Wolseley Hornet Special Club of Australia Inc

Hornet Special Newsletter

Issue 53 June 2013 AGM 2013 Brisbane Qld 20th, 21st and 22nd September

Camy Anderson’s race helmet, goggles, Queensland Motor Sporting Club badge, some trophys and photographs of the Kenward car at White’s Hill hillclimb, Strathpine racing circut and Albion Park when owned by Camy post- war, have been given to the Club by his son Des. To be featured in a future Newsletter.

WHS Club Contacts Secretary Bill Russell, ph (03) 9349 2262 President Lyle Cooper ph (07) 3312 2365 Editor Henry Hancock, ph (07) 3878 2850 3 Gilia Court Indooroopilly Qld 4068 [email protected] Vic News April Two Hornet Specials won awards at the VSCC’s presenta- tion lunch in April. John and Sharon Balthazar and their Hornet were recognised for their exploits on the Great Ocean Road Rally, while John and Annabelle Clucas and their ’35 machine took out the Rofe Trophy – awarded for the best presented post-vintage car. Later in April, Hornets were well represented at the RACV Classic Showcase held annually at Flemington Racecourse. John and Alec beside their machines Representing our marque were the Hornets of Jeremy Wil- liams, Bob Anderson and John Clucas. The stream of UK Hornet owners crossing the Atlantic to visit our continent (and especially our ) continues. Chris and Kate Smith arrived in Melbourne on Anzac Day and stopped a few days with John and Annabelle Clucas

The Smiths have two, nicely restored, 1935 14hp machines – a two-seat EW Daytona and a four-seat, Whittingham and Mitchell bodied EW Daytona. The Smiths’ four-seater is the same as that which John Clucas started with before converting his car to two-seat configuration; and their two-seater has the same bodywork as Alec Sturgess’s car in Vic. Despite only having three days in Melbourne, the Smiths squeezed in a visit to Alec and Marjory’s home (and garage) in Rye – travelling the 100 miles in style in John Clucas’s Hornet. It was the first time Alec and John had got their cars together, so a few photos were essential. Qld News May

Chris and Kate Smith continued their Australian trip to Brisbane, having been greatly impressed by John Clucas and Alex Sturgess 1935 WHSs. The President was fortunate enough to have ridden in Chris’ 1935 WHS in the UK last year. We were able to arrange a run around the Brisbane Hornets, commencing with Gerry Dunford, Lyle Cooper, Monty Schofield, Peter Baker, Mike Hawthorne and Joe Wilson. Peter also took Chris to see his Austin Sevens and Henry Hancock’s doctor’s coupe a few days later. They did not have to time to visit John Ireland at Coomera or see the Kenward Hornet which was up the north coast. Chris was impressed with what he saw and was surprised at the number of unrestored Hornets still in garages around Brisbane. The Smiths were then flying to Cairns and Darwin and driving across the Gibb River Road to Broome and thence south to Perth. They will see more of Australia than a lot of us have who live here. Preparations are continuing for the AGM in Brisbane on the weekend of 20-22 September. We urge all southern Hornet owners to bring their vehicles to join the Qld contingent at the “All British Day” in Brisbane on 22 September. Lyle Cooper’s car is now at the painting stage and has been sand blasted and undercoated. Henry Hancock contin- ues to work on his Doctor’s Coupe ...... and Joe Wilson, despite having a set back with a fire in his Lancia Aprilia is working well on the 1934 Hornet. Page 2 Hornet Special Newsletter AGM 2013 20th - 22nd September PROGRAM Come and enjoy the beautiful Spring weather in Queensland in your Wolseley Hornet We suggest the following accommodation – please make your booking direct and let us know if you are attending so that if flying, arrangements can be made for you to be transferred from and to the airport and bookings can be made for the various activities Accommodation: Econo Lodge Motel Ph 07 3391 6222 650 Main Street (cnr Sinclair St) Email: [email protected] Kangaroo Point Standard rooms from $ 120p/n (Quote Wolseley Club special price) – book early as start of school holidays Secure parking for car and trailer (please advise motel when booking) Friday 20 September 6.30pm Meet and Greet – AGM Monty & Rita Schofield’s home – 35 Arthur St, Fortitude Valley Dinner at Jatt Flava Indian Restaurant, 421 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley (at own cost/BYO) Saturday 21 September 9.30am Run around garages - restorations Mike Hawthorne’s 1931 Hornet Coupe with vertical motor Henry Hancock’s 1933 Doctor’s Coupe Joe and Bev Wilson’s 1934 Hornet Special with 14hp motor Gerry Dunford’s 1934 Hornet Special Airline Coupe 9.30am Partners Program Galleries and Antique shops 7.00pm Dinner Pineapple Hotel (close to motel) 706 Main Street, Kangaroo Point (at own cost) Sunday 22 September 8.30am – 2.00pm All British Day St Joseph’s College Sports Ground, Vivian Street, Tennyson We have been invited to display our cars at an “All British Day” being organised by the MG Car Club Qld. It would be fantastic if we could have a few cars from the South to supplement the Qld cars to make this an exceptional display. More information/Contact/RSVP: Lyle Cooper 07 3312 2365 [email protected] (away from 11 Aug to 12 Sep) Peter Baker 07 3399 4517 [email protected] (away from 19 Jul to 31 Aug) Henry Hancock 07 3878 1850 [email protected] (away from 1 – 30 Aug)

