OWNERS CLUB BULLETIN May / June 2019

OWNERS CLUB BULLETIN

May / June 2019

LIMITED BY GUARANTEE

LIMITEDRegistered BY GUARANTEE Office: Abberley Cottage, 7 DowlesRegistered Road, Office:Bewdley, Worcs., DY12 2EJ AbberleyCompany Cottage, Registration 7 Dowles No. 574562Road, Bewdley, FoundedWorcs., DY12 June 19562EJ CompanyPresident Registration : Sally Railton No. Joslin 574562 Vice President Founded : John June Dyson 1956 President : Timothy Railton Vice President : John Dyson HONORARY DIRECTORS HONORARY DIRECTORS Chairman : PETERMICK JARVIS PHIPPS The Barn, Boulters Lane, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 8TJ ChairmanArbour Grange, : PETER Sandy PHIPPS Holt, Fairmile Avenue, Cobham, Surrey, KT11 2TT Telephone: 01628 674116 E-mail: [email protected] ArbourTelephone: Grange, 01932 Sandy 867090 Holt, E Fairmile-mail: [email protected] Avenue, Cobham, Surrey, KT11 2TT Telephone: 01932 867090 E-mail: [email protected] Secretary : MAX HUNT Secretary : MAX HUNT Abberley Cottage, 7 Dowles Road, Bewdley, Worcs., DY12 2EJ SecretaryAbberley Cottage, : MAX HUNT7 Dowles Road, Bewdley, Worcs., DY12 2EJ Telephone: 01299 401135 E-mail: [email protected]. AbberleyTelephone: Cottage, 01299 7401135 Dowles E Road,-mail: Bewdley,[email protected] Worcs., DY12 2EJ Telephone:Spares Registrar 01299 401135: GEOFF E MOORE-mail: [email protected] Moorhays,Technical Rhosgoch,Advisor : GEOFFBuilth Wells, MOORE Powys, LD2 3JY TechnicalTelephone:Moorhays, Rhosgoch, Advisor01497-851296 : GEOFF Builth E -Wells,mail: MOORE [email protected] Powys, LD2 3JY Moorhays,Telephone: Rhosgoch, 01497-851296 Builth E -Wells,mail: [email protected], LD2 3JY

Telephone: 01497-851296 E-mail: [email protected] COMMITTEE MEMBERS COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Treasurer : ROGER MAYNE Treasurer : POSITION VACANT Woodside Cottage, 11 Stanford Road,COMMITTEE Great Witley, MEMBERSWorcs., WR6 6JG Any member who thinks they could fill this vital role please contact the Secretary for a Telephone: 01299-896457 E-mail: [email protected] discussion and for more information. Treasurer : ROGER MAYNE BulletinMeanwhile Editor any financial : NEIL enquiriesTHORP may still be sent via E-mail: [email protected] 7 Greenbank, Polruan, Fowey, Cornwall, PL23 1QP Ridgewood Grange, Chilton Road, Upton, Didcot, Oxon., OX11 9JL Telephone: 01726 870943 E-mail: [email protected] Telephone:Bulletin Editor 01235 : NEIL850756 THORP E-mail: [email protected]

Ridgewood Grange, Chilton Road, Upton, Didcot, Oxon., OX11 9JL BulletinRegistrar Editor : MIKE : NEIL STENHOUSE THORP Telephone: 01235 850756 E-mail: [email protected] Ridgewood17 Peasehill Grange,Close, Rawdon, Chilton Road,Leeds, Upton, LS19 6EF Didcot, Oxon., OX11 9JL

Telephone: 012350113-2504896 850756 E--mail:mail: [email protected]@railton.org Spares Registrar : MIKE STENHOUSE

Publicity/Website:17 Peasehill Close, Rawdon, BRYAN Leeds, TYRRELL LS19 6EF Spares Registrar : MIKE STENHOUSE Claremont,Telephone: The0113 Meads,-2504896 Stanstead, E-mail: Essex,[email protected] CM24 8QA 17 Peasehill Close, Rawdon, Leeds, LS19 6EF Telephone: 01279 812113 E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: 0113-2504896 E-mail: [email protected] Registrar of Cars : TOBY SHARP

Hele Cottage, Hele Cross, Ashburton, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ13 7QX Registrar of Cars : TOBY SHARP Telephone: 01364 652948 E-mail: [email protected] Hele Cottage, Hele Cross, Ashburton, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ13 7QX Telephone: 01364 652948 E-mail: [email protected] Material appearing in the Bulletin is copyright and must not be used without the written permission of the copyright holders. The views and opinions expressed (including advertisers) are not necessarily shared by the Editor or by the Railton Owners Club. The Club accepts no responsibility for the following of contributors’ advice, nor does it necessarily endorse the services or products offered by advertisers, which are published in good faith.

RAILTON OWNERS CLUB BULLETIN May / June 2019

Editorial ...... 4 Secretary’s Notes ...... 4 Membership News ...... 7 Calendar 2019 ...... 7 Chairman’s Column ...... 7 Back in Thame ...... 8 Charity Appeal ...... 9 1933 Terraplane Brochure ...... 10 Heavy Metal – The Napier Railton as Art ...... 16 Brough Superior CXB 199 ...... 18 Railton Production Numbers ...... 20 Head Gaskets ...... 22 Railton & Talbot performances in the Alpine Trials...... 24 Correspondence ...... 28 Market Place ...... 31

The cover photograph is of a Railton Open Four Seater taken from the album of Coachcraft Ltd., London W7, which was donated to the Club by the late Mollie Twigg.

