1913 Crossley

This is one of the vehicles that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1983.

It’s a 1913 Crossley and the programme of the event had this note about the car:

 

22       1913 Crossley,

            Reg. NA 557 4-Cylinder 4500cc

            (Mr John Levaggi, Stalybridge, Cheshire)

This Royal Flying Corps staff car is one of only two of these Manchester built Crossleys known to exist in Britain. Has twin tyred rear wheels.

1921 Albert Allweather

This is a photograph that I took at the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1983.

It’s a 1921 Albert Allweather and the programme of this event had this note about the car:

 

35      1921 Albert Allweather, Tourer,

            Reg: KS 1488 4-Cylinder 12 hp

            (Mr A.T.Craven, Cottam, Preston)

Albert Cars originated in the Vauxhall area of London. The pushrod engine, manufactured by Gwynnes of Chiswick, was of Spanish origin, having first appeared in a sporting Spanish tourer called, appropriately, the Victoria.  Gwynnes eventually took over complete manufacture of the car. (Its Spanish predecessor, in fact, was named after Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain, wife of Alonso XIII and a grand-daughter of our own Victoria and Albert).

1904 Cadillac Model A

I photographed this car just after it had left the start line on the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1983.

It's a 1904 Cadillac Model A, and the programme of the event had this note about the car:

 

6        1904 Cadillac Model A

          Reg: BJ 208  1-Cylinder  6.5 hp

          (Mr. A.W. Hutt, Lytham St. Annes)

One of only three Model A Cadillacs in the UK, this car was first owned by Mr Pratt of Pratt's Petroleum, and then by Esso, being used a great deal in the 1930s for promoting Esso products. It has been in the Veteran Car Club since 1955, and completed several London to Brighton and Manchester to Blackpool runs since coming into Mr Hutt’s possession in 1976. Last year’s best effort was the VCC’s North West main event from Altrincham to Llandudno, a trip which was completed in one day via Denbigh and Betws-y-Coed, necessitating 1½ hours continuously in bottom gear.

1913 De Dion Bouton

This is one of the cars that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1983.

It's a 1913 De Dion Bouton, and the programme of the event said this about the car:

12  1913 De Dion Bouton,

      Reg: KT565 4-Cylinder 10hp

      (Kevin Bann, Fence, Burnley, Lancs)

This two-seater car, with dickey seat, is one of the Peter Black Collection from Keighley, West Yorks.

1953 Jaguar C-Type

I took this photograph at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1983.

It's a 1953 Jaguar C-Type with the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK engine. It is chassis XKC 053 and was a works team car in 1953 when it finished in second place in the Le Mans 24 Hour race driven by Stirling Moss and Peter Walker, the race being won by another Jaguar C-Type driven by Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton. Stirling Moss and Peter Walker took the car to third place in that year's RAC Tourist Trophy race while Peter Whitehead and Ian Stewart finished in third place in the Goodwood 9 Hour race with the car. At the end of that season XKC 053 was sold to the Ecurie Ecosse team.

1912 Fiat Zero

This is one of the cars that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and vintage Car Run in June 1983.

It's a 1912 Fiat Zero and the programme of the event had this note about the car:

1912 Fiat Zero,

Reg: LU 4369 4 cylinder 15/20 hp 2107cc

(Vic Lupton, Colne, Lancs)

Recently acquired by Mr Lupton, to replace his smaller Stellite, which was a regular entrant on this Run over the years. He is hoping this distinctive five-seater open tourer will perform with equal success and enjoyment.

1912 Delaunay Belleville

This is one of the cars that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car run in June 1983 and is pictured in Manchester before the start of the run.

It's a 1912 Delaunay Belleville (shown in the programme of the event as a Delahay Belville) which has a 6-cylinder inline 2.7 litre engine. A note in the programme  says this about it:

'1912 Delayay Belville

Reg: 9197 EH 6-Cylinder 25hp

(Derek John Casson, Lancaster)

This eye-catching rarity spent most of its life in New York's Grand Central Park. Imported into Britain in the late 1970's, it has a body by Brewster of New York.'

Looking for further information about this car I came across a 2019 auction description by H&H Auctions saying that the car is a Type IA6 Phaeton and its first owner was heiress Evalyn Walsh McLean who was apparently the last private individual to acquire the renowned 45-carat Hope Diamond.

1974 Jaguar E-Type Series III

This was one of the cars displayed at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1983.

