Transport Museum

Some strange people about, eh? I take it you mean a Morris 8 Series E. They weren't bad, but not easy to work on the engine (and the 10 was even worse) - little room for e.g. putting valve collets in, and easy - VERY easy - to drop them into the sump - not funny, when it happens!! They were monocoque if I remember correctly, and those earlu monocoques rusted wickedly - where you couldn't see it. My brother had a 1940 Hillman Minx for a time, and the sills almost disappeared while you watched - but you could only see the problem from underneath. Indeed, I remember when we went to Parkside to look at a later Minx - about 1952 or 3 vintage, about 5 years old - but the garage salesman said it couldn't be sold. It looked great, but the sills were so rusted that if you opened two doors one side you couldn't close them again without jacking up under the B/C post!! And they daren't open all four.........

The Ford Pop I guess you mean was the 'sit-up-and-beg' one (95E?) which was also a side-valve. Incredibly slow, lurched and rolled like a row-boat in a storm, but so simple and cheap to run! My mother was almost persuaded to have one, until she heard the engine running...the awful sucking sound it made!! She ended up with a Lanchester 10 instead.

Indeed, a friend (ex-Humber) of my father's ran a garage on Coventry by-pass near the original Allesley island during the late 50s, and he had taken on a Goggomobil franchise. He tried to persuade my father that he should buy her a Goggomobil. 600cc of pure "couldn't drag the skin off a rice pudding" driving enjoyment....!! Fortunately she put her foot down and said it was far too small. (It made a Morris 8 look huge!) Happy days, eh, with all those weird and wonderful automotive masterpieces!!

The Ford Pop I guess you mean was the 'sit-up-and-beg' one (95E?) which was also a side-valve.

Yes, this one: (103E)



Until recently I had assumed it was a pre-war design! It must have looked 'retro' even when first introduced in 1953.

The buyer of the Morris 8 (E) got the better of the deal, I saw a student-type happily driving it some years later. I still remember the registration plate, how sad is that?

The '53 Pop was actually a somewhat cheapened version of the pre-war Anglia. The pre-war one could reach about 45 mph; the '53 model about 55, with a tail wind, downhill, and if your nerves could stand it!! But they were relatively reliable and cheap to run, and a lot of people wouldn't have managed to own a car if it hadn't been for the Ford Pop.

I wondered if many people realise that car production didn't just stop dead in 1939, BTW. I said elsewhere that my older brother had a 1940 Minx, and no-one seemed to bat an eyelid! Production continued into 1940 for various makers, but tailed off for civilian owners; but of course, the armed forces needed cars, and production of 'militarised' versions continued, a lot of which ended up on the civilian market after the war as "1946" cars. Quite a few "1946" cars were in fact 1940 models that had been stored over the war years, quickly 'dolled up', and put on sale to get some much-needed cash flow going after the war. They certainly didn't last long; no doubt rust took a toll during storage. There were a few 1940-registered cars about, and my brother's Minx was one of them.

Virtually all the cars produced up to about 1948 or 9 were pre-war designs, often with little modification, and even my father's 1951 Humber Super Snipe was essentially the 1939 model with a boot added, and a bit of "streamlining". Jaguar was almost unique in bringing out the new XK120 in 1948, and that mostly because work on it was carried out during the war, due to Lyons' foresight, and as we know, it paid dividends.

Another feature of the war years was that people put their own cars into store. Between 1956 and 1960 my brother owned a Daimler Light 15 of 1934 vintage. It had belonged to a Birmingham Police Inspector, and he had laid it up over the war. After the war, he sent it to Daimler for a full refurbishment - costing around the same as its new price (£525), with the result that it was in superb condition even in 1956. On the other hand, my father, who had a petrol ration during the war, bought a 1934 Hillman Minx that was in bits, totally! Its owner was going to 'do it up' until war intervened, and since he was away in the forces, it was sold like that; my father paid £22-10s for it. He spent 6 weeks putting it together and getting it mobile; after the war, he sold it for £150, then buying a better one, the first of our family cars that I remember.

Dutchman you said about remembering the registration "how sad is that"? Well, I remember my father's second Minx in 1949...reg FXY329...... Even sadder, perhaps!!!! And the 1939 Humber Snipe he bought about 1953...BDY222....and his Super Snipe....MTF174.......

The Pop might have been a bargain if the buyer hadn't already owned a Morris 8(E). I say 'might' because this particular Pop was real lemon. I can't remember it making any journey over 100 miles without a major breakdown and that was with an owner who was fantical about routine maintenance. The asking price should have been a clue, only £75. I got the impression the owner was conned into believing the Morris was only good for scrap because he expressed incredulity when I told him I'd seen it running past my home with a new owner.

Believe it or not his next car was also a Ford, the new look Anglia!

There's a tendency now for quite a few people to claim that pre-war cars - and some post war ones - are 'only fit for scrap' or for turning into a 'special'. The truth is rather different. A lot depends on condition, but there are a lot of people out there who are prepared to destroy good cars in order to create "specials" which can be sold, especially to Japanese buyers, for a lot of money. When I sold my Wolseley, there was one potential buyer who wanted it and I wouldn't let him have it for this very reason; he and his some "make" Wolseley Hornet Specials. They are seriously different to the genuine article, and use a lot of modern technology, however, the VSCC accept them as "genuine replicas", which they demonstrably are NOT. It's all about money, as I said; a Hornet saloon in good condition sells for about £6-10,000, whereas they sell their "specials" for £27-42,000 to Japanese buyers.