R.O.C. Website: www.railton.org User name and password for the Members’ area are advised at renewal time. Please e-mail the Editor, the Chairman or the Secretary if a reminder is required.

PrintedPrinted by by Hertfordshire Spinnaker Print Display Ltd Plc https://www.spinnakerprint.co.uk/ http://www.hdprint.co.uk/ 3

EDITORIAL

The eagle-eyed Bulletin reader will have noticed from the bottom of the previous page that last issue we changed our printer. Herts Display had been our printers for a very long time indeed but recent price rises became unsustainable and they did not make any effort to retain our business. Spinnaker Print are based in Bishop’s Waltham, Hampshire and were the most competitive of the various firms who quoted. They specialise in car club magazines so we are in good company and I hope we can build up as good a relationship as we once had with Herts Display.

I was browsing a back issue of Motor Sport the other day; the classified sections are a real treasure trove and often now of more interest than the editorial content. I came across an advert (March 1973) for a Railton Fairmile II, registration CVU 1. This car was once owned by the first R.O.C. Chairman, John Salter, but was being sold by Len Palmer of Burton-on- Trent who was, as he put it, a “purveyor of soot” (i.e. a chimney sweep). The asking price of £1000 – no offers, was very high for the time, which I presume partially reflected its condition and its registration number. A check of the current Club’s database showed that it subsequently went to the U.S.A. where it has since been scrapped. I was surprised at this until I read a note that it was destroyed in the Californian bush fires in 1993!

On a happier note Geoff Moore reports that the Brough brooch – see p.8 of the last Bulletin – has gone to a long-standing Brough owner for £125 and a cheque for this amount has gone to Macmillan Cancer Support.

CLOSING DATE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE JULY/AUGUST BULLETIN IS 14TH JULY.

SECRETARY’S NOTES

It is always good to receive additions to the Club archive collection especially when, as in two recent cases, donations come quite out of the blue. Our Editor writes elsewhere about material sent by Horst Hendrien of Michigan which included a perfectly mint and complete (even with inserted price list for “extras”) 1937 Railton sales catalogue together with some interesting later correspondence. Horst has accepted a year's honorary membership of the R.O.C. which we hope he will find interesting.

The second acquisition arose from your scribe's chance encounter with a lady at the bar of a favourite local watering hole. Gillie had overheard my conversation with friends and had picked up the word “Railton”. It transpired that she had just begun sorting out a deceased relative's papers and thought she had seen something about one of our cars. With no great expectation of an outcome I was delighted when, a few weeks later, I received an email saying that she did indeed have a collection of material relating to both Railton and Rolls-Royce

motors owned by her family. We arranged a meeting back in the same local and I acquired a 1939 Railton Owner's Manual in almost mint condition. Gillie had no recollection of the car involved but fortunately her late father had written the chassis number on the title page. Subsequent reference to John Dyson's Coachcraft publication revealed that chassis number 745575 had been delivered to the coachbuilder in August 1938, emerging three months later (why so long?) as a Cobham saloon. I have no registration details and have found no trace of the car in Club Registers, but if anyone can shed light on the fate of Railton 745575, I could complete the story. The family lived, at the time, in the Southport area.

Another positive since my last set of notes has been the resolving of the registration problem with the Shuttleworth Railton. Readers may remember that the museum at Old Warden had lost track of the history file accompanying this well-known car, and the D.V.L.A. was claiming inability to issue a V5 document with the original JNM 700 registration, offering instead an “age related” number. Fortunately we were able to help with photographic evidence from the 1970s together with an auction house sale catalogue and extracts from early Club Registers. I am pleased to say that Richard Shuttleworth’s Railton is now reunited with its original Bedfordshire registration.

Two other cars at least bearing the Railton name have caught my attention this month. As the owner of a much enjoyed Jaguar XJS Cabriolet I was mystified at the appeal of the 1989 “F29 Claremont” being offered by Silverstone Auctions with an eye-watering estimate of £60/70,000. Am I alone in thinking that Jaguar's original design was infinitely more attractive than the William Towns version? Almost equally startling in appearance (and in asking price!) is the “Straight Eight Special” currently listed by Robin Lawton and described in Classic & Sports Car as “in the style of Lance (sic) Macklin’s Light Sports Tourers”. I believe it started life as a 1936 Coachcraft University saloon. It will be interesting to see what the market makes of these strange offerings.

Meanwhile our National Meeting is almost upon us. News from organiser Toby Sharp is that bookings are slightly disappointing for what promises to be an excellent hotel venue at Ilsington in Devon. Perhaps it's to do with distance or, dare I say it, our ageing membership profile. Whatever the factors involved, we should still be able to muster a good cross-section of Club marque cars and FPH is well prepared for the long haul down the M5, which is fortunately still largely free of so-called “smart” alterations. At this point I will enter my usual plea for members still in possession of trophies from last year either to bring them to Ilsington or return them to me beforehand. We can then spare our Chairman the embarrassment of handing mere empty envelopes to winners at Castle Drogo on June 9th!

I shall look forward to renewing acquaintance with some of you for lunch at The Royal Oak in Dunsford on June 7th and will sign off with an Archive piece once again going back 50 years to the May 1969 Bulletin which carried a report of an alarming incident in the earlier life of that well known Carbodies Tourer DXX 500 which

“...... suffered but little damage in the very nasty-looking fire that occurred during the Silverstone V.S.C.C. Meeting on the19th April. Whilst by far the most spectacular incident to take place in the paddock, the damage sustained was really only superficial, and in fact the car 6 was driven home without any trouble at a steady 50 mph.”

