Cars & Bikes

By Ian Stewart

Over a period of almost fifty years, I have owned quite a number of cars and motorcycles, but cars were always my first preference and I was in my late 20s before I acquired my first motorcycle . . . although, to be totally honest, I've always preferred the comfort of the cars !

I can make the unusual claim that, once having passed my driving test, within a matter of weeks I was driving a 'Roller' !

As I said elsewhere, I'm a qualified automobile engineer and I was fortunate enough to serve my apprenticeship with the SCWS (Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society) who, in the late 1950s had the largest fleet of Rolls-Royces in the world. The number has often been quoted elsewhere as 150 but, in fact, we had just over 100. There are a couple of photographs further down the page illustrating some of the models we had. The 1949 Silver Wraiths were ours and I probably worked on all three when they were part of the Glasgow fleet before they were transferred to the Dumfries depot, which is where the photograph was taken.

The Motorcycles

1961 Triumph T20SH (200cc)

The first motorcycle I owned. These were more usually referred to as the Triumph Sports Cub.

They were easily recognizable by the heavier front forks (originally developed for the Trials bikes) and the 'tear drop' shaped fuel tank which was smaller than the standard Cub one.

I bought this one in 1971 and kept it for 25 years, only parting with it in 1996. It was a little bike with a big 'grin' factor.

Ariel KHA 500

This next one arrived as several boxes of parts from different model Ariels which, for some unknown reason, the previous owner had totally dismantled. I had to build it up from the bare frame, mostly managing to use what parts were available, and ended up grafting a 1953 all-alloy twin-cylinder 500cc motor (the only year that this motor was produced) into a 1956 swinging-arm frame. Being non-standard . . . it was the wrong motor / frame combination, had 12v lighting, 12v electronic ignition, air horns, modern shock absorbers and tyres, Italian Borani alloy rims and it was painted Black, a colour which Ariel had never used . . . the project horrified some of the Club 'purists' when I arrived on it at the annual Owners Club Rally.

We got as far as the Rhine in Germany on this one, despite the armature of the dynamo self-destructing in the centre of Trier due to the mid-afternoon heat.

Kawasaki GT 750

I've owned two Kawasaki motorcycles, both of them tourers.

I'd had the silver 750 GT for about a year and went into the dealers intending to change it for a new one. At the time, the 750 GTs were in short supply and he offered me a deal on a new 1000 GTR.

The GTR was an amazing machine, it felt big and heavy at anything below 10mph but it handled like a sports bike at anything above that. I gave up trying to find out the 'WOTL' factor (wot'l it do, mister) when I saw 125mph on the clock and it was still accelerating.

We went to the Rhine on the GTR too, accompanied by my pal and his wife who were riding a Honda Gold Wing.

Kawasaki GTR 1000

Having sold the GTR and 'retired' from motorcycling in 1993, I caught the bug again in 1998. One of the times I was in Indianapolis in the United States, I heard that there was a Suzuki VX800, owned by a local State Sheriff, for sale. It was a 1990 model, totally unmarked and had less than 1,000 miles on the clock. I went to have a look at it and, in a momement of weakness, bought it and arranged to have it shipped back to Scotland. The Sherrif's only reason for selling the bike ? . . . he wanted to raise some cash to replace his gun collection which someone had stolen. I kept the 'Suzi' for around 4 years.

Suzuki VX 800

Honda Innova (ANF125)

Nowadays, I have one of these little 'step-throughs' which, at just under 100Kg, is light enough to carry on the rear of the motorhome.

It'll carry two people, it's ideal for a short hop into town or the next village and there are usually no problems about parking.

It's also handy for nipping up to the local shop for fresh bread and milk or even when we run out of wine (as if that's likely !)

The Cars

As I said, I have owned a number of cars over the years. Many of the vehicles I owned in my younger days are now regarded, by some people, as 'classics'. At the time, I only regarded them as day to day transport and, to be honest, nowadays I probably wouldn't even be inclined to find storage space for the majority of them ! Unfortunately, I have no original photographs of most of these cars although I do have many fond memories of the more interesting ones. But the Internet is a wonderful resource and I have created a page of 'acquired' photographs which shows most of those models which I previously owned.

Austin A40 Devon	VIEW PHOTO PAGE	Hillman Minx mk.V
Austin A110	Riley 1.5	Hillman Minx mk.III
Jowett Javelin	Riley 2.6	Vauxhall Velox

Riley 1.5 RME

This is one of those I which I wish I still had.
It cost me the grand sum of £8.10/- (around 1968 ?).

