Obituary

I feel extremely sad at having to pen this obituary notice about W G S Wike. He was such an enthusiast for cars of all kinds but especially the older and more exciting ones. He was also full of dry humour, as we found out when he wrote those inimitable Motor Show reports for the VSCC Bulletin.

Born near Manchester in 1909 and educated at Marlborough and Cambridge, where he read economics, his family had been owners of a textile business for generations. After service in the R A F, Wike joined the firm, of which he became its Chairman. He married a doctor in 1940. Before that Wike had owned all manner of interesting motorcars, including the 21.7-litre aero-engined FIAT “Mephistopheles”, which he drove as ordinary transport for a while, a Chrysler 70, Anzani and Meadows-engined Frazer-Nash, Lancia Lambda, Minerva, Alphonso Hispano-Suiza; 22/90 and 1500 Alfa Romeo, 3-litre Bentley, 1100 HRG, twin-cam 3-litre Sunbeam, Daimler and six 30-98 Vauxhalls. He founded the Northern Section of the VSCC and he did much marshalling duty for this Club. He also drew cartoons for its Bulletin and in the aforesaid reports of the Motor Show could be comically rude, where necessary, about modern cars.

He is a great loss to this Club and vintage motoring in general — his like are becoming very rare, if not altogether extinct. I lift the latter story of Peter Wike from the VSCC Bulletin — when he was asked to join a brains trust he refused, on the grounds that he had no brains and his wife didn’t trust him. . . Our profound sympathy to that lady, Beryl Edgecombe, and her married daugh ter Catherine. WB