Happily, of course, DXX 500 today sits resplendent amongst Russell Cook's motor collection and, in relatively recent time, has graced the Club stand at the N.E.C.

Max Hunt MEMBERSHIP NEWS New Members Two new members to welcome this time, both joining from the United States.

1193 Steve Cosby 452 Viburnum Run, Westfield, IN 46074, U.S.A. Steve joins as a Full Overseas Member and introduces himself as “former owner of EAU 561 Claremont d.h.c. 1968-1986”.

Horst Hendrien of Pleasant Ridge, Michigan is welcomed as a one-year honorary member – see Secretary’s Notes above.

CALENDAR 2019 7th to 9th June 2019 R.O.C. National Meeting, Ilsington, Devon see p. 7 Jan/Feb Bulletin & pp. 8-9 Nov/Dec Bulletin

21st to 26th Aug. 2019 V.S.C.C. 85th Anniversary Meeting, Brands Hatch, Kent https://www.vscc.co.uk/vsccMedia/25913.pdf

20th to 22nd Sept. 2019 Kop Hill Climb, Princes Risborough, Bucks & A.G.M., Thame, Oxon. see p.9 and pp. 8-9 Jan/Feb Bulletin

THE CHAIRMAN’S COLUMN

Preparations are well advanced for our two main Club events this year. I hope many of you have booked into the Ilsington Country House Hotel for our Devon adventure. Toby Sharp has done a lot of work pulling together a fascinating programme and he deserves Club support. I understand rooms are still available. I hope to see many of you there.

Our A.G.M. is to be held in the Spread Eagle Hotel in Thame, again rooms are still available and I urge as many of you as possible who can come to lock in the dates – Friday September 20th to Sunday 22nd. This event is being held in conjunction with the Kop Hill climb event and thanks to the efforts of Richard Hirst we are well advanced with our preparations for that.

The plan is to have as many cars as possible at Kop on the Saturday for the whole day. Cars registered as entrants can run the hill twice, morning and afternoon, or you can register as display. In either case we have arranged an oversized pitch in the paddock to get all the cars together and we will have a gazebo there and ask you bring some camping chairs and tables for picnics etc. There is good food and plenty of refreshments on site. We hope to run as many cars as possible on the hill and do so in date order, to show the variety of the Railtons and associated marques that were manufactured. It should be quite a show. However, any late registrants will not be able to run on Saturday although could do so on Sunday afternoon.

The organisers are telling us that the number of cars we can run together may be limited, so early registrations are recommended as we will allocate slots in our “run” on first come first served basis. You will still be able to drive up the hill even if not in our grouping of course (if registered as entrant) but it may be more interesting to be part of the gang! As of May 1st we have ten cars registered plus two as display, so the numbers may be getting tight.

On Sunday we hold our A.G.M. in Thame and I realise many of you will head straight home once that is finished. I will return to Kop and drive the hill in the afternoon session –- if anyone can join me and Johnathan Hirst (who is taking BYP up the hill on Sunday) they would be very welcome and they can help me collapse the gazebo at the end of the day.

Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.

Mick Jarvis

BACK IN THAME

The adjacent photograph, showing cars parked in the Cornmarket in front of The Spread Eagle Hotel in the 1920s, is taken from An Innkeeper’s Diary by John Fothergill who owned and ran the hotel from 1922 to 1932. He described himself in Who’s Who as a ‘Pioneer Amateur Innkeeper’, was an outstanding chef, a connoisseur of wine and an early campaigner for Real Food, but was also a firm believer that the customer was not always right!

A good collection of 1930s cars will be parked behind the hotel in September for the A.G.M. weekend. If you have not already booked your room, please do so before the end of June, when any unreserved rooms will be released for general sale.

Richard Hirst 8

CHARITY APPEAL

Member Anthony Fenwick-Wilson waves the flag for the Club in V.S.C.C. events driving the 1935 L.S.T. replica Railton Rosita. At the “Spring Start” meeting at Silverstone in race 9, he came 6th out of 24, beating a Le Mans Aston Martin and a couple of Alfas and at the Curborough Sprint won first handicap in his class.

BOEING STEARMAN WING WALKING

For his 80th birthday celebration Anthony is doing a spot of ‘wing walking’ to raise much needed funds for Mission Motorsport, who do such an incredible job for those damaged during military service for our country. This charity gives them a chance to aid in their own recovery and rehabilitation - see

www.missionmotorsport.org .

The Service people helped by this charity have sacrificed so very much for us, that we are deeply in their debt - though none of them would say that was so !

SO PLEASE BE GENEROUS AND SUPPORT SUCH FINE PEOPLE by going to https://www.wonderful.org/fundraiser/wingwalkingforourservicemen-10f072b5

1933 TERRAPLANE BROCHURE

Single sheet printed both side with two folds

Original size 25½" x 11" folded to 8½" x 11"

HEAVY METAL THE NAPIER RAILTON AS ART

To say that Derek Gogerty can make a decent job of cutting and shaping metal is a bit like saying that Darcey Bussell can dance a bit. Purely for his own satisfaction he scratch builds large scale models of his favourite old cars and aircraft. Even though they have separate chassis and engine detail I think there is something sculptural about the magnificent results of his work. I first heard of him via a friend when he was looking for plans of the Napier Railton chassis prior to embarking on his version of it. As you can see, the results are impressive. Rather than me trying to explain his approach, here it is in his own words.