It's the 1974 Jaguar E-Type Series III with which Bob Tullius and his Group 44 racing team won the SCCA Class B Production Car Championship in 1975. The Series III marked the final years of the Jaguar E-Type and was produced from 1974 to 1997 with V12 engines of 5.3, 6.0 and 7.0 litres, Bob Tullius' car having the 5,344cc unit. The car is now owned by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust.

Austin Healey 3000 Mk II

This is a photograph I took at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1983.

They are Austin Healey 3000 Mk II's, the one on the left being a 1963 car and the one on the right a 1964 car. In 1963 56 FAC was driven by Paddy Hopkirk and Donald Morley in the Sebring 12 Hour Race where they finished in 26th place and 4th in class. The next year Paddy Hopkirk drove 767 KNX at Sebring, this time partnered by Grant Clark, but they failed to finish after Grant Clark was involved in an accident after about 6 hours of the race. The Austin Healey 3000 has a 6-cylinder inline 2,912cc engine.

1959 MGA

This was one of the exhibits at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1983.

It's the 1959 MGA with which Ted Lund competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1959, 1960 and 1961. In 1959 he was partnered by Colin Escott but retired after 21 hours with a broken gearbox. In 1960 again with co-driver Colin Escott he finished in 12th place and won the under 2 litre class, then for 1961 he had a new co-driver, Bob Olthoff but their race ended after 2 hours with engine problems.

1912 Minerva

This is one of the cars that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's annual Monachester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1983 and I took this photograph in Manchester before the start of the Run.

It's a Belgian car, a 1912 Minerva, and although I no longer have the programme of the event it took part in the run in 1987 when the program said this about the car:

1912 Minerva

Reg: HS 457 4 cylinder 38 hp

(Nigel Bradshaw, Lytham)

Minervas were beefy Belgian racers of which

this blue brute is a superb specimen. They

used Knight sleeve valve engines of more than

2000 cc, and in the 1914 TT came second, third

and fifth.

1950 Alvis TB14

This was one of the exhibits at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1983.

It's a 1950 Alvis TB14 which was only produced in that year. An Alvis TA14 chassis was fitted with a body built by Coventry coachbuilders AP Metalcraft and the 4-cylinder inline engine was that of the TA14 with twin SU carburettors to increase the car's performance.

 

1954 MG TF

This car was on the stand of the MG Owners Club at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1983.

It's a 1954 MG TF, a car that was produced from 1953 to 1955 replacing the MG TD and in turn being succeeded by the MGA. This car, like all the early MG TFs has the 4-cylinder 1,250cc XPAG engine, and from later in 1954 the 1,466cc XPEG engine was used - those cars being designated MG TF1500s.

Greater Manchester Transport Museum

I took this photograph at the Greater Manchester Transport Museum in June 1983.

On the left is the former Rawtenstall Corporation 1950 Leyland Tiger PS2/1 with East Lancs B35R body, which I understand is now in the Bury Transport Museum. On the right is the 1947 Bedford OB that was originally operated by Warburton Brothers (Bury), and is still in the Greater Manchester Transport Museum.

Benetton

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in May 1989.

I had labelled the photograph as a 1986 Benetton B187, presumably how the car was identified at the museum, but the 1986 Benetton B186 was a BMW-engined car and the B187 is the 1987 Ford-engined car. The other problem is that I can't find a photograph of any Benetton car with this livery. The '012' on the front wings suggests that it's actually the 1983 Benetton Tyrrell 012, which was a Ford Cosworth-engined car and photographs show it to have had this livery.

MG Q Type

I took this photograph at the Northern Classic Car Show at the Belle Vue Exhibition Centre, Manchester in September 1983.

It was on the stand of the MG Owners' Club and it's a 1934 MG Q Type, only 8 of which were built.

Heaton Park Tramway

The Manchester Transport Museum Society was formed in the early 1960s and has operated the Heaton Park Tramway since 1980. The first vehicle the Society obtained was a 1914 Manchester 'California' tram, number 765, which was rescued by the society from a farm near Huddersfield and restored with the help of the National Tramway Museum in Crich. This tram and others are run on a stretch of about 1 km of track through the park and their website gives details of when the service is operating. Here's a couple of photographs I took of 765 when I visited the park in June 1983.

Greater Manchester Transport Museum

This is a photograph taken on a visit to the Greater Manchester Transport Museum in Boyle Street, Manchester, on 19th June 1983.

