Martin Prior

Apologies if this has been covered, but I'm new to the Forum. A really nerdy question:

Back in the spring, Confused.com ran a TV ad in which the appalling "Brian the Robot" ends up on a scrapyard conveyer belt. Unfortunately he is saved from incineration.

On the conveyor, just ahead of the irritating automaton, is a white-on-black numberplate, "LN 4743". This is the registration of the IWM's B-type bus.

Is this a private joke, or what?

I really must get a life!

Thanks for your interesting reply, Roy.

Perhaps, post-war, Major Munro was simply trying to maintain his military image by creating a staff car lookalike!

The Major does sound a very intresting person. Must start doing some nosing about. Nothing wrong with finding your job intresting, wish I did with mine, any way! Provenence, adds to a vehicle value, not to mention fascinating.

Hi Tony. If it's of any use, the Major's National Archive reference is WO339/23764, former ref.44178. In 1925 his address was 7 Stephenson Terrace, Wylam, Northumberland. If you turn up anything interesting, please let me know!

hmmm? never heard of a "scuttle dash" before, anyone know what that is? Love the velvet and pile carpet too.

I assume a 1-man hood simple means a hood with a hinge?

these cars are pretty amazing to see though, a friend has a 1924 willy's coupe here and it looks like a horse-drawn wagon that someone unhitched the horses from and dropped in a crude 4 cylinder engine. Wooden spoked wheels : )

There may be a problem with transatlantic terminology here!

The scuttle is the section of the body between the windscreen (windshield) and the bonnet (hood), so I assume that a "scuttle dash" is effectively an instrument panel in the position that we're familiar with today.

Over here, the hood means the roof (top)! I assume that this one was simpler and lighter than most in the pre-1914 period and suitable for one-man operation.

A very interesting project

 

You may wish to contact the Beamish Museum as they have a AW replica and so must have had info to build it.

 

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Armstrong_Whitworth:_Cars

 

Tom

Thanks, Tom.

I believe that the owner of "our" car has looked at both the Beamish and the Newcastle Museum cars, but didn't glean anything very useful from either.

Fantastic opportunity there, please keep us updated with any news, not sure if this club may be able to help. http://www.siddeley.org/contact-us/ as they may have access to archives from the company?

 

Steve

Thanks, Steve. If the owner hasn't already, I'll follow that up.

I suspect that we have all dreamt of uncovering something like this. I'm amazed that a progression of owners understood the value of the pile of bits and stored them for such a long period of time. The photo of the bits is impressive. I like the idea of preserving it as-is; under the circumstances it looks in such great condition. And look forward to word/pic of progress... R

Yes, whatever its origins it's a remarkable survivor. If some b***er hadn't at some point used a couple of the body panels as a source of sheet aluminium and also cut out a couple of lengths of ash framing for use elsewhere, it would be in near-perfect condition. These are both pretty minor issues, though.

The mechanical condition is very similar. At some time it's had major front-end damage; one of the dumb-irons, though repaired, is about 1" shorter than the other. Everything else seems to be in good order.

Why on earth it was so completely dismantled and the parts then kept together for so long, I have no idea.

Now that is the sort of Jigsaw I like! You lucky ......... A lot of officers took private vehicles with them during the Great War, a follow on from the paractice of purchasing thier own horse and occasionaly they were 'Bought into service'. Can you get any more info on Major Munro? His service record, branch of the srvice etc might give more hints.

Major James McVicar Munro, OBE, was in the Gordon Highlanders from 1914 until 1922. Wounded at Loos 26/9/15 and (I think) at Mametz Wood. He received his OBE "For services as Chemical Advisor". He sounds an interesting character, but as I mentioned before doesn't appear to have had any connection with the car before 1925.

I'm supposed to be working on the body as the "day job", But I'm truly gripped by its shadowy history!

Armstrong-Whitworth torpedo tourer, wow, coolest name EVER ! :laugh:

 

seems like the place to start would be the surviving Munro's, they probably have pics of the major and the car as well.

The 1960 buyer purchased the car directly from Munro Junior and pumped him pretty thoroughly for any history. Unfortunately his knowledge of it only went back to 1925 when his father bought it.

..........and yes, a pretty cool name!

Hi Robert. I don't have photos of anything other than the body at the moment. The car is still in a largely dismantled state, but is mechanically complete. For whatever reason, it was taken apart down to the last nut, bolt and screw in about 1932. When I collected it, the body looked like this..........

............The owner thought that only about 50% of it was there and wanted me to see if there was enough left to re-create the rest. When I started to sort this jig-saw puzzle out I was amazed to find that it was 98% complete!

I can't really describe the paint beyond what can be seen in the photos. There appears to be just one fairly thick coat, with an eggshell finish. The colour perhaps lacks the slightly yellowish hue that I've seen on some early military vehicles, but the surface has "bloomed" and so far I've done nothing more than sponge it down with water. The currently visible colour may not be what's actually there.

If it is WW1 paint, then I want to proceed very cautiously, as I think that it should become a conservation job rather than a restoration.

The owner in 1921 may possibly have had a connection with the Armstrong company or family and by 1925 it belonged to a Major Munro who had been wounded at Loos and Mametz Wood. It passed to his son in 1930 and was dismantled two years later for possible conversion into a pick-up truck. This never happened and it was eventually saved for preservation in 1960. Nothing was done to it until the present owner bought in, still in parts, about four years ago.

I'm intrigued by the possible history of this car and any help in establishing what it was doing between 1913 and 1921 would be greatly appreciated.

I restore and rebuild vintage vehicle woodwork and have recently taken delivery of the body from a customer's 1913 (or possibly 1912) 20hp Armstrong-Whitworth torpedo tourer. The car had been totally dismantled and put into store in around 1932 and appears to be in very original condition.

The body is finished in a very military-looking matt dark khaki green. This has been fairly crudely applied over the original high-gloss grey coach enamel.

The paper trail only starts in February 1921, when the car was registered as X7020 and sold to a private owner in Newcastle. It had supposedly been the Armstrong-Whitworth works "hack" before this.

The question is, what was the car doing for its first eight or nine years? Just visible on the radiator core is the Northumberland registration BB1048, which could date from 1912/13.

Is it possible that as a nearly-new car it had been requisitioned for military service? A-W were, of course, major suppliers to the forces.