“The first thing is to make a wooden buck. I then use 16 s.w.g. stainless steel so I have to shape body parts to fit the buck - if I tried to hammer over the buck I would destroy it. I have no machines, only a fly press and a small folder, so most of the work is with a hammer of which I have over 30 – all different. I cheat a bit with tyres because I get them laser cut. Wheel rims are made from flat stainless steel as are all other parts except exhaust

pipes etc. When all is done there is a lot of final planishing, filing and then polishing which is long and dirty.

All models take over 400 hours and up to 500 – all done as a hobby.”

Robin Richardson

CXB 199

This 1936 Brough Superior straight-8 d.h.c is one of the last ones made. It has valanced wings which may have been intended as a slightly modernised style upgrade for 1936, although this did not happen because a legal wrangle prevented further 8-cylinder Brough production.

First registered in 1936, its original purchaser is unknown but it subsequently belonged to the Rev. Morgan Derham and later his son. It then had one other owner for a short time until, in 1964, it was purchased by Dick Barnard who now is taking the major step of finding its next custodian. (see p. 33)

RAILTON PRODUCTION NUMBERS

The Hudson Motors letter reproduced on these pages has been donated to the Club by Horst Hendrien of Michigan together with a 1937 Railton sales catalogue and is referred to in the Secretary’s notes on p. 4.

The letter’s contents have been known to the Club’s historians for some time but it is very nice to have the original in our possession. One thing that it brings out is that there were two early six-cylinder Railtons made, neither of which survive. I had not realised this was a catalogued option – but it was!

However, the rest is not straightforward as it seems that the figures quoted in the letter are at variance with those supplied by Hudson Motors to Michael Sedgwick when he was researching the Montagu Lost Causes of Motoring. John Dyson queried this with Michael at the time, only to be treated to an expansive gesture. One needs also to consider Coachcraft’s through-put chart of monthly production, because the chassis supplied in 1937 (i.e. 74 series) were drawn upon for all models produced on the 122" 8-cyl chassis in 1938 and 1939 (and also post-war).

John Dyson attempted to sort out this can of worms in a Bulletin article some years ago and I may reprint it in a future issue (once it is located). Ed.

HEAD GASKETS

We stood outside the ‘Kings Arms’ at Kew, each of us holding, carefully, something that glinted in the glow of the street lights. It was one of the first fruits of the, then new, R.O.C. spares initiative – new head gaskets. We had just emerged from the A.G.M., which had occupied a couple of hours of a weekday evening. The year might have been 1967.

After a few months reports started to come in of failures of some of these gaskets. The manufacturer was blamed, but it was not his fault. It was a long time before the penny finally dropped. There is not one gasket that is right for all our engines and the gasket required is dictated by the cylinder head. The differences are small but significant. The outline of the combustion chamber was changed from time to time. If the wrong gasket is used it will bulge very slightly into the combustion chamber in certain places.

There is a welt which is where the copper sheet is formed over all round the combustion chamber aperture to form a bead. The extra thickness helps to form the seal. When the welt is partly in the combustion chamber and is not compressed, it is, in time, eroded by the burning gases and the gasket fails.

The Railton period is covered by four cylinder head types and three gaskets. The gaskets are:-

 '34-'35 gasket used on spine heads – Lowest on picture  '36 gasket used on first flat heads – Centre on picture  '37-'52 gasket used on 2nd. type of flat head – Top on picture.

The differences between the two upper gaskets pictured are hard to see, but they are there and if you look very carefully along the centre lines you may be able to spot the differences in the bulges. The gaskets were made by various companies including Payen in the U.K. Currently all are available in the form of ‘new old stock’ from Mike Stenhouse.

It may help to review the chronology of the Hudson eight-cylinder engine used in our cars:-

 1933 Railton and 8-cylinder Essex Terraplane, about nine survive, 2 15/16" bore block. Cylinder head identified by a shallow ‘spine’. Can use '36 or '37 – '52 gasket.

 1934 – 1935 New 3" bore block. A new head with a high centre usually known as spine head. Use only a '34 – '35 gasket with this head.

 1936 Block unchanged but the cooling system was completely revised and much improved. Coolant was now pushed through the block and through the new flat head. Hot spots were much better cooled. There was a thermostat in the outlet. Use the '36 gasket, though the '34 – '35 can be used but gives less well directed coolant flow.

 1937 New block with improved porting. New head which is externally almost indistinguishable from the previous head and has sometimes been interchanged with it. Use '37 – '52 gasket with '37 or later head. '36 gasket is not ideal but can be used.

There are high compression aluminium heads of various types which may need a special gasket. Six-cylinder engines followed a similar development route to the eight, but there were exceptions. Remember, on all these engines it is the head which determines the gasket to be used. If in doubt consult Mike or myself. Gaskets are not particularly cheap, nor are they easily sourced, so make sure it is the right one you’re fitting. Always use gasket cement. Hudson recommended Perfect Gasket Seal, but you will have to make do with one of today’s non-hardening varieties. Hylomar can be obtained in an aerosol, which helps.

A gasket in good condition can be re-used. It was once general practice and meanies like Tony Flewellen and me would use the same gasket several times. However on one occasion it was my undoing. I remember, in Holland, blowing the head gasket on JT after showing off on the motorway to our Dutch hosts and being saved by Tony’s production of the second-hand spare he was carrying. The fitting of it, after a convivial dinner, was the evening’s entertainment. There was a moment of high drama when the freshly anointed gasket was almost dropped onto the mucky shed floor by one of the slightly inebriated helpers.