Issue 53 Page 3 Bill Russell in Newsletter Issue 37, May 2009, gave us “When the 1934 Hornet Specials first came to Melbourne” and in Issue 40 “When the 1934 Hornets first came to Sydney”. Now Henry Hancock has investigated Hornet distributors in Brisbane. When Hornets first came to Brisbane Three companies distributed Wolseley Hornets in Queensland:-

• Walter M Trevethan who in 1903, in Toowoomba, built the first car manufactured in Queensland.

• Sneddons Motors Limited, formed in Sydney in July 1923, initially to distribute Rugby and Durant Cars at 258 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, opened their Brisbane showroom in July 1931.

• British Australian Motors Ltd. formed in Brisbane in 1925, originally to distribute and Albion Cars, directed by Mr Leonard G. Lee

Mr Walter M Trevethan on the right in the car he built in his Toowoomba workshop in 1903, driven by his brother Mr T A Trevethan 1930 - 1932 No advertisements in Queensland newspapers for Wolseley Hornets, so apparently no distributors.

1933 First advertisement for Wolseley Hornets in Queensland, 2 May 1933:

Walter M Trevethan’s showrooms at ON DISPLAY. this time were situated at “Ann Street, Wolseley Hornet Cars. Valley (below Valley Post Office)”. R. WALTER M. TREVETHAN, of MAnn Street, Valley, is now showing On 3 August 1933, Walter M Treve- the first of the 1933 model Wolseley than, distributor for Rolls Royce and Hornet cars. These cars are manufactured Wolseley cars, advertised a change by Wolseley Motors, of , England, one of the oldest and most of address to “corner Creek and Ann respected motor firms in the British Sts, City.” Isles. The 1933 Wolseley Hornet has attracted ALTER M. TREVETHAN, distributor great attention wherever it has been Wfor Wolseley and Rolls-Royce cars, is shown, on account of its smartness, easy opening the Creek Street Parking Station on riding qualities, and complete equipment. August 7th. Amongst the features of the 1933 models OLSELEY cars, parking, and all are forward engine mounting, allowing Wcar repairs at new address, corner extra body space without increasing Creek and Ann Streets, city. Walter M. length and weight of chassis; centre- Trevethan. cast hardened cylinder liners, centre-seal pistons, and special spring steering wheel. Amongst the other refinements are startix EE the new Wolseley Hornet cars at W. automatic starting, 4-speed gear box, Lockheed hydraulic brakes, and hydraulic SM. Trevethan’s parking garage corner shock absorbers. Creek and Ann Streets (near Central railway station). Both advertisements, The Brisbane Courier, Tuesday 2 May 1933, page 3 The Brisbane Courier, Tuesday 15 August 1933, the first reference to “near Central Railway Station” Page 4 Hornet Special Newsletter The Courier-Mail commences publication, replacing The Brisbane Courier:

HANGE of address, Walter M. Tre- Probable showroom of Walter M Trevethan, Cvethan, distributor for Wolseley and the parking station under the PLUME Rolls-Royce cars, late of Ann St. Valley, advertisement, looking across Ann Street, removed to corner Creek and Ann Sts. down Creek Street . Central Railway City. Station is immediately to the right of The first advertisement for Wolseleys in the iron railings. This building was the Courier-Mail newspaper. Monday 28 demolished to make way for the Ann Street August 1933, confirming the change of Commonwealth Government offices in the address early 1970’s.

