Snapshots of motoring in East Yorkshire

We are pleased to have received these two family photographs from Andy Jackson, each showing typical scenes of middle-class motoring in England during the Edwardian and early vintage periods. The scenes are somewhere in East Yorkshire, likely close to the seaside resort of Bridlington, and the young girl is Andy's grandmother. The man at the wheel is believed to be her grandfather, although identifying relatives from that period is not easy, for her father was reputedly one of sixteen children.

The cars are depicted very clearly, making identification straightforward, even though the light car is a decidedly rare one. The distinctive radiator gives it away as a Calcott, of which just 2,500 were produced in Coventry between 1913 and 1926, during which time they changed little. Its largest product was a 2½-litre 16hp, but affordable light cars were its core product. We think this one dates from the vintage era, although we are not absolutely certain of its model identity, for it is very similar in appearance to the 1921 10hp at the Coventry Transport Museum as well as the 1923 11.9hp held at the National Motor Museum.

The second car requires no introduction, being a Ford Model T tourer. Even though some 15,000,000 Model Ts were produced between 1908 and 1927, this example is still a relative rarity on account of its antiquity. The absence of any scuttle between the bonnet and dash panel indicates that it was built no later than 1914, by the end of which year 'only' around 660,000 had been produced. Most likely this was a 1913 or 1914 car, as they were the first years when production was in hundreds of thousands. The caption to the Model T photograph, "Don't let any part of car show," is somewhat beyond our ken, so by all means try to make sense of it if you can.

There will still be a few Edwardian Model Ts giving good service in East Yorkshire today, but we wonder when was the last time anyone saw a Calcott outside of a museum? And would anybody be able to help with a certain identification of the model?

Words: Zack Stiling; photographs: Andy Jackson