What is the automotive connection between – An old hat factory; Tar Barrels and the man on an Omnibus.
This is a Round Britain Quiz type question. You may have to probe a bit to solve the riddle before you can move on to get the answer to the main question. Have a go, even if you aren't on track my responses may guide you to the final solution.
By all means use Google & Wikipedia.
You can answer here on the message board, facebook page or email classictrials@googlemail.com
There will be prizes for this question and more to follow for fun.
Michael is it a Block?
ReplyDeleteMark
That wasn't what I had in mind Mark! Have you got any of the three linking clues? Where could a hat factory be?
ReplyDeleteOK, in the spirit of Round Britain Quiz - I'm guessing Vauxhall. Vauxhalls were made in Luton which is famous for hats. The man was on the Clapham Omnibus and Clapham (in London) is near Vauxhall. But .. I'm sure tar barrels refers to Ottery St Mary (in Devon) and I can't work out the Vauxhall connection there. On the right track?
ReplyDeleteNot Ottery St Mary, something to do with early tarmac roads being laid in Vauxhall?
ReplyDeleteYes you are getting into the spirit Andrew. Lets start with the good news. Yes Luton was famous for hats and you are right about "the man on the Clapham omnibus" which gives you the Clapham part of the clue. You need to explain more about the tar barrels, no guessing here!
ReplyDeleteVauxhalls wasn't what I had in mind, that link is a bit tenuous and one part of the question gives a bit more of a clue than you have spotted.
Allards? Or, more specifically, one in particular? I really should get out more ...
ReplyDeleteI liked the West Country angle. Can't see how Clapham, Luton and Ottery St Mary are connected by Vauxhalls, or Allard(s).
ReplyDeleteRemember this is Round Britain Quiz Style. All answers have to be explained. Guesses not allowed !!
We have an unexplained connection. Andrew correctly connected Ottery St Mary with Tar Barrels. What is the connection?
ReplyDeleteOK, I think we're down to a maximum Round Britain Quiz Style score of 3 points out of 5 by now ...
ReplyDeleteSo ... we're looking for an automotive connection between Luton, Ottery St Mary, and Clapham? Is that correct?
Now I REALLY must get out ...
Old hat factory = Luton,
ReplyDeleteTar Barrels =Ottery st Mary
Ominbus = Clapham
All three have a "Ford Dealership"???
Are, or were, Marlins based in Ottery St Mary?
ReplyDeleteMarlins? Nope - Crediton.
ReplyDeleteThere is a link between A man on an omnibus & Brooklands????
ReplyDeletein 1929 a race was won by Sidney " Allard"
ReplyDeleteFrom David Alderson:-
ReplyDeleteI’m trying to make the automotive connection ‘Cooper’.
Coopers hat factory, Dunstable
Cooper Cars, Surbiton (haven’t worked out the omnibus link yet)
Coopers make barrels, Ottery St Mary’s annual Barrelling Festival running with blazing tar barrels
Best regards, David
Yes, now the clues to the towns has been solved we need the automotive link between them (and perhaps the story behind)
ReplyDeleteThey may very well Lee but thats not what I was looking for something rather more historical
ReplyDeleteThe locations are very precise David but I hadn't thought of that one and I don't see the automotive connection to Coopers hat factory. However the clue is "an old hat factory" so lets keep that in mind.
ReplyDeleteIts going very well and I'm sure one of you is going to get it soon. When you do it would be super if you could expand the simple answer into the full story. I have some pictorial clues that I will have to give you tomorrow if you haven't solved it by then.
ReplyDeleteWhat they get up to on a winters evening in Ottery St Mary
ReplyDeleteOK here is the first picture clue. With a bit of lateral thinking it should point you in the direction of what went on at one of the locations. And once the ball is set rolling....
ReplyDeleteTo dissect this clue it starts with identifying the name of the car. Then how the name came about.
ReplyDeleteFrom Jon Way:-
ReplyDelete"In May, 1958, Jem Marsh set up Speedex Castings and Accessories Limited at 33 Jubilee Street, Luton, on the site of an old Hat Factory..."