I stuck a set of spark plugs in it, cleaned the points, put in some fuel, charged the battery and had it fired up within six hours of handing over my cash.

That's my Mini-Cooper behind it. This was long before 'two-car families' were the norm and my mother went crazy about having TWO cars sitting outside the house.

BMC Minis

If I had to pick the one vehicle which gave me the most fun over the years it would probably have to be the BMC Mini. Over a period of twelve years or so, I owned four of them, two saloons, one van and one estate car . . . one after another. With the exception of the Traveller, which was my last Mini, all of the others were modified in various ways to get a little extra 'oomph'. Because of the method used in their construction, it was fairly easy to switch the subframes between different bodyshells. As the front subframe included the engine, gearbox and drive train, the big advantage was that any time spent on modification of the engine, suspension and brakes was not lost when the body eventually rusted away . . . as they did !

This was my first Mini, an early (1960) 850cc with the original 'dry' rubber cone suspension, which really did come from 'one careful lady owner' as I bought it from a friend of my mother who'd owned it from new.

I later bought a 997cc Cooper power unit from a friend who was fitting a 1275cc unit into his own car and dropped it into this bodyshell.

As the disc brakes fitted to the 997cc Coopers were totally useless, I stayed with the original drum brake setup and fitted shoes which had harder race linings fitted to cope with the extra power.

At one point, I had the Cooper power unit, which by this time had been re-built around a 1098cc cylinder block and bored out to take +.060 Austin Healey Sprite flat-top pistons and had both the block and head shaved. The end result was an increased compression ratio of around 12:1.

When I fitted the front sub-frame with the modified engine into this Minivan bodyshell, it resulted in a number of very confused, and usually very frustrated, drivers of 'standard' Sprites and Midgets wondering why their sports car couldn't catch a mini-van.

Legally, it was subject to the 60mph speed limit restrictions on commercial vehicles . . .

Eventually I found, and bought, a 'written-off' saloon bodyshell which had been involved in a front end accident. An old panelbeater I worked with at the time cut off the front end and re-built it with new panels . . . another transfer of all the bits from the Mini van and I was back to a Cooper saloon. The last Mini I had was a Traveller estate, the steel bodied version. Shortly after, I went back to work for the Co-op and was given a company car. I hung onto the estate for a couple of months after that and then sold it. The saloon lasted a little longer but, despite being stored under cover, it was starting to rust through on the floor pan and I eventually sold it to someone for spares. And that was the end of my Mini days.

Other People's Vehicles ~ Part 1

For twenty odd years, in my job as a Group Transport Manager, I was responsible for £70,000 vehicles like this Omega.

I'm proud to say that I was directly involved in getting this one from conception to the production stage. This is the prototype vehicle outside Opel's European Technical HQ in Russelsheim, Germany. I had driven it from Glasgow to let them carry out the final inspection and grant engineering approval.

The prototype, and all subsequent limousine production, was completed by a Swedish coachbuilder, Yvenge Nilsson of Laholm.

General Motors 2.5 litre V6 six-door Omega limousine

The two photographs below are the Rolls-Royce photographs I mentioned at the top of the page.

Rolls-Royce Silver Wraiths (1949)

Rolls-Royce 20/25s or 25/30s (1930s)

Someone (not me) decided it would be 'a good idea' to get as many of our front line vehicles as could be arranged for a publicity shot. For a location with sufficient space, we had to use one of the car parks at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow. On the day, with the assistance of a police escort, we managed to get 112 Hearses and Limousines (about one-sixth of the total fleet) to the location and parked in some semblance of order.

SECC Photo

Other People's Vehicles ~ Part 2

Most of the major manufacturers have museums at their production plants and in addition to those below, I've been fortunate enough to also visit those at the Jaguar and Volvo plants. Unfortunately, because photography is forbidden in many areas of a manufacturing plant, I rarely carried a camera into these places and hence I have no photographs.

One of the times that I was at General Motors in Detroit, I was invited to look around the Cadillac / La Salle Museum. Note that this is a a private museum which is not open to the public ! That's where these first three photographs were taken.

Cadillac / La Salle Museum, Detroit, Michigan, USA

The Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart is open to the public. I don't know whether it's still on display but when I was there there was a huge diesel engine for a WWII U-boat on display as well as the nose-to-tail cars.

Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart, Germany ~ 1934 W25

Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart, Germany ~ 1954 W196R

Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart, Germany ~ 1955 300SLR

Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart, Germany ~ 1939 W154

The Auburn Cord Duesenberg museum in Auburn, Indiana is also open to the public.

Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum, Auburn, Indiana, USA