V-E-V odds and ends

News is to hand, possibly, of the ex-Hornsted 3-litre Cottin-et-Desgouttes mentioned in Motor Sport recently.

This car, which ran ineffectually at Brooklands in 1925, its best lap at only 69.85 m.p.h., is thought to have been built for the French touring car races that then preceded the French Grand Prix, these cars taking the first three places in their class in 1925. It was fitted with a modernised Offord two-seater body, and its chassis lowered, in 1935, under Hornsted’s direction, he presumably having kept the car for ten years, unless this was a different, 4-litre model. The engine blew up in the 1950s and went for scrap but it was replaced by a straight-eight Stutz power unit, and was advertised for sale in Motor Sport in 1952. It is at present being rebuilt in Wales, the present owner having finally tracked the car down in 1968. Incidentally, our informant is busily getting his 1900C Alfa Romeo ready for the forthcoming rally in Italy in April.

The present owner of the 1928 Bertelli Aston Martin team car LM1, who lives in Canada, would like to know more of the car’s past history, he having found it recently in a lock-up garage in Toronto, where it had been since about 1950. The car was driven at Le Mans by Bertelli and Eyston in 1928, maintained by the works until 1929 or 1930, after which it was acquired by S. C. H. Davis of The Autocar and used by him until about 1940, the racing body having been replaced at Sammy’s request by a two-seater Bertelli body of his design, in 1933. In this Aston Martin Davis covered some 100,000 miles, including winning awards in MCC trials, etc. After leaving his hands it covered very few miles, having been dismantled for most of its stay in Canada. Any anecdotes, photographs, or personal recollections of the car would be much appreciated by our enquirer, and can be forwarded.

We regret to learn that the only surviving member of the Association of Pioneer Motor Cyclists, William Dawson Chitty, died last year, at the age of 95, at the Royal Masonic Benevolent Home at Bury St. Edmunds. Mr. Chitty was a frequent rider at Brooklands, from the formation of the BMCRC in 1909 to 1911, with Frays-JAP machines of different engine capacities and a 270 c.c. Givaudan and a Martin-JAP and in 1910 was the first rider of a 350 c.c. solo machine to lap at over 60 m.p.h., on the Frays-JAP. In 1914 he moved from Buckinghamshire to Ipswich to join Botwood’s and in 1925 started his own garage in Mere Street, later becoming a Director of R. W. Chitty Petroleum Ltd. He retired to Southwold, becoming Chairman of Diss UDC in 1942/3.

Further to the article “I Worked at Rolls-Royce” on page 274, the writer, Mr. A. J. Atterbury of Derby, tells us that his father started at Rolls-Royce in 1912 and that he owned three Model-T Fords, a 1924 Rover Eight, a 1927 Rover Nine, a 1927 Standard Pall Mall, a 1926 Wolseley Weymann saloon, a Mathis, an open-bodied Peugeot, a 1936 Morris Ten, a 1938 8 h.p. Jowett and finally a 1938 Morris Eight. Mr. Atterbury’s brother had a 1912 GN, a 1924 Wolseley Ten and then a 1930 Super Sports Morgan three-wheeler with the 10/50 h.p. JAP engine. Mr. Atterbury himself started in 1937 with a 196 c.c. James motorcycle, and becoming an ardent rider followed this with a 1930 350 c.c. New Hudson, a 1929 498 c.c. Scott, a 1933 350 c.c. Rudge Special, a 1933 “Cammy” Norton, after which he took to a 1927 Aero Morgan three-wheeler with the o.h.v. Anzani engine, and, of pre-war machines, a 1939 Triumph Speed-Twin. Working for R-R during the war he drove various cars on his airfield-to-airfield missions, starting with a 1934 Morris Minor two-seater, followed by 1932 Hillman Minx, a 1932 Wolseley Hornet two-seater and a completely rebuilt J2 MG Midget. When his son was born in 1953 he gave up his sidecar outfit and took to a 1937 Austin 7 Ruby saloon, on which his wife passed her driving-test. This motoring family then owned many more post-war cars, culminating in the present 1980 Ford Escort 1300 Mk. 2 and 1977 Mini, while Mr. Atterbury is restoring a 1956 Bentley SI Radford covertible which has run 174.000 miles from new, for a friend.