and enthusiasm. Our most sincere condolences go to Helen whose love and devotion to Graham was an inspiration. JOHN PEARCE, SOUTH WESTERN SECTION I wish to thank, from the bottom of my heart, the many people who have offered condolence and sympathy to me. All your messages and kind thoughts have given me great comfort at this time. I would also like to thank all those that participated in the funeral cortege. I know Graham was smiling down on us all. He could not have had a better send off, especially with all our amazing friends putting on the wake. Thank you for all your kindness. HELEN PEARCE

79 79 OBITUARY Pat Shurmur Pat Shurmur taking the salute at the President s Picnic 2005 In pre-war days, Pat was a bank clerk working in the city of London. But with ominous signs rumbling out of Germany, young men and women flocked to the colours. The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) departed for France in 1939 and established a defensive line which began where the Maginot Line finished. The British Regular Army, never very large, was committed in many parts of the Empire. As a result, a high proportion of the BEF consisted of civilian reservists in the form of the Territorial Army infantry and the Yeomanry Regiments all bearing historic names these were horsed elements. Mechanisation had barely gripped the army and the basic field gun was the new and excellent twenty five pounder or, in many reservist units, the old 1914 eighteen pounders that were pneumaticized ie. the old cartwheels replaced by rubber tyres. The ammunition was either explosive or shrapnel. Solid anti-tank shot was limited. In the BEF we sat on our bottoms from September 1939 until 10 May 1940 when the balloon truly went up. In Cairo, a desert army was hastily assembled. The Italians and Germans were fewer in numbers but certainly better equipped. Pat s regiment, the City of London Yeomanry, did the long round the Cape voyage to Egypt. Defence of the Suez Canal was vital and a final line at a tiny village of el Alamein became a fortress. The desert army fought the Italians and pushed them back to the line a huge barrier of barbed wire stretching from the sea to the Quattara Depression. Pat Shurmur s regiment was an early arrival, their tanks the basic Crusaders and Covenanters. They fought valiantly, but the arrival of the German Africa Korps proved devastating. Their tanks carried 50 and 75mm high velocity guns and a few deadly 88mm. A shell from one of these hit Pat s tank, blew the turret off, killed all the crew and seriously wounded Pat. The Germans took Pat to Germany, treated his wounds and, after the war, returned him to the UK. He could not face a banking job and elected to farm. He chose a spot at Yarnton near Oxford, very close to the Club s founder Ted Harris with whom he became great friends. When, in 1957, Ted placed his advert in the Oxford Mail calling upon local Rolls-Royce owners to form a club, Pat responded and attended that momentous meeting at Paternoster Farm when the Club was founded. He was our last surviving Founder Member. Throughout his forty eight years as a Club member, Pat was a stalwart supporter, and served for much of this time on the Oxford Section committee. He made hundreds of friends from all areas of the Club. At the President s Picnic at Buscot Park last September, Pat was driven round standing in a open Silver Cloud to take the salute to the delight of the 500 or so people present. Pat s death brought hundreds of his friends and colleagues to his funeral. He was a true Yeoman of England, a gentleman and a brave soldier. I am privileged to have known him and his like and to have served with them. Resting in peace. ERIC BARRASS

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