V to C miscellany, April 1987

Late last year I just missed going out in a very smart, long-tailed sports Belgian FN (a 12/50 hp model I suspect), which had been here for professional restoration for its European owner. It was interesting to be told that it has a complicated system of compensation for its four-wheel braking system, like that on the 1925 FN saloon (reputed to have had the engine from the car which FH Hayward drove in the 1928 Ulster TT), which I owned in 1960 and which defeated every effort to make it work effectively. By coincidence, I sold this FN to the very person who restored the sports version.

The Friends of the National Motor Museum Trust have announced some worthwhile-sounding “Friends Evenings” in the Brabazon Room at Beaulieu, at a cost of £2 per guest. It is hoped to have an evening with Donington Museum’s Tom Wheatcroft on April 25. The Museum will be open from 7 to 8 pm on those evenings, at which time the meetings commence, and a bar and snack meals will be available.

The 1904 100 hp Gordon Bennett racing Napier, which has been in America since 1905, can be seen in the NMM by courtesy of Evert Louwman and John Bentley, until the end of April.

A motor yacht, built in 1938 for Sir Malcolm Campbell and named Bluebird, recently changed hands, and information is sought about it. Apparently it saw war service under other names, and is thought to have been owned in more recent times by the Renault family.

A Scottish bus garage was the unlikely home for many years of a Lagonda LG45 which has just been bought by Paul Tebbett, through an advertisement in Motor Sport. Although most of the saloon body has disappeared, the mechanics seem in good shape. Mr Tebbett would welcome any information on this 1936 car, which was registered AGA 162.

The Bean CC is holding its annual Daffodil Run on April 5 from Knowl Hill, near Reading, to Bournemouth. It is open to pre-war cars. Entry forms can be obtained from J Maxwell, 42 Vauxhall Drive, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire RG5 4DU on receipt of an sae.

The Fiat Register hopes to hold an International Topolino Meeting (for pre-war Fiat 500s) at Eastbourne on June 6-7. Details from: P Tortorlani, 32 Woodham Lane, New Haw, Weybridge, Surrey KT 15 3NA. WB