That 25/30 Maudslay

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Arising out of last month’s description of the 1910 25/30 Maudslay in the Coventry Museum, we have heard from Mr. G. B. Corser who ran the car in 1959-60. The Maudslay had been laid up in Borth in 1927 and Mr. Corser bought it from the son of the original owner in 1959. It was in a very dilapidated condition and he rebuilt it, loaning it to Coventry Museum while he was doing the same work on a 1901 de Dion Bouton. Due to a back injury, he later reluctantly sold it to the Museum. The Maudslay had been in use, apart from being laid up during the 1914/18 war, from 1919 until it went into retirement, as recounted, in 1927. It was then stored near the sea, which did not help to preserve it. The engine was seized, the gearbox selectors bent, the leather perished, screen broken and tyres as hard as concrete. A gale had caused the garage roof to collapse, damaging beyond salvation the bonnet, hood-irons, etc. Mr. Corser completely renovated the car, the wooden wheels then being saveable (alloy wheels have since been substituted), but 22 yards of vynide being used for the upholstery.