I have been using stainless steel head nuts for the past 25 years or so. They are well up to the job and look good. Although not present originally, I like to use washers under the nuts, you may wish to do the same. Mike will supply both, at a very reasonable cost.

As for those young chaps at Kew, Philip Barker and I were among them, Philip having driven down from Retford, picking me up from home near Leicester. We were a bit late arriving at the Kings Arms, so donned overalls before entering and claimed to have changed the timing gear en-route, which got us a round of applause and avoidance of a reprimand from chairman John Dyson.

We laid our head gaskets reverently on the back seat of Philip’s recently acquired Razor Edge Cobham (FPH 386), before setting off home. We went up the Edgware Road to pick up the M1 which stretched all the way from north of London to near Rugby and was still a bit of a novelty. The speedometer was kept at the comfortable speed of between 60–70 m.p.h. After dropping me off, Philip went on to complete what must have been a round trip of about a 300 miles, much of it in the dark, before starting his day’s work. Those were the days!

Geoff Moore

RAILTON & TALBOT PERFORMANCES IN THE ALPINE TRIALS

In his excellent article 'A Dutch Enigma', about H.J. Davids and his Railton in the 1934 Alpine Trial (R.O.C. Bulletin, January/February 2015), Jan Roosenburg implied that the Glacier Cups won by the two Railtons in the Trial were more meritorious than the Alpine Cup won by the team of three Talbots. They weren't.

I did nothing about this at the time – despite being the Talbot Owners Club Archivist! Then, in another article (R.O.C. Bulletin, May/June 2018), Jan repeated the same assertion; I did nothing about this at the time either – but I thought it was now high time to try and set the record straight about all this, especially as the Editor told me he was very short of copy!

Jan's excellent research presumably concentrated upon the 1934 Alpine Trial – there having been no Railton-Terraplanes available in time for any of the previous ones – and what he appears not to have known is that Talbot 105s had already won a Glacier Cup in the 1931 Trial, and an Alpine Cup in the 1932 Trial. I believe that this puts a rather different complexion on the whole Railton-versus-Talbot discussion and so what follows is a description of what actually happened.

In 1931, a lone Talbot 105 took part in the Alpine Trial. It was only the sixth example of the model to be built – after the four racing Team Cars and the Works Demonstrator – and was co-driven by Humphrey Symons (at that time Sports Editor of The Motor) and Norman Garrad (who, much later, would become Competitions Manager of the Rootes Group). It won a Glacier Cup – as the Railtons were to do in The sole 1931 Alpine Trial Talbot 105. It wears the body of one of the 1934 – and without losing racing Team Cars – which was nevertheless a 4-seater – and the number-plates (but not the registration number per se) of another of a single mark. them! It won a Glacier Cup, as well as a 'Souvenir Medal' awarded to

any car which came 1st or 2nd in its class.

In 1932, something altogether more ambitious was attempted: namely, the winning of an Alpine Cup by a team of three cars. This was a risky business, however, because a retirement by any one of the three would mean that the other two would win absolutely nothing: they would, in other words, not be eligible to win individual Glacier Cups. In the event itself, the team of three Talbot 105s finished the Trial without losing a single mark, something which no team of British cars The three Talbot 105 Alpine Team cars for the 1932 Alpine had ever achieved before – not Trial. They won an Alpine Cup – for a faultless performance by even the team of three Alpine the whole Team without the loss of a single mark. Eagle Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts in 1913! – and thereby won an Alpine Cup.

In 1934, for reasons best-known to themselves, Clement Talbot Ltd decided upon a repeat performance. This was, however, paid for by their London & Home Counties distributors, Pass & Joyce Ltd., just as their 1932 team-entry had been paid for by their (then) joint London & Home Counties distributors, Warwick Wright Ltd!

Apart from their cycle-winged sports bodywork, the 1934 Talbot Alpine team cars featured one other major difference from those of 1932. Namely, that whereas the 1932 cars had featured right-hand change, 4-speed 'crash' gearboxes, the 1934 cars incorporated 4-speed Wilson 'pre-selector' gearboxes which had been standardised on almost every Talbot model for the previous twenty-two months (moreover the ones in the Alpine team cars were of the optional close-ratio type).

This gave them an enormous advantage because, although the pre-selector lever was still on the right-hand side (of the steering- column), it was so schemed that the driver could keep both of his hands on the wheel while changing down in the middle of tight hairpin-bends whilst the The three Talbot 105 Alpine Team cars for the 1934 Alpine actual gear engagement was now Trial. They reverted to road-going versions of the racing Team effected via a left-hand pedal, Car bodies, with their cycle-type wings, etc. BGH 21, the car rather than via a right-hand gear- on the right, would set a new outright record for the Stelvio lever. Pass, whilst the Team would win an Alpine Cup for another faultless performance. In particular, this meant that 1st gear could now regularly and easily be employed near the top of very high mountain passes where the oxygen-level, and hence the engine-power, was dramatically reduced.

This, perhaps more than any other, was the reason why in the 1934 Trial a Talbot set new outright course records on both the Grimsel and the Stelvio passes: Anthony Blight's book Georges Roesch and the Invincible Talbot even reproduces a photo of one of these 3 litre 6-cylinder Talbots actually overtaking a 3.3 litre 8-cylinder Bugatti between two tightly-spaced hairpins near the top of the Stelvio while setting the new course record, as well as contributing to the winning of a second Alpine Cup.