The first bus on the left is the electrically driven Seddon Pennine RU, designated  Silent Rider and numbered EX61 and originally with SELNEC PTE. It's apparently since been dismantled, but its sister car EX62 is now part of the museum collection. Wikipedia has this to say about the bus:

'The Seddon Pennine RU (for rear-underfloor, the location of the engine) was launched in 1969 as a competitor in the market for rear-engine single deckers. Although a very different product to the Pennine 4 it followed the same market-driven philosophy. Viz: offer the same major features as the most in-demand model but cut out most of the complexity, some of the purchase price and offer it for sale quickly and cheaply with the choice of in-house Pennine Coachcraft bodywork. The market leader was in the rear-engine single-deck segment was the Bristol RE and Seddon decided to use similar mechanical units, notably Gardner engines and Self-Changing Gears semi-automatic transmission.

The final RU to be delivered to a new customer was equipped with a Chloride sponsored battery-electric driveline and was called the "Silent Rider". It was sold to SELNEC (later Greater Manchester) PTE who numbered it EX61 in its experimental series, registering it XVU387M. The Chloride battery pack weighed four tonnes and the vehicle (unladen but for those batteries) weighed 13 tonnes (almost double the unladen weight of the Gardner-powered version) so payload was limited, by the axles fitted, to one tonne which equalled a capacity of B41D + 9 standing and although it featured regenerative braking the bus (like Lucas battery-electric Seddon Midi EX62 XVU364M which followed in 1975) was not a success. The Silent Rider project alone cost £100,000 at mid-1970s values, promotional tours to Sheffield and Chicago, Illinois, USA may have been prestigious for the Executive and for the manufacturers of vehicle and batteries, who were both major employers of voters in the PTE area, but Cook County Transit and the South Yorkshire PTE were, lacking the electrical-charging and cell-care infrastructure installed in a Manchester garage as part of the project, able to get even less use out of the thing than Greater Manchester who tried to employ its advertised 100-mile range by using it sporadically on one morning and one afternoon peak-time journey on routes 202/3. It was out of service by 1976.'

The next bus is a 1963 Daimler CVG6K with a Metro Cammell H37/28R body that was originally in service with Manchester City Transport, and the vehicle on the right is a 1939 Bristol K5G with a Willowbrook L27/24R body that was fitted in 1951 and was originally part of the North Western Road Car Company's fleet.

MG EX135

This is a car displayed by BL Heritage Ltd at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester, in September 1983.

It's the MG EX135 which between 1938 and 1952 in the hands of Goldie Gardner broke numerous world speed records. It started off life in 1933 as a six-cylinder 1087cc supercharged MG K3 Magnette which the owner George Eyston had fitted with a single-seater offset body finished in brown and white stripes, which earned it the nickname 'Humbug'. In 1934 George Eyston took the car to Montlhery where he set 12 Class G records, including a Class record speed of 128.69 mph, after which he sold the car.

Four years later, in 1938, the car re-emerged with its new streamlined body designed by Reid Railton and in the hands of Goldie Gardner who set new Class G records, including 186.6 mph over 1 km and 186.5 mph over 1 mile on the Frankfurt to Darmstadt autobahn. The following year at Dessau, also in Germany, he raised the 1 km, 1 mile and 5km records to 203.5 mph, 203.2 mph and 197.5 mph respectively. Two days later, after an engine rebore taking the capacity to 1105cc he took the Class F records to 204.3 mph, 203.9 mph and 200.6 mph for the same distances.

In 1951 Goldie Gardner took the car to Bonneville Salt Flats, USA, and set 6 International and 10 American records in Class F, and at Bonneville the following year 5 International and 16 American records in Classes E and F.

Higham Special 'Babs'

Here's a photograph I took at the 1983 Northern Classic Car Show in the Belle Vue exhibition halls, Manchester in September 1983.

It's the Higham Special otherwise known as 'Babs', a Land Speed Record car built by John Parry-Thomas based on one of Count Louis Zborowski's 'Chitty Bang Bang' cars. Whilst making a record attempt at Pendine Sands in South Wales in March 1927 the car overturned and John Parry-Thomas was killed. His friends buried the wreckage of the car in the dunes and it was dug up in 1969 by Owen Wyn Owen who then commenced a lengthy restoration job which still hadn't been completed at the time the car was put on show in Manchester. The restoration is now finished and the car is put on display each summer in a specially built museum at Pendine as this piece in the Carmarthen Journal reports.