V-C Miscellany, August 1992

At the Lea-Francis OC’s Stanford Hall Rally, the 13th in the series, over 40 of these cars assembled, together with two bicycles and a MAG-engined motorcycle combination of the same make; the latter were those of John Hayes, who also brought his 1929 V-type Lea-Francis coupe. The prize-winners were: for best new restoration, Sir R Gaskell’s 2.5-litre prototype 14 hp sports model; Director’s Challenge Cup for winner of the concours d’ elegance, P Barwick’s 1951 2.5-litre sports model, restored since its return from the USA: vintage class, M Wells’s 1926 J-type coupe; post-vintage class, M Morris’s 1946 14 hp saloon. In the driving tests, honours went to G Willerton (1953 14 hp saloon).

The Driving Member, magazine of the Daimler & Lanchester OC, recently had an article on the Tunbridge Wells eccentric Mrs Haynes-Jackson, who used a 1908 tiller-steered Lanchester until 1939 (it is now in the NMN at Beaulieu), from an age which will certainly never return, SCH Davis’s 1962 road test report on a Daimler SP250 for The Field, accounts of the life of Edward Turner who designed pre-war, Triumph motorcycles including the Speed-Twin, and then the V8 Daimler cars, including the 120 mph, accelerative, luxury Majestic Major, my 1991 piece from MOTOR SPORT on sleeve-valve engines, and something on early Daimler commercials. A rally of V8 2.5-litre saloons takes place at Bentley Wildfowl Motor Museum on July 26. W B