mikeC

Yes, you're right! It's been scratched onto the negative: if you look to the left you can make out the photo caption in the same handwriting.

Triumph Cars - The Complete Story by Graham Robson and Richard Langworth is about as good as it gets - a comprehensive history with few errors. First published by Motor Racing Publications in 1979 before the end of the Triumph production, so go for the 1988 Second Edition, ISBN 0-94781-28-4, it's available new on Amazon at an astronomical price, so go for a good second-hand copy!

Super little film! I think it dates from rather later than 1923: lots of mid-twenties Citroens and Renaults, the Peugeot 172 at 1.07 is probably circa 1925, and the two saloons on the right of the picture at 1.20 look even later, perhaps 1928-29?

Wonderful! Lot's of Citroens and Renaults, large and small; I think that may be a Panhard at 0.31, two Model T Fords at 0.55 and 1.12... and a near miss at 0.16! I think this film probably dates from around 1928.

Hello from your older brother in the UK!

I mentioned in my opening post that I was not very impressed with the Cowley's performance. Well, a bit more tinkering this last week has produced a significant improvement. The ignition timing is set by the book with the manual lever set at full retard; I found that the lever was restricting the movement of the distributor, and was not giving the full advance setting. I have now reset things to give full advance, and the performance has improved dramatically! At last the car is now able to run happily at 40mph, with more available if needed - hurray! Not surprisingly, the fuel consumption has improved too!

Welcome Brittany. I don't know much about the FX4, but post your queries on here and I will try to sort them out for you. It will certainly be 12 volts, and if it dates from the early 'sixties I would expect it to have a petrol (gas!) engine; later models may well be diesel.

No sooner said than done! The interior has had a vast amount of money spent on it, and was a major selling feature; my wife loves it! The underbonnet is tidy, rather than immaculate, which leads me to think that perhaps the mechanics have not seen the same attentions as the body: The engine is basically the pre-Great War Red Seal Type U engine from the American Continental Motor Manufacturing Co. After the war William Morris acquired the design rights and tooling as Continental didn't see a future for it in the States. Re-engineered with metric threads, it was put into production with the UK arm of Hotchkiss, which was then taken over and renamed Morris Engines in 1923. By 1930 it was rather dated - definitely a plodder rather than a revver! Here is the car with my Saxon (another Continental-engined car!), taken last summer:

Quote: Re: British Forum Rules I can only repeat what I said almost three years ago. MG. Riley, Jaguar, Morgan, Austin and even Morris owners your cars cannot be so bad that you have nothing to say about them. Why not tell us about what you have done, are doing or are about to do with your car/s. Even Rolls Royce owners there is space for you here too. And Daimler too. oldcar/Bj. Even Morris owners, eh? OK,Bernie, I'll rise to your bait Let's have a Morris thread - not just my Morris, any Morris will do - pre-Great War Oxford or post- 2nd War Traveller! Mine is a 1930 Morris Cowley, generally referred to as a Flatnose, to distinguish it from the earlier Bullnose. I must admit I am really an Austin man, and Austin men don't speak to Morris men, and vice versa! But I thought it was time to experience life on the other side of the fence, so I bought my saloon about twelve months ago; unlike Bernie I don't really enjoy working on my cars, any work has simply been the necessary evil to permit me to enjoy driving them, so I cheated and bought the car in the condition you see here: It had been restored a few years ago, but had done virtually no miles since, and I soon found out why! The vacuum feed to the windscreen wiper had never been connected, so the carburettor had been reset to compensate for the excess air the engine was receiving. It ticked-over nicely, but wouldn't run at all well - surprise, surprise! A bit of tinkering eventually identified and sorted the problem, and now at least it does go, if perhaps not as well as I would like... I have only done a few hundred miles in it so far, and I must admit I am a little disappointed in it, but I think there is scope for further improvement before I pass my (Austin-biased!) judgement. It doesn't go as well as my 1927 Austin Twelve did (1496cc against 1861cc, so don't be too critical) but it isn't happy above 40mph, whereas I was expecting to able cruise at 40. Perhaps it's only done the few hundred miles that I have done since the restoration, so maybe it's still running in! But the brakes and general roadholding don't match the Austin either, so I think perhaps the mechanical restoration didn't match the cosmetic work. Anyway, as spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere, I'll get it out of its winter nest and see how we get on...

The market seems to be pretty buoyant here in the UK: if the price is right cars are selling as soon as they come on the market. In just the last few weeks I have missed out on six cars which tempted me - all sold within days of adverts first appearing!

Looks good, Alex - I'll send you some photos of my car.

I agree with the Humber identification, but it is earlier than 1925, and smaller than a 12/25; I would go for a 10hp of perhaps 1919.

Try Worcester Classic Spares, they specialise in the Mk IV & Mk V: http://www.worcesterclassicspares.com/

Hi Nick, It's a 1957 Triumph TR3; it belonged to a friend, John Ball. I navigated for him on a few historic rallies back in the late '90s; this pic was taken on the Classic Tour of Wales in 1998. I believe John sold the car a couple of years ago.

I agree with all that's been said above; I have bought two cars from the USA (I live in England) and have had no need to ask for such details. I have also sold cars to Italy and Japan, again without such a requirement. What country does your buyer come from?

Yes, I can add lots more! Practically every car I own or have owned is/was/has become an orphan - did I do something I shouldn't have? In no particular order, here are some of them... 1959 Triumph Herald Coupe: 1964 Sunbeam Rapier: 1968 Singer Vogue Estate: 1998 Rover Sterling Coupe: 1978 MGB Roadster: 1971 Saab 99: 1922 Star 11.9hp: 1929 Austin Seven Coupe:

That is the original finish; they were not painted!

My personal opinion is that the date of construction of the first car - prototype or production - represents the realistic starting point of a marque. I cannot believe that Maserati is celebrating their centenary this year when the first car was not built until 1926; talk about clutching at publicity straws... In the case of the Saxon, Harry Ford and co got stuck in pretty quickly, so it makes little difference whether we talk about November 1913, or January/February/March 1914. From Elliott's research I reckon my car left the factory around 9th May 1914, so my celebration will be centred on that date this year!

You could try Framptons Plates (mailto:%20plates@framptons.net) - they don't list the prismatic lettering, but do the standard ACE plates; they may well have odd items of old stock which will meet you needs. Otherwise, keep watch on eBay UK, individual lettering crops up from time to time, and typically sells for around £5 per digit. Good luck!

On January 3rd 1914, the New York Exhibition opened in the Grand Central Palace, and the Saxon motor car was unveiled to the general public:

Indeed! When I have been to shows with participants in period clothing, it has produced some excellent photo opportunities:

The Goodwood Revival policy works quite well - visitors are encouraged to dress the part, but probably no more than 20% make a real effort. Only the inner paddock is restricted to those in period dress, which produces scenes like this: Elsewhere there is a complete mix of fashions, period and contemporary: But I think this only works because Lord March is trying to recreate a very specific period - the late 1950s - whereas most events have a more widespread timescale; mixing Victorian dress with 1970s fashion probably wouldn't work at all well!

Here's another idea: I've tried to achieve a hand-coloured image; what do you think?

C'mon guys, don't let this thread drop off the front page!

Christmas Greetings from across the pond!