Messages

Just thought I would google the registration number of my lovely old AC and what a delightful surprise to see recent pictures of it whizzing round Brooklands and lined up for concours d'elegance. I bought the car about 1960 for £49-10s when a student at King's College, Newcastle and ran it as daily transport for many years as a student, a young pilot in the RAF and then for Morton Air Services at Gatwick. I sold it around 1974 I think. I did all the maintenance myself and was responsible for abandoning the Stromberg carburettor in favour of triple SUs, which made a big improvement in responsiveness and avoided frequent interruptions of fuel supply due to clogging. Better Brooklands than Oulton Park because the suspension on quarter elliptic springs was rather skittish. It originally had snubbers on the rear but as these had had the straps cut off before I bought it I think I removed them. It was a lovely car and I often drove long distances between Tyneside and Crawley, usually overnight. Very civilised with wind-up glass windows, a wide comfortable bench seat with a nice RH gear change, and a good electric windscreen wiper in contrast with my previous car, a 1927 Jowett which had a suction type which used to stop working just as you pulled out to overtake a lorry in the pouring rain on the old single carriageway A1. Rod brakes made its survival unscathed in the hands of a young motorist something of a miracle. The original colour had been champagne as I recall, but the previous owner had painted it blue, and I went rather darker with Vauxhall Empress Blue cellulose all over. If the present owner would like to get in touch I would be pleased to let them have a few pictures and field any questions. stephen@globevideoservices.co.uk..