New Company formed: Presumably Walter M Trevethan was a sole trader until this date: Trevethan’s appear to stop advertising Wolseley Cars from this date, except COMPANY NEWS for one saloon at reduced cost which is for sale until December, together The following companies have been reg- with a Rolls Royce 40-45 hp Silver Ghost chassis. istered:- Trevethans’ Motors Pty. Ltd. capital £2000, motor garage proprietors, im- porters of cars, etc: offices, Creek and The Courier-Mail Saturday 23 Ann streets, Brisbane. September 1933, page 4

Sneddons Motors Limited, distributors of Citroen cars, take over the distribution of Wolseleys and Armtrong- Siddeley cars and Albion trucks.

spare parts will be carried and service on The Courier-Mail, Tuesday 12 December NEW FRANCHISES the lines laid down by the manufacturers 1933, page 12 SNEDDON MOTORS on all franchises will be in operation. Mr. J. P. Hope, general manager of Sneddons CARS AND TRUCKS Motors Ltd. Sydney and Brisbane, has appointed Mr. H. H. as the Queensland The well-known firm, Sneddon manager, with Mr L. G. Lee as sales manager. Motors, Ltd. Queensland Both these gentlemen are well-known Brisbane Continued next Issue distributors of Citroen Cars, personalities, and have had long acquaintance have during the last few weeks with Queensland motoring conditions. Consequently, every owner or potential made arrangements whereby purchaser is assured of an understanding their sphere of activity has been of the individual requirements demanded considerably increased. b y Q u e e n s l a n d hey have secured sole Queensland Tdistribution of the famous Wolseley cars, this being the first franchise appointment made in Australia by Morris Industries Exports Ltd. the company which controls for export all the motor enterprises with which the name of Sir William Morris is associated. An outline of the new Wolseley programme will shortly be made. Sneddons Motors Ltd. have also taken over for distribution in Queensland the well-known Armstrong-Siddeley cars and Albion trucks. Consequently Queensland motorists will be enabled to visualize in the commodious showrooms at 467-9 Adelaide Street, Brisbane, four productions of English factories, Sneddons Motors showrooms at Collin House, 467-9 Adelaide Street, built in 1928 Wolseley, Citroen and Armstrong-Siddeley as a Parking Station and Garage at a cost of £19,000. In 2012 being converted to cars, and Albion trucks. A full range of luxury apartments. Issue 53 Page 5 The Great Shock Absorber Rebuild Lyle Cooper rebuilds his shocks As my car rebuild was entering the painting phase, I resolved to rebuild the shock absorbers. I had obtained a few Type A (the small 3” ones, suitable for my 33 WHS) and now had five from which to make four good ones. Before commencing, I re-read Howard Kenward’s article in Newsletter Issue 26 and the “Modern Motor Repair and Overhauling” article by John Balthazar in Issues 42 and 43. I was able to obtain all the tools that Howard had made and I modified and/or built some parts so that they would fit theType A as well as the Type B (4”) Luvax. I started by removing the arm and back plate by heating the body with the oxy torch. I could not move them any other way as the back plate had probably not been removed for 80 years. Once inside the body I was amazed by the amount of congealed ‘gook’ inside. I suppose owners over the years had added mineral oil, not knowing that vegetable oil was the original fluid. I tried to think of another way to remove the pressed metal oil reservoir but eventually had to resort to Howard’s tried and true method, but only welded on three nipples and the metal dome pushed off quite easily. A bit of a shock awaited here as one of the bodies was cracked around the face. The crack had missed all the vital bits and I was able to weld it up with cast iron rods. Following Howard’s instructions, I cleaned everything and found that I was two valve pins short because there were no springs to hold the square heads of the valves in place. I made up two new pins with a lock nut. The thread for the pins is 64tpi. I also found that the reacting block is just a light press fit and could be tapped out with a pin punch, making it easier to clean out the cross-flow holes and the regulator screw orifice. I resolved to use a neoprene oil seal on the nose of the body 27mmOD, 5/8”ID and ¼” wide, if the 27mm is a little worn as one of mine was, it can be machined out to 1 ⅛” or whatever oil seal can be easily obtained. To seat the end plate I bought oil seals from Ludowici, 52mmID and 4mm diameter. The Howard and Lyle’s 900mm long“wrench” and other tools technical advisor told me that this would be a compression of for overhauling 3” and 4” Luvax 18% to lock the back plate onto the reacting block as a stop. This gives the correct tolerance for the rotor to operate which is important as too big a clearance will allow the oil to flow past the ends and the correct resistance cannot be obtained. To my surprise I was not able to compress the O ring 18%; in fact I cracked one body trying to do just that. I then machined a semi circular grove in the back plate .4mm deep and polished the surface to allow the steel to slip over the O ring without picking it up. This grove gave me a 8% compression on the O ring and proved quite successful. Perhaps an O ring of 3.5mm thickness would be sufficient. The next job was to obtain oil. I spent a great deal of time talking to technical advisers of every oil company in Bris- bane. The mention of Luvax Shock Absorber Oil bought a blank from all except Castrol, who advised that Penrite listed a Luvax Shock Absorber Oil. I then contacted Penrite and asked about their shock absorber oil only to be told they do not have one. After more discussion it was admitted that this advisor had only been at the company for two years and would delve into the matter. Next day he advised that Transoil 90 would be the best viscosity for the Luvax. I ordered 2 x 1 litre bottles from SuperCheap at $11.95 per litre. I tried to fill the body through the filler plug hole but found that it would take hours, because the viscosity of the oil allowed only a small stream to enter. I pulled the back off and filled the working chamber from there – don’t overfill as it is difficult to screw the end plate back down. Now to test the resistance via the “hanging weight test” as described in Newsletter Issue 43! I calculated that to obtain the equivalent 100lb test load I would need 16.5lb on 6” arms (front) and 20lb on 4” arms (rear). The best I could obtain from the test was 8 seconds, but I thought that would give me a softer ride than the 10.3 that was stamped on the end plate. Then to the rubber bushes on the arm and the spring attachment. After another great ring-around, I found Fulcrum Suspensions made polyurethane bushes with the closest being SPF1391 – an Austin bush. I bored them out to 5/8” to fit the crush tube and shortened them to fit the application. I then made new linking rods out of ½” shaft steel. The job is now complete. Lyle

