Through the pages of your excellent magazine I wonder if I could trace the whereabouts of two cars that belonged to my father in years gone by.
The first was a 1934 Lagonda Reg.No .AXB 104 and the other was a 1932 Rolls Royce 20/25 .Reg. No. XJ 3029. I should be very interested to hear from the present owners.
May I take the opportunity of thanking you for many hours of very enjoyable reading”.
This letter was written by a chap named John Eastwood who lived in Sutton Coldfield just over sixty years ago and was printed in the November 1959 edition of the popular motor racing magazine, Motor Sport. This magazine which still is very much alive began life as the Brooklands Gazette in 1924. It changed its name to the present one in August 1925 and although I do not read it, I understand that it still covers motor sport in general. As you may gather, I am not a Petrol Head and the present F1 competitions leave me quite cold as with football, it has in many ways lost its heart. I followed it when the likes of James Hunt and Nicki Lauda were racing but my favourite driver was Jackie Stewart who did so much to improve the safety of the sport after we lost drivers such as Jim Clark and other great drivers in what seemed a short period of time.
One of my uncles called this era of racing The Era ofDirty Racing which I think is quite apt as against today’s cars these cars seemed to be in the Stone Age safety wise and because of this, accidents were more frequent and often fatal. The technology was also light years away and recently we have seen how thehalo has saved drivers from serious injury and possible death. I for one am glad of this as safety is paramount in any sport and I can remember when as a footballer’s concussion was just ignored whereas today, we have protocols and studies into certain related illnesses. Things have certainly changed for the better, but F1 is in my opinion not much more than a procession these days due to the high performance of some of the cars.
Lewis Hamilton has chosen to involve politics with the sport which is unforgivable as I feel it is now within football and other sports. He is a great driver but does not have the personality of let’s say James Hunt whose career I followed along with Jackie Stewart’s. It would be interesting to see how some of the modern drivers would cope with the racing cars of the 1960s and 1970s as they were nothing like today’s cars. A movie called Rush came out a few years ago which I can recommend and deals with the intense but sporting rivalry between Hunt and Nicki Lauda and in a way catches the passion of the era.
But let us return to Mr Eastwood’s letter. I wonder if he was ever contacted by the then owners of his father’s cars and I further wonder if these beautiful cars are still in existence today. If so, they would be worth a fortune given the prices that classic cars fetch these days. Who knows you might see one of them at a classic car event which are frequently held at Hungerford Arcade and surrounding areas. I would like to think that he was contacted shortly after his letter was printed, but only history knows the answer.
Before I close, let’s nip back to the magazine which apart from the great articles and photographs has some advertisements which almost bring a tear to one’s eye. The
Halfway Garage (which I believe is still there) is situated between Hungerford and Reading on the Bath Road was in my 1959 magazine advertising a 1936 Sedanca De Ville for £1450 or, if that did not take your fancy, a 1952 Mille Miglia Frazer Nash for £1150. Truthfully, I have never heard of either of these cars but I am sure they would have been great fun to own and drive. The prices quoted would not buy you one of the more upmarket season tickets at a Premiership football club and is about what I spend when I am out in Canterbury with Wildchild, Damien and Sassy Lil (not forgetting the boys) just before Christmas.
These cars were obviously pre owned but there were a large number of new cars advertised such as Ford Anglia’s, Mini-Minors and Triumph Heralds and many others (we stillsee some of these on the roads today along with the ever dependable Volkswagens). I have already touched on the prices and the small ads are a treasure trove of social history with cars and vans going for between £30 and £100 (and these were only the ones that I looked at).
As a child, I remember seeing an old banger for sale at the local Regent Garage (remember them) for £15 and seriously considering purchasing it as I had around £50 left to me in trust (I was eight) when a family friend died. Needless to say, my father talked me out of it and purchased some Battle Cards (which are now almost forgotten) for me instead. Who knows, you might find some Battle Cards (which portrayed the American Civil War in gory detail and were controversial at the time) in the Arcade. I cannot say that I have seen any but I can assure you that you are very likely to find vintage copies of Motor Sport and other motoring magazines if you look around the units.
Petrol Head memorabilia is also for sale in the Arcade including oil cans and signage as well as lots of ephemera. It is an interesting and relatively inexpensive hobby and the magazines are quite cheap. You should not expect to pay more than a pound or two for any of these retro publications. Like everything it depends on how seriously you take your hobby. I paid 25p each for the four 1959 Motor Sport magazines in a charity shop and they have been an enjoyable read ever since.
