Recently, AutoPuzzles Expert Allan L took his place in the AP Interview Chair, and agreed to tell us about his automotive DNA. Here's what he had to say...
AP. Tell us about yourself and when you became interested in cars?Allan: Father had boring English Fords, as they were practical, and tractors (being a farmer) on which I learned to drive, aged 11. At school two of the masters rallied cars, including being the crew for Peter Harper in works Sunbeams on the Monte Carlo rally: that was how I discovered that you could also use cars as playthings, something I’ve never lost sight of!
As an apprentice at de Havilland in the late 1950s we had whatever cars we could afford, and competed in them at whatever level we could. As I worked my way up the scale of aeronautical engineering, my cars too worked their way up – nothing too exciting, but there was always an open two-seater about as well as some boring saloons.
I’ve always been inclined to read, so gained good knowledge of motoring/motor sport history which stood one local motor club in good stead when a series of inter-club quizzes were run in the 1970s. Later this led to becoming one of the Veteran Car Club’s research team for its Dating Committee and then membership of that Committee (later Dating panel). The VCC’s Dating of cars started as its own method of classifying cars for its competitions, but soon became the world standard for authentification of pre-1918 cars. For reasons not entirely clear, the VCC abandoned the rigorous methods which had been built up over 60-odd years and we were declared sacked at the beginning of this year.
AP: What was your first car?Allan: 1930 M-type MG
AP: What is your daily driver?Allan: 2006 Subaru Wagon R
AP: What classic or special cars do you currently have?Allan: 1938 Lea-Francis Corsica-bodied Sports; 1912 Mors 12-15 two-seater
1938 Lea-Francis Corsica-bodied Sports, with Allan at the wheel. Allan: I knew about the Lea-Francis as a result of having a post-war one and being a member of the Lea-Francis OC: in 1977, when I thought I could afford to separate daily motoring and pastime, I wanted a car in which I could do VSCC rallies, and a 1938 Lea-Francis seemed suitable. As there were only three made, I first looked at one that had been reduced to a pile of bits for restoration and then found that the other UK based one which was up and (almost) running could be for sale. I bought it 2˝ years later.
I liked the idea of coupling a ’30s car with an Edwardian, which would permit me to do Veteran CC events as well as those of the Light Car and Edwardian Section of the VSCC. A dealer had a choice of three 12-15 Mors in 1995 and the one I bought was the least expensive!
AP: Have you ever just missed buying a particular car, and lived to regret it?Allan: 1956 B type Connaught: I had the money, but it was too near all I’d got, and the usefulness was limited in 1962 so I walked away. That car killed two of its next few owners in racing accidents, and they would probably still be alive, had I bought it. I would only have done sprints and hillclimbs, not races, so would probably have survived it.
AP: What would be your dream car?Allan: That Connaught
AP: Which car do you regret having parted company with?Allan: None, really. There was a good reason for each sale at the time.
AP: What is your favorite drive in your classic or special car?Allan: To the VSCC’s Prescott hillclimb, which is about 80 miles of older main roads and secondary roads which can hardly have changed since the Lea-Francis was new, so suit it well. The event itself is unbeatable (see below) and the drive home is just as good. That route is also quite good in the Mors
AP: How much work on your car(s) do you carry out yourself?Allan: On the old ones, most of it, apart from specialist metalworking (machining, casting, and coachwork) and painting. On the modern, none
AP: What do you carry with you when you go out in your car(s)?Allan: Maps if necessary; good toolkit and tow-rope in the old uns; RAC membership card
AP: Do you get involved in the club scene, and why?Allan: I’ve been a member of the Lea-Francis OC since 1960 and am now its Chairman. I’ve been a member (and often an officer) of motor clubs ever since college “because they were there”.
AP: Do you take an interest in motor sport, and if so where is your favorite venue(s)/club meeting(s)?Allan: Rallying was/is my participating sport, but I’ve done over thirty years as a handicapper of motor races – it’s much easier to tell people how fast they should be going than to do it yourself. I also marshal and undoubtedly the best event at the best venue is the VSCC Prescott hillclimb.
AP: What is your worst memory involving a car?Allan: Arriving to be a startline judge at VSCC Mallory Park during practice and seeing the rescue crew recovering Colin Poynter’s destroyed Lea-Francis without knowing if he had survived the crash (he had). I’ve known Colin all his life, being a close friend of his father’s.
AP: What is your funniest memory involving a car?Allan: Rallying my Simca which turned out to have an exhaust leak which was bringing on drowsiness. I must have dozed off on a long left-hander round a hilllside and woke up with both right-hand wheels on the grass just in time to see the drainage gully before it tripped the car up to land upside-down in the ditch, stopped from rolling down the hillside by a stout fence. A following competitor with a rope stopped and flipped it back on its wheels and an hour later a marshal tow-started it. On the drive home we passed the rally finish, clocked off and finished 12th. Oh and the place where the accident occurred is called Head Down!
AP: What is your most enjoyable moment involving a car?Allan: Competing in and finishing the VSCC Welsh Rally last year in the Mors, an unsuitable car for the task (but the Lea-Francis wasn’t eligible), to secure the Club’s Rally Navigator’s Championship for my navigator and Rally Driver’s for me (the latter shared, but no matter). We were well placed to achieve that after an excellent season in the Lea-Francis but had to do that last event of the year to succeed. A good 50th year of rallying!
1912 Mors 12-15 two-seater (and Allan)
Allan: Home-made sandwiches
AP: How would you define a ‘classic’?Allan: I don’t as it’s for the owners to say that they are. I'm more involved with Veteran, Edwardian, Vintage and Post-Vintage Thoroughbreds which were defined by the VCC and VSCC anyway.
AP: What in your opinion, is the worst car regarded as a ‘classic’ and why?Allan: See above: I wouldn’t regard it as a classic if I though it bad. However there are those who say the Trabant is a classic, so I’ll nominate that.
AP: What in your view will be a future classic?Allan: See above: anything current that someone in the future will say is a classic (e.g. TVRs)
AP: What question would you like to ask, and to whom?Allan: I did ask Denis Jenkinson what it was really like to read the pace notes when he and his chauffeur, Stirling Moss, won the Mille Miglia – but can’t recall the answer except that it was fairly blasé.
AP: What car publications / car websites do you regularly read / visit?Allan: I no longer buy magazines, as they are no longer records of their times so won’t be worth looking back at. Websites such as Autopuzzles, VSCC, The Nostalgia Forum of the Atlas F1 Bulletin Board
