Armstrong-Siddeley - British engineering magic!

[antongould]

My late father, in the late 50s collected pig swill in an Armstrong Siddeley reclaimed from a scapyard!!

[umslopogaas]

Not sure about the Jowett Javelin; I recall reading that it was actually a very advanced bit of engineering, covered in rather unassuming bodywork, but I dont know what the clever stuff was.

My grandfather owned a Jowett back in the 1920s, I've still got the handwritten purchase receipt dated 1923, from Messrs. Howard, Davidson and Noel of Ripley. Basic price £225, various extras inc. petrol at two shillings a gallon, total cost two hundred and forty nine pounds, five and eightpence. I've also got a photo of him driving it with my grandmother in the passenger seat and my Dad, aged about five and in a large sun hat, riding in the dickey seat.

Bristols, ah, now you're talking. I've never owned one, but an old friend, Andrew Blow, deals in them. Very classy stuff, hand made in tiny numbers, understated but very, very powerful. They use large American V8 engines and just about jump off the road if you put your foot down. If you fancy one, just google Andrew Blow Bristols, he's got a good selection for sale.

[AuntyKezia]

Interesting to see that petrol cost two shillings a gallon in 1923. I remember buying petrol at only 2/6 a gallon about 40 years after that, so in real terms the price must have gone down quite considerably.

[umslopogaas]

I think in 1923 motoring wasnt for the masses. My grandfather was a moderately prosperous solicitor, and he still bought what is by today's standards a very small car. I suspect that as motoring became cheaper and cars more available, the associated costs also came down, perhaps under pressure from the car makers: they wouldnt want a situation where people could afford to buy their cars, but then couldnt afford the petrol to run them.

The bill actually says "4 galls. No. 1, put in car at works, 8 shillings". It doesnt say whose No. 1 it was.

[Sydney Grew]

My great-aunt Beatrice, born in 1869, still drove her Armstrong Siddeley (just like the one in the picture) in the '-fifties of the last century. I remember that due to its lack of acceleration it mixed badly with the usual flow of traffic, especially when she attempted U-turns across the highway. The starter motor made a curious tinkling sound, rather like that of a door-bell or tele-phone.

[teamsaint]

Old man had an AS among his eclectic mix of vehicles. in 1972 (and I am not making this up), we took it camping in scotland. Drove to london, loaded it on the motor train thing , and off at Perth for a jolly fortnight in the glens.God knows how few the AS did to the gallon, but we frequently only ust jmade it to the sparse highland garages.
Amongst his other vehicles, not all at the same time, were a humber sceptre, a fiat 500 van, a commer van (?), an Austin 1100, and a wolsey. How we longed for a normal car like other people had . Usd to yearn for a ride in a cortina or Escort !!
Moral? don't buy a house near a car auction site !!

[amateur51]

Old man had an AS among his eclectic mix of vehicles. in 1972 (and I am not making this up), we took it camping in scotland. Drove to london, loaded it on the motor train thing , and off at Perth for a jolly fortnight in the glens.God knows how few the AS did to the gallon, but we frequently only ust jmade it to the sparse highland garages.
Amongst his other vehicles, not all at the same time, were a humber sceptre, a fiat 500 van, a commer van (?), an Austin 1100, and a wolsey. How we longed for a normal car like other people had . Usd to yearn for a ride in a cortina or Escort !!
Moral? don't buy a house near a car auction site !!

A lovely story nicely told, teamsaint

[teamsaint]

A lovely story nicely told, teamsaint

Thanks...
tpyos and all !!