Well done Jon. The car below is a Marcos. (from Jem Marsh and Frank Costin). As Jon says before the Jem Marsh established Speedex in an old hat factory in Luton. Slowly but surely we are getting there....
Lets remind ourselves of the question - What is the automotive connection between – An old hat factory; Tar Barrels and the man on an Omnibus.
We have now established that Speedex was established in the old hat factory, the Tar Barrels point to Ottery St Mary and of course the man was on the Clapham Omnibus.
Now lets think about what products Speedex make and try to establish who the other companies are/were, the men behind them and what links them together.
I thought Classical Gas was supposed to be about trials not circuit racing - I know what a Marcos is, but you've lost me on Speedex. I give up ;-)
ReplyDeleteSpeedex equipment was, and is, extensively used by triallers using Austin Seven and Sidevalve Ford based cars Andrew. Like Colin Chapman and others Jem Marsh started out trialling through the 750 MC before before moving onto other things.
ReplyDeleteobscure connections from Ottery st Mary go to Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Ancient Mariner to Marina (Morris) to Oxford ........ but none of it is getting anywhere . Still it keeps the mind active and away from the TV !
ReplyDeleteSome more (helpful?) hints. There can't be that much automotive history in Otterly St Mary but if you need a clue there are plenty of pictures not many mouse clicks from here.
ReplyDeleteAnd as to the Clapham Connection, perhaps this will help.
Well, as Jem Marsh may be the link, together with Speedex and Marcos he also worked briefly for Leslie Ballamy of the LMB independant suspension (amongst other things), and they had premises at 63 Old Town Clapham, SW4.
ReplyDeleteWell done Andrew for getting the Leslie Ballamy connection. LMB did indeed start out in Clapham. The car pictured is The Symmons Special, otherwise known as the LMB V8. It started out as a trials car but can be seen today at Prescott
ReplyDeletehttp://classicaltrials.multiply.com/photos/album/112/Mystery_Trials_Car_-_Can_anyone_help
Incidently, in Leslie Ballamy's biography "Out in Forot" on page 57 it says "During 1937 & 1938 LMB built a number of other Ford V8 trials specials. One of them, carrying the registration number BCJ 598 and known as the Telford, was actively campaigned by C.A.N. (Austen) May and carried 2cwt of lead ballast over the rear axle to improve traction".
The link I had in mind wasn't Jem Marsh and I can't connect him with Otterly St Mary but much is in place. Lets recap the question - What is the automotive connection between – An old hat factory; Tar Barrels and the man on an Omnibus.
ReplyDeleteI will say the connection is something, rather than someone.
Here's where we are
An old hat factory - Speedex Castings and Accessories Limited
Tar Barrels - Otterey St Mary = ????
A man on an Omnibus - Leslie Ballamy's company, which started in Clapham
I have also said - There can't be that much automotive history in Otterly St Mary but if you need a clue there are plenty of pictures not many mouse clicks from here.
All the way from The Lake District, an Ottery St Mary Clue. Click here for a big version http://hoits.smugmug.com/Classic-Trials/Northern-Trial-February-2008/Northern-Trial-2008-Sandale/DSC6600/256088202_EoBCx-X3.jpg
ReplyDeleteAh, Bowden Engineering.
ReplyDeleteSpeedex, LMB and Bowden all offered period tuning items for specials and the like in the 50s and 60s
Well done Andrew, specifically Independent Front Suspension conversions for Austin Seven's and Ford 10's. Ballamy pre-war and Speedex & Bowden in the late 50's. I will post a fuller explanation when my brain recovers. That's a Ballamy on KMB 300 and a Bowden on Thomas Aldrians modified Class 5 Austin 7 pictured on Sandale by Dave Cook.
ReplyDeleteBig shoutout to John Hammill for coming up with the original question although to be fair I though it was to easy and toughened it up a little, well a lot actually.
Now we know what Dick Bolt's been reading for his ballasting tips :]
ReplyDeleteWell done to all
ReplyDeletefound this link in passing
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/austin7ifs.htm
I didn't know about it and to think I drive along Mill Lane weekly on the way to my workshop!!
Looking forward to the next question