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ACtion article on AC history

Started by rsk289, March 13, 2018, 11:47:12

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rsk289

I have foolishly disposed of my copy of a recent edition of ACtion which contained an article mentioning Vauxhall's interest in AC Cars in the twenties.  The magazine seems not to be accessible online to members, so could some kind soul let me know who the author was and which edition it was in?  A brief copy of the paragraph relating to Vauxhall would be helpful, too.
The reason for this request is that an old friend has recently published a book on the Vauxhall company, and on mentioning it to him he was quite interested and has come up with a few things that might be of interest.  I was planning a brief mention of these in a response to the magazine.  As a seasoned academic historian, I like to get my references and notes correct!

Thanks

Roger

BE774

Hi Roger, the January 2018 edition of ACtion, page 18 has the the following: From Feb 1920 to Nov 1922, Auto-Carriers Ltd Thames Ditton had J S Napier of Vauxhall Motors as a 'Key Person'. I assume this means a Director or Board Member in some capacity.

Don't know if this is what you were referring to. Graham.
Barbara

MkIV Lux

Roger,
There is much more on Vauxhall's interests in AC in an article spreading over pages 14 to 18 of the March issue of ACtion.
Author is John Spencer, our all so knowledgeable ACOC historian.

I suggest you get in touch with John who will certainly be delighted to share.

(PS: my dad joined the army early 1945. Soldiers were equipped then with British weapons and gear. Maybe therefrom stemmed his interest to drive a British car when he could afford one in the late fifties. So we had at least 3 Vauxhalls at home that I can remember. Interesting to read in John's article about the involvement of Vauxhall in AC, my favourite marque.)

Constant

rsk289

Thanks very much to all for your help with this.  I'll get in touch with John as it would be very interesting to try to understand why Vauxhall had any interest in AC.  Ian Coomber can think of no reason Vauxhall might have been interested, especially as they were close to collapse themselves.  The key may be in assets and in the activities of messrs Napier and Edge.

rsk289

#4
Does anyone have contact details for John Spencer?  I've tried the members' list search facility but nothing comes up.
Thanks
Roger

Sorry, scratch that - found it in the mag.

rsk289

Just to report back that John, Ian and I have had a very interesting series of email exchanges on the subject.  John's diligent work with archive material has helped enlighten Ian (and me) on the level and depth of Vauxhall interest, and thrown up some hitherto unknown names to Ian from the Vauxhall board of the twenties.  Thanks to John for this and for his most interesting articles, the next one of which I'm really looking forward to.

Roger