The people doing this don't give a damn that they are destroying our heritage, all that counts is profit. They had bought every scrap engine they can lay hands on, so that now a scrap engine for a Hornet sells for more than £2,000; a few years ago they went for £100 if you were lucky. My Wolseley is the only one of its type in the UK on the road (there used to be 2 or 3 in Oz, with local bodies) and fortunately, as I said elsewhere, it was sold on, but it looks as though everything saleable was first removed from it (it had an almost complete tool kit) also the large quantity of spares that I had, to use in specials. The current owner will find it incredibly difficult if he wants any spares. That alone could seal its fate.

In years past, a lot of Wolseleys were broken up for MG dealers to acquire the differentials, so that they could be used to provide more performance.

That Morris 8 must have been in decent condition, or it wouldn't have been on the road; and a far better proposition than the Ford anyway. There must be plenty of spares for the series E, because I don't think any other car used its parts, so there is much less likelihood of cannibalisation.

Even worse is when perfectly sound vintage cars are turned into so-called Hot-Rods, it makes my blood boil

Sounds like you are as much of a Grumpy Old Man as I am!!!!

Being serious again, though, there is so much today that we can rail at, and I think it's the feeling of impotence that angers me most. One of my neighbours used to be a colleague at work, and I was surprised when he said "I'm glad I'm not young any more" the other day. We both agreed that if we were 30 again, we'd go to another country. He would like to go to Oz (He is too old now, also has some coloured blood, so not welcome); I said I'd like to go to Sweden, Denmark or Germany. I think it's not only sad, but a dreadful indictment of the state of the country and its deterioration that people of our age bracket should feel like that. I think it's not just about our heritage - that's a symptom though - but I think we have as a nation have lost much of our pride in ourselves, our self esteem, and pride in our country, and we've also lost so much of our tolerance of, and compassion for, others*. I honestly don't know how we can change that. I only wish I had the solution!

*A typical instance: a disabled friend of mine has decided to close his watch and clock repair business and retire because he's got so fed up with and depressed at being abused by customers over minor issues, like not instantly answering an e-mail. How on earth has it got like that?

Finally spotted the owner of the Austin A35. He looks like a foreign student and I suspect was more interested in acquiring a cheap runabout than with restoration?

Coventry's Transport Museum to take vintage Jaguars from Heritage Motor Centre



VINTAGE Jaguar cars once housed at the Browns Lane Heritage Museum will go on display in Coventry city centre.

The 15 historic Jaguars spanning the car-maker’s history will take pride of place in the Coventry Transport Museum.

The move is so the Jaguar Heritage Museum in Allesley can be demolished later this year to make way for a new housing development.

The building had survived after Jaguar stopped making cars at Browns Lane but at a council planning meeting in February, councillors gave the green light for it to be bulldozed for a development of 19 new homes on the site.

The Heritage Museum currently houses about 120 classic cars.

Those that can’t be displayed at Coventry Transport Museum will have to go into storage until a permanent place where they can all be put on show is found.

Enthusiasts were keen for the collection to stay at Browns Lane because of its historic significance as Jaguar’s headquarters.

Stephen Flint, organiser of a campaign for a dedicated Jaguar museum in Coventry, fears a permanent museum will never happen.

He said: “Jaguar Land Rover has never released anything concrete about their plans for a dedicated museum.

“Until they come up with a plan about what they’re going to do, everything is speculation.

“They’ve had years to plan this and the transition into a new museum should have been seamless.

“I just hope that the cars don’t end up languishing in storage.

“Jaguar is one of the UK’s most iconic brands and it deserves a fantastic museum.

“People need to appreciate the Jaguar History and I’m sure the Coventry Transport Museum is delighted, but we need to think about the bigger picture.”

Transport Museum chiefs will this week announce which models they will receive from Jaguar Heritage trustees for a exhibition starting in August.

Clive Skelhon, of the Coventry Transport Museum, says the arrival of the cars will drive more people through the doors: “It will mean a significant boost to our visitor numbers because people who are huge fans of the Jaguar marque will have to visit the museum to see them.

“It will also provide people with a golden opportunity to see the cars seven days a week when we’re open and it’s going to be great for the city as visitors go into Coventry.

“We hope to have the cars in situ by August because the Heritage Centre will be demolished by then and the Jaguars will form one of our main exhibitions.”

View Coventry Tranport Museum's usually unseen vehicles

VISITORS can have a secret glimpse of some of the Transport Museum’s hidden treasures with an event on Saturday.

The venue is giving people the chance to visit its off-site store, which houses extra vehicles because it cannot display its entire collection at the Millennium Place site.

Vintage buses will be available outside the museum to ferry visitors to the store from 10am-3pm as part of the Coventry Corporation Transport Centenary celebrations.

Tickets are £2.50 online, plus booking fee, or £3 on the day or in advance from the museum. Under fives are free of charge.

Visit: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/159049