Solved NIC#1302 - HWM Aston Martin of Lord Dunleath

[nicanary]

Please tell me the chassis, engine, bodywork and driver. All for just one point.

Note that this is Autopuzzles. Things are never what they seem.

[richard fridd]

UK engine?

[nicanary]

UK engine?

Yes.

[richard fridd]

Jaguar engine?

[nicanary]

Jaguar engine?

No.

[HGