The First Windscreen Washers?

Sir,
The windscreen washers fitted to Mr. Poynton’s 1935 Triumph were fitted as a standard production feature in that year but were restricted to Gloria-Vitesse saloon models only. The mechanism as described by Mr. Povnton is quite correct. The efficiency of the washers is excellent in that as a jet of water is directed from the top of the screen towards the bottom, the action is positive at all times, and there is no fear when in slow moving traffic that the jet will spray the top of the car and completely miss the windscreen or alternatively at high speed spray the scuttle without having any cleansing effect other than to the paintwork below the screen which is common with the modern jet system. The fact that the water is drawn from the header tank presents no problems whatsoever for me. Capacity of the tank is approximately one gallon and it would need quite a few squirts of the screen washers to bring the level of the tank down to the point where overheating may develop.

I am pleased to see that some mention has been made in your magazine of these excellent pre-war vehicles. I have in the past six years owned two pre-war Triumphs, the first one being 1938 14/60 Dolomite “Royal” saloon which I parted with after obtaining my present 1935 6-cylinder Gloria-Vitesse saloon. Both of these cars either despite, or because of, their age have given excellent service over distance’s between averages of 15,000 and 20,000 miles per year. Workmanship in their construction is beyond reproach and the inclusion of so called “modern” comforts makes it a car which I consider to be well before its time. To give a short list of some of the comforts I would mention in addition to the windscreen washers, real leather over dunlop-pillow upholstery of the seats, four adequately sized doors, hydraulic brakes with a tandem master cylinder on some models from 1936 upwards, Andre tele control shock absorber, automatic starting systems, free-wheel and a very impressive performance even by today’s standards.

Redditch. A.C. Coak. Hon. Sec., Pre-194o Triumph O.C.