Page 6 Hornet Special Newsletter David Armstrong in South Australia writes further on the work he’s done on his car Previously in Newsletter Issue 52 While the engine and gearbox were out I removed the firewall, filled in about twenty holes, repaired cracks etc, and had it sandblasted and painted black. I fitted new ID plates with the help of John Summerfield to get them in the correct positions. The car was fitted with a modern voltage regulator. I was fortunate enough to obtain an original cut-out (with Startex solenoid) from the UK Club, so I cut out around the base of the original, then modified a Lucas RB106-2 regulator (), also had to modify it to fit into the original where I had cut out the cut-out and solenoid, and then wire it up to suit. It now has the original cut-out to look at, but with the cover removed you can see the Lucas regulator which works fine. I rewired most of the car. I also fitted an Armstrong Siddeley stator tube and switch set up for dip switch, indicator and horn. The indicators also self cancel. I was unable to find an original switch assembly, however the Armstrong Siddeley one does the job well and looks ok.

David’s cut-out modifications. I overhauled the brakes, spent some time setting up the eccentric shoe adjustments. I believe the drums have been replaced. Unfortunately there is no positive location on the hubs or studs so I had to be very careful to centre them otherwise the brake pedal pulsates and braking is quite rough. I also fitted the axle shaft nylon seals from the UK Club to minimize oil leakage. Most of the other work I have done is pretty well straight forward, set up diff mesh and backlash, reset toe in, etc. Changed rear light set up a couple of times and finished up with this set up which looks more in keeping with the car. I did fit RN13LYC Champion plugs; the earth electrode protrudes into the combustion chamber instead of being The rear lights of David’s WHS. shrouded by the plug threaded hole; Thought this might be an improvement. I modified the hood bows and had a new hood fitted. I am now having a breather for a while and enjoying driving the car in different events over here. It always creates a huge amount of interest. David

Issue 53 Page 7 Oh oh, subs are overdue Subscriptions to both the Australian and UK clubs for 2013 / 2014 were due on April 1st. To assist with funding the Australian Club’s operating expenses (most of which are incurred in produc- ing this newsletter), we encourage all newsletter recipients to subscribe a nominal yearly sum. The committee has managed to keep the Aus- tralian subscription unchanged for several years and yet again due to the favourable exchange rate and the generosity of the UK Club, your options are to: 1. Pay $25, which helps to cover the costs of this Australian newsletter; 2. Pay $70, which gets you this newsletter, Mem- bership of the Wolseley Hornet Special Club (UK), copies of their excellent magazine and access to their parts service; 3. Pay nothing. We’ll still send you this newslet- ter, but please let us know if you no longer wish to receive it. Cheques should be made payable to WHSC, not to any individual person, and should be sent to the club treasurer, John Ireland, 83/40, Riverbrooke Drive, Upper Coomera, Qld 4209. To pay by direct transfer please email John (deeandjohn@ ngvemail.com) for details.

For Sale

1930 Hornet for sale; has had the engine fully restored (not yet run in) including the fitting of steel connecting rods and fitted with a supercharger with 3/5 lbs boost. This Vintage sports car is light weight with an aluminium body and is exhilarating to drive. Price $44,000 ONO. Brian Glassel Phone: (03) 8746 9522 Email: [email protected]

The Wolseley Hornet Special Club of Australia Inc. (Victoria, No. A0035489S) exists to encourage the preserva- tion and use of Wolseley Hornets, Sports and Specials. The Club and its Committee take no responsibility for the accuracy of this newsletter’s content nor for the consequences of acting upon any information published herein.