• • • MESSENGER SPECIALS

Sir,

As the possessor of a not very usual name, a life-long follower Of an ‘,equally unusual sport, and quite a number of years ago a builder of several Messenger Special racing ears in succession, I was rather astonished to read from the pages of your journal that there is apparently another Messenger in the world who has been bitten by the bug, and built a racing car. I, of course, refer to the ” 500 ‘ which ran at Silverstone as reported in your issue for June.

would like to contact my namesake in England, if only to wish him well, although we have a common interest to write about. My cars were naturally much larger than his and all had a common source for many of the components -model T Ford. Various alterations to the mechanical details, including the addition of overhead valves, inchiced them to go much quicker than their original maker intended, though perhaps not so reliably. The last ” Special.” of which I am enclosing a photograph taken in I 930, was constructed in 1928-29 and had a special all-welded frame, circular web crankshaft, special eonnecting rods, pistons and camshaft, also a four-speed close ratio transmissien with direct drive on third gear. The compression ratio of 10 to 1 was quite high for those days, but it developed sufficient power to attain over 100 to 110 on a hard beach, and would accelerate from a standstill to over 90 m.p.h. in under 15 sec., while turning the curve of a flat dirt track. The body looks strange now ; it was the narrow singleseater of the period, rather high on account of sitting over the tafishaft. This car is still in existence, and is now being reconstructed by a new owner after lying idle since I crashed it up a bit in MIL See picture below. I am, Yours, etc.,

Auckland, C.1. IL E. MESSENGER.