It follows as night follows day that the Railtons, for all their 4.2 litre 8-cylinder engines, weren't capable of equalling these performances – much less surpassing them – or at least, not with Messrs R.L. Richardson & H.J. Davids at their wheels; otherwise they, and not the Talbots, would have set the new course records! 26

Nevertheless, while researching this piece in the late Donald Cowbourne's book British Trials Drivers, Their Cars & Awards 1929 – 1939, I discovered that another Cobham product had achieved almost as meritorious a performance as the Talbots in the Alpine Trials of the early 1930s: namely the 4½ litre S-type Invicta. Examples of this model's winning ways were an Alpine Cup in 1930, a Glacier Cup in 1931, and no fewer than three Tommy Wisdom in BGH 21, having overtaken a Type 49 Glacier Cups in 1932. Bugatti (also shown here) between the two previous hairpin- bends, is about to set a new outright record for the Stelvio. Was this, perhaps, the reason for the entry of R.L. Richardson's Railton in 1934, especially given the photographic evidence that Reid Railton himself had been 'in attendance' upon it? Just a thought, anyway!

James Fack

[For those not familiar with a pre-selector (Wilson) gearbox it can be considered as a precursor of the modern paddle-shift gearbox. It consists of a coupled train of epicyclic gears one of which is engaged when its ring gear, (annulus) is prevented from rotating by an external brake band. The brake band to be brought into play is “preselected” by the change mechanism and when the “clutch” pedal is depressed, it operates a toggle mechanism which tightens the chosen band. It is the toggle which provides the leverage necessary to hold the brake band in contact until the pedal is pressed once more.

The main disadvantages were size and cost compared with a conventional design, but until the advent of good synchromesh, the pre-select system was popular because it allowed very easy shifting as there was no need to double-declutch. It also permitted fast shifting at full power which was a great benefit when racing or driving into alpine hairpins. ERAs were fitted with Wilson boxes specified by Reid Railton and this gave them an advantage over their continental competition.

My Spikins Singer was fitted with a pre-select gearbox when converted into a single seater in 1935/6 and it enables me to anticipate the next gear required when on a hill climb. For example, if I know there is a hairpin coming up which requires a low gear I can select that on a less challenging section of track, whatever gear I might be in at the time, and to change down I merely have to depress the pedal whilst concentrating on steering.

In the Automotive Book of the Year 2018, How to Build a Car, Adrian Newey (one of the greatest Formula 1 designers of his age) spells out what an advantage it was for the F1 driver with a paddle shift car to be able to effect instantaneous gear changes with both hands firmly on the wheel. The parallel with a pre- selector-equipped 1934 Talbot 105 Alpine Team Car is striking! Ed.] 27

CORRESPONDENCE

From Jim Scammell Rare 1935 period ‘badge-bar horns’ We have recently identified those fitted to the car in the photograph as manufactured by Smiths Motor Accessories. The car 2505 is a 1935 Railton Sports Tourer supplied new in Sydney, Australia by Dalgety & Co. and fitted with an Australian, Diskon & Molyneux body. The first owner was W. “Harry” Stokes, who immediately started using the car actively in club motorsport competitions.

The horns were fitted new when the car was built, as evidenced by a number of period photographs. These horns are now very rare; and having never seen such a horn previously we wonder if any fellow R.O.C. members have either seen them, had experience with them, or even have a pair they would like to sell.

The car is currently owned by David and Katrina Monckton in Hobart, Tasmania. [A pair of these rare horns were located near Swansea and purchased by Jim but the experience was somewhat Kafkaesque! The vendor came across as a Walter Mitty character, was hard to contact, aggressive and the only pictures he was prepared to provide were either of such low resolution as to be useless or with the horns wrapped in cling film! Further, he was ambivalent about selling them yet put them on eBay halfway through the negotiations at a much higher price. The risk of being conned was minimised by sending them to me in the first instance, but eventually all was well and they were sent on to Australia. Ed.] From James Fack Richard Hirst seems to have developed an interest in R.E.A.L. a little late in the day! His Railton tourer BYP 252 was bodied by R.E.A.L. (albeit, subsequently shorn of its original wings & running-boards), and if you'd like to see what it really ought to look like, have a look at the middle photo on p. 192 of Don Butler's book. It was, in fact, the standard Railton tourer for the 1935 model year, after John Charles (Ranalah) had gone bust in late-1934, and before Macklin gave the contract for the 1936/7 tourers to Carbodies of Coventry.

More importantly, I now believe more firmly than ever that it was Violette Cordery's R.E.A.L. -bodied Terraplane tourer, used for the 1933 Scottish Rally, which formed the link between the Essex Terraplane 8 and Noel Macklin. After all, she was his sister-in-law and lived in the

gardener's cottage on his property in Cobham: who else is likely to have taken the photo of her in the passenger seat of the above car at Brooklands other than her own photography- loving brother-in-law? (See: Landflying: The Terraplane, p. 29).

It may well be that researches into R.E.A.L. have foundered on the spelling of its owner's name. John Dyson & I both believed that it was spelt 'Altman' or 'Altmann' - but Nick Walker spells it 'Alman' (and he was, after all, the Archivist of IBCAM). Not only would this make more sense, by R.E.A.L.'s then being a contraction of R.E.Alman, but a computer search might now come up with something completely new and different. After all, with a computer it's always a case of 'junk in, junk out'. They may be clever, but they're not intelligent - which is why I regard them as being of only limited use for really serious research.

From Dr Ajayrajsinh (sent to Mike Stenhouse & Toby Sharp) Good morning. I'm from India and I just want to know how many cars were imported to India as I have a chassis with engine which is said to be a Railton Napier 1935 model. It was imported by a Kashmir maharaja according to history. I just got one number from the car. I am sending you some pictures. I am requesting you to get some details from your side if possible about that car.

It certainly looks like it might be a Railton, and possibly a '34 with raised head engine fitted with the optional aluminium sandwich head. It has early type P80 style headlamps with hinged rims, Telecontrol dampers and Railton style wiring on the bulkhead. There is possibly an optional extra jack fitted to the front axle. It could be the Berkeley saloon of which there is a known photo in India, but there are no systematic records of cars sold there. 29

From Jim Scammell Last week I took a couple of friends on a 1200km round trip to Lake Gairdner in lower central South Australia to spectate at the 2019 Dry Lake Racers Australia (D.L.R.A.) Speed Week. We managed to have a week with relatively mild temperatures – the heat was restricted to competition on the salt. One of the blokes with me was Roger Rayson, 1928 Invicta Sports Tourer high chassis owner, one of two Invictas in Australia.

There were some 300 plus competitors of a wide and varied nature, both cars and motorcycles. The competitors most often compete for a personal best and hope for a class record. I think fastest this year was around 300 m.p.h. They have a 10 mile course on which to accelerate, perform and then brake. The lake is 100 miles by 50 miles in size.

We camp in the D.L.R.A. members-only camp 10 km from the lake, bush style in swags on the ground, with a single tent for after-hours sitting and camp storage. We have ablution facilities provided by the club adjacent to a large old shearing shed belonging to Mount Ive Station (sheep station). It’s great to go bush to this event. Wonderful vehicles, competitors, spectators, organisers, station owners and traditional owners.

You will notice a 1936 Hudson Terraplane in the shots (right). Unfortunately it’s fitted with a big Chevrolet V8, but in speaking to its #1 driver Darren Banks, he advised that the boys are tinkering with the idea of possibly using a Hudson 8 and entering a different class. Darren has previously tipped 130.00 m.p.h. and has been chasing the 179.14 m.p.h. class record. They travel across from Perth, West Australia which is a round trip of 4,650 km!

Of great interest this year was the world’s fastest electric streamlined motorcycle, being the sidecar class vehicle of Eva Håkansson,

over from New Zealand with her husband Bill Dubé and crew. It’s called ‘KillaJoule’ because it is powered by an electric motor that has set a 270 m.p.h. record at Lake Bonneville. To quote Bill, “it’s cost more to build than the value of a very good house”. To see this unit tootle through the pits at walking pace is as interesting as seeing it blurring the salt horizon. Its sidecar platform is aerodynamic and provides around 200 lb of downforce and, note, a passenger does not grace the sidecar.

Young Eva is the rider, builder and co-designer, along with co-designer husband Bill, and senior advisor and suspension designer Sven Håkansson, with crew chief Steve Lovell. Full details of this creation and its exploits are available at www.ScienceEnvy.com. They reckon next year, 2020, their new ‘Green Envy’ motorcycle will appear and have a shot at the overall world motorcycle record of 376 m.p.h. It is likely to have two electric motors giving a total of around 800 horsepower.

Woohoo ! We’ll be there. It’s all so wonderful, grass roots motorsport stuff and people.

MARKET PLACE

In March, this rather curvaceous Hudson, located in Colchester, appeared for sale via eBay. The asking price was £13,995. It was accompanied by handbooks and brochures and is fitted with the rare magic (sic) hand gear change. It is left-hand drive and does not appear on the Club’s database so may be a recent import. 31

The Coachcraft-bodied Hudson which graced the cover of the last issue was sold by H&H for a hammer price of £29k which totalled £33,350 when the 12.5% buyer’s premium and V.A.T. are included. However it did not stop there as the buyer defaulted on the deal and it reappeared in their next sale in Buxton on 10th April, where it was knocked down to a far- eastern buyer for a hammer price of £19,500. Graeme Wilkins spoke to the auctioneers and was informed that the original bidder was a family member of the vendor so no action was being taken against them.

One can speculate about the event but it does nothing to increase confidence in the general probity of the auction scene.

For Sale

Paul Collis is selling his very original 1936 Cobham saloon (shown here). It was featured in the May/June 2015 Bulletin.

Exported to Canada around 1974, it returned to these shores in 1983 and was subsequently purchased by John Bull in 1990. The car was put into storage in 1991 when John went overseas for work, where it stayed until 2014 when Paul acquired the car. It has been driven to many V.S.C.C. meetings as well as being used for weekend driving. Paul says it is a very nice car to drive and he has enjoyed his time with her, but other projects unfortunately force the sale. Offers between £15,000 - £20,000.

Contact Paul via [email protected] or telephone: 07958641421.

For Sale: Tyres Five Avon Turbospeed tyres to suit most Club cars. These are brand new, carefully stored and still in their wrappings but are available owing to a change of plans to now fit whitewall. They have the advantage over the more common tyres of having a much higher speed rating. Contact: Graeme Wilkins on 01202 751525

Also of interest, even though it is only a special-bodied V12 Jaguar XJ-S convertible, is one of the two William Towns “Railtons” which is for sale with Silverstone Auctions on 11th May. This is the blue Claremont version. Estimate is £60k-£70k which is about twice what the equivalent mileage standard V12 Jaguar XJ-S convertible would fetch.

As the XJ-S convertible was a particularly elegant car there are those who think the Railton should fetch rather less money but rarity won and on the day it was knocked down for £60k ( +15% commission incl. V.A.T.).

For Sale 1936 Brough Superior 8-cylinder d.h.c [This is Dick Barnard’s car which is also featured on pages 18 & 19.] When purchased in 1964 the car had only done a lowish mileage, probably mainly due to the intervention of the war and petrol rationing. Also, it had been fitted with a 6 cyl. Hudson engine, presumably as a fuel saving move, and I almost immediately set about re-fitting it with a low-mileage flat-head engine from a late Railton 8.

After purchase, all wearing parts were checked, overhauled or replaced where necessary. This included new king-pins and gear-box and other bearings. The running boards and front wings were a bit tatty in places, and these were re-built or repaired to the original shapes, and the car was re-sprayed. Hood irons and some other bits of brightwork were re-chromed. The car was re-upholstered in Connolly hide. New carpets were fitted, and a new hood made, and much later replaced by one in mohair. The car was completely re-wired and it did not get back on the road until 1967. It won the R.O.C. restoration prize in the 1970s.

Total mileage since new is a mere 27000(!) which averages out at 325 miles/year. Even allowing for lay-up during the war, and again during restoration, this is a low mileage.

In my ownership, mileage was significantly influenced by the arrival of our children, which made long-distance journeys unpopular for quite a while. The car did, however, later serve well as a wedding carriage for various members of the family and friends. Recently, the increasingly overcrowded roads and my age have been a significant deterrent to long journeys. Sale is now necessitated by my creeping decrepitude. The car is however in fine fettle!

I have a recent approved valuation certificate for £60,000, but I would be willing to sell to a Club member for a close offer. I intend to drive the car to the Kop Hill meeting, so this would be a good opportunity to view.

Enquiries to [email protected] 46 Lancaster Rd., St. Albans, AL1 4ET tel. 01727862930 or 07754406965 33

For Sale Peter Adamson’s 1935 Carlton Sports Cabriolet, CXD 817 (right), will be in Brightwell’s Leominster auction on 10th July. Details are on the Brightwell’s website. If interested, it may be viewed & driven in advance and will be on show at V.S.C.C. Shelsley on 7th July. Contact Peter on 07432 577357.

For Sale Paul Clayton is selling his garage business and there will be nowhere to store his cars once the sale is completed, they are therefore also being sold.

MG 5013 : 1936 Railton Fairmile II d.h.c. Concours condition. Serious offers to Ruth Clayton. Tel. 01706 826181

DPD 461 : 1935 Terraplane 6 Saloon. Offers to MG 5103 looking very smart at Polesdon Lacy Ruth Clayton. Tel. 01706 826181 during the 2017 National Meeting

Wanted Does this door lock I have tried to find window cranks and door (6mm diameter) handles for our 1935 Railton in the U.S.A., have a small handle? but the dimensions and shape of female component are incompatible with the male parts (see pictures on left).

The bumper that is now on the car is I am looking for a incorrect (as James Fack pointed out in a pair of handles with an 8mm diameter. recent Bulletin) and I have not been able to find anything here that looks similar to those that Railtons would have used.

I need a pair of window cranks with Any suggestions as to where I might locate a 2 cm diameter. these parts would be appreciated.

Contact:

Bill Lentz [email protected]

CLUB SHOP – AVAILABILITY AND PRICES

Price UK Postage ROW Postage R.O.C. Car Badge £35.00 £1.32 £1.65 R.O.C. Tie £10.00 £1.25 £1.43 Embroidered badge (approx. 3 inch wide) £5.00 £0.70 £0.90 History of the Railton £3.00 £0.70 £0.90 Land Flying – The Terraplane by James Fack £8.00 £1.25 £1.65 The Lost Coachbuilder – Atcherley by James Fack £9.00 £1.25 £1.65 Railton & Brough Superior Gold Portfolio £17.50 £3.50 £7.00 (Brooklands Books) Coachcraft by John Dyson £16.00 £3.50 £7.00

The most suitable tyres for your Hudson-based car always in stock at unbeatable prices. Contact Geoff Moore: Tel. 01497 851296. e-mail:- [email protected]

GENERAL ENQUIRIES: Contact the Secretary, Max Hunt. Telephone: 01299 401135 E-mail: [email protected]

PAYMENT BY CHEQUE: Cheques (sterling only) for the total including postage should be made payable to to “Railton Owners Club” and post with your order to: Max Hunt, Secretary, Abberley Cottage, 7 Dowles Road, Bewdley, Worcestershire DY12 2EJ.

VIA THE WEBSITE: Go to www.railton.org and then click on Club Shop. (You do not need to Log in to the Member-Only pages to purchase items). Scroll down and click on the Add to Cart button by the item(s) of your choice. Checkout using PayPal.

PAYMENT DIRECTLY FROM YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT: Registered users of PayPal can use the “Send Money” facility but you must send the money to [email protected] in sterling. Please add the following amounts to the total cost of your order including postage to cover PayPal fees. Total up to £10 (add £0.50); up to £14 (add £0.75); up to £19 (add £1.00); up to £24 (add £1.25). You can either list your order in the “message” area in PayPal or e-mail separately to Max Hunt.

PAYMENT BY BACS: E-mail your order to Max Hunt and make a sterling BACS payment directly into the ROC bank account. Quote reference of your surname/membership number so that we can identify the payment. HSBC Bank Sort Code: 40-17-04 Account Number: 91009877 IBAN: GB15MIDL40170491009877 BIC: MIDLGB2153R

Whittaker.

Club rally 1950, in driven Kingston by R.H.

bodied RailtonSports Light Tourer,DPL competing 94, thein Brighton & Hove Motor

Another picture carthe of this in eventappeared the on back cover Bulletin the of in July/August2016. The The 1935 Newns