The Newland Files Pt. VIII: happy days at Brands Hatch

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Geoff Newland’s home in Orpington placed him conveniently within the catchment area for race meetings at Brands Hatch. As a very young man, he was even prepared to cycle to them. Of course, for a pre-war enthusiast, some of the cars which filled the car park could be at least as exciting as the later cars which were doing the racing. Geoff had his camera to hand to capture the most impressive arrivals.

Austin 12s
In Part IV, we pictured a Rolls-Royce Phantom which was in the yard of Edward Burkart, a vintage car dealer, at Wrotham Heath, a short distance beyond Brands Hatch along the Dover road. This pair of lovely vintage Austin 12s was in that very same yard, along with another, radiatorless, Rolls-Royce.

Morris saloon
This charmingly scruffy Flatnose Morris was also an inhabitant of Burkart's yard.

1938 Rolls-Royce Phantom III
This magnificent 1938 Rolls-Royce Phantom III with razor-edge sports saloon bodywork by H. J. Mulliner certainly upstages the Ford Consul next to it. This particular car has been well-restored at some stage but has not been used on British roads since 2011.

Vauxhall 14/40
This delightful Vauxhall looks like it had been well cherished. It is surely still around, although without a visible registration number we can make no positive identification.

1930 Sunbeam 16.9hp
This Sunbeam 16.9hp looks extremely smart with its factory-built coupé body and tasteful black and taupe colour scheme. This particular car—reputedly the 1930 Olympia exhibit—was first sold to the 62-year-old Isaiah Hall of Westcliff-on-Sea and was used for Continental trips to Belgium and Switzerland, but it was laid up for the war. After Hall’s death in 1948, his son sold it to Wing Commander Noel Hans Hamilton for £150 in 1949, and he drove it for 60,000 miles until 1960. Between then and 1963, it belonged to Mr. P. Mill of Bromley, the photograph clearly showing the car during his stewardship. In recent years, this car was seen to survive in oily-rag condition, and it remains on the road.

c.1921 Ford Model TT
We are curious as to the present whereabouts of this well-presented Ford Model TT. In jaunty bright blue, it appeared at rallies in the ’60s and ’70s but has not been used on the road since 1983. However, it most recently changed hands in 2022, so it’s still out there somewhere.

1926 Humber 12/25
This exemplary vintage Humber is still motoring around today. When it sold in 2007, KM 4516 was said to have had only five owners from new. In recent years, it has been working as a wedding car in Staffordshire.

1959 Alvis TD21 and 1960 Fairthorpe Electron
Pardon the interloper—this 1959 Alvis TD21, chassis 26019, is the only post-war car in all Geoff’s photographs from this era, but it’s a very worthy one, being an extremely elegant design and one of the last cars to keep traditional coachbuilding alive. At the other extreme, the car next to it is a Fairthorpe Electron, a fun little fibreglass sports car with Coventry Climax power which the impecunious enthusiast could assemble himself. The Alvis has not been on British roads since 2009. Does anyone know what’s become of it? Remarkably, the Fairthorpe appears to be still with us. It has not been on the road since 1981, but a new logbook was issued for it in 2013.

1926 Bentley Three-Litre
This car must have been a favourite of Geoff’s, since he took four pictures of it and printed them extra-large. Chassis PH1453 has led a fascinating life. Originally bodied by Gurney Nutting for a Mr. Penman, during the war it ended up turned into an ambulance, which was driven by a lady called Agnes Hibbs in Havant, Hampshire. It was later bodied as a four-seater and belonged in the 1960s to Wally Nuttall of Peterborough. He traded in his Lagonda Two-Litre to buy it from Colin Crabbe Antique Automobiles, but crashed it on the way home. Around 1969 or 1970, it sold to the owners of Bude Caravan Park in Cornwall for £850 with a broken back axle, and was rebuilt in the 1970s by Dan Margulies, probably receiving its replica Vanden Plas body during this time. Margulies sold it to Australia in 1978, where it has remained since.

1935 Morgan three-wheeler
Geoff was also particularly taken by this Matchless-engined Morgan. We know nothing more about this car, except that it is alive and well and on the road, and has appeared recently at rallies in England’s Midlands.

Our grateful thanks to Geoff Newland for allowing us to publish this series.

Words: Zack Stiling

Aggiunga un commento...