miscellany, October 1997
Pomeroy pedigree
More than 150 members of the Pomeroy family from all over the world met recently at Barry Pomeroy Castle in Devon, which belonged to the family until 1547. They include Laurence Pomeroy who gave us the Prince Henry and 30/98 Vauxhalls and who designed the late pre-war Daimlers, his son who became The Motor’s Technical Editor and wrote that great work The Grand Prix Car, and John Pomeroy who invented the Zeppelin-piercing Pomeroy bullet.
VSCC Wolds rally
This event in July resulted in a team victory for the White Rose Specials, of Alvis and two LeaFrancis cars. First-Class Awards went to Miss Amold-Forster (Alvis), D Bond (1908 Star), J Potter (Alvis), Miss Gill (LeaFrancis), A Lupton (Lea-Francis), and] McEwen (Riley), all aided by expert navigators of course. M Neale gained the Novice Award in a Lea-Francis and the best newcomer was P Mimpress in a 1922 Vauxhall.
A reader wants to know whether there is any record of a Mr Ivor Williams having raced Alvis Silver Eagle IC 16-95, chassis no. 8664. It was registered on March 24, 1931 when presumably the skimpy twoseater body was fitted. When Tony Bianchi bought it Mr Williams said the car had been raced at Brooklands in the 1930s, but we have no record of this. Can anyone add anything?
The history of a rather special 1932 D-type MG Midget now in Luxembourg is sought by its present owner. The car has a Jarvis coachbuilt two-seater body, and was fitted at the first owner’s request with a supercharger, special back-axle, and altered instruments, and registered PJ 320 when supplied to a Mr Arber of Chigwell. After the war this MG was owned by Wing Commander R White of Watlington. It is now being rebuilt and any information would be much appreciated.
From giant to Midget!
Owen Wyn Owen, who is famous as the person who disinterred Sabs’, has embarked on a quite different project, a little car built by a friend for his daughter’s sixth birthday. Assembled during the war on a Naval ship off the Scottish coast, it was constructed mostly from scrapped Swordfish parts, such as tail-wheels for the car’s road wheels. The engine was a 100cc two-stroke Villiers. Owen Wyn Owen bought it in pieces 20 years ago, intending to build it up for Geraint to drive, but the boy outgrew it before this was undertaken. The car was copied in part from a pre-war racing cat But which? Another puzzle is a plate on a tie-rod reading: “For use with torpedo set at zero degrees to datum”…
The Austin 7 Club’s magazine (the 1997 ‘C’-issue) celebrated the 75th anniversary of the A7 with a special issue which contained details of how the 1922 prototype A7 (OK 3537) was put back to original concept for the Gaydon Rally. Much history, correspondence from 1922, and reprints of roadtest reports from 1922/23, one from when the engine size was only 698cc. Fine colour plates of OK 3537 were included.