Yesterday we took Harvey to Vintage Stony the annual New Year's Day event at Stony Stratford.
With bright and sunny weather after a very wet last day of 2022, it was packed with all sorts of machinery and the crowds turned out and the town was packed. Pride of place is given to pre-war cars so a number of us Sevens were squeezed into various parts of the Market Square. You can always squeeze in a Seven.
Colin Cooke was there with his nearly restored Cambridge looking very smart. As per usual the oldest vehicle at the meeting was the 1896 Leon Bollee.
02-01-2023, 04:14 PM (This post was last modified: 02-01-2023, 07:10 PM by Nick Salmon.)
Yesterday we toyed with going to Stony Stratford but in the end chose Barrington, between Royston and Cambridge. Several Sevens in attendance including those of Mick Ward and Paul & Michelle Lawrence.
Then today we went to have a look at the VSCC meet in Meldreth (just down the road from Barrington). Among some exceedingly large Bentleys, Lagondas, and Rolls etc were a number of Sevens, including the Nippy and the Type 65 of Steve Bradford-Best and Iain Mansell, and Robert Leigh's Ulsteroid. Couple of others turned up a little later.
Your passenger becomes your crush Zone. A number of Veteran cars had passengers in front of the driver. In Hull museums collection there are 4 A Coventry Motette and a De Dion Quadricycle. With similar configuration to the Bollee. The Marshal Benz and Gardner Serpollet steamer have 2 passengers traveling backwards in front of the driver and forth passenger. Original back seat drivers.
Also the French Automobilette, and the Sabella. In the latter case, Fritz Sabell had been the Bedelia importer, so the fact that his machine bore a very close resemblance to the Bedelia is pehaps not a surprise.
03-01-2023, 06:13 PM (This post was last modified: 03-01-2023, 06:14 PM by Steve Parkin.)
Following on my photograph of the Leon Bollee at Stony Stratford at the weekend which has created interest in vehicles where the passenger sits in front of the driver, I have access to the archives of our village and we have one or two vehicle related pictures, mostly of Model T Fords and the odd early motorbike.
The photograph below is of Mr & Mrs Fairchild of The Cottage, Poundfield Road, Potterspury about to take a winter excursion in their motorised three-wheel cycle in the early 1900s. Mrs Fairchild doesn't look very happy sitting in front on a cold winter's day!
Note the registration NH 63 - Northampton? Also, for the posed photograph they have placed a small block in front of the rear wheel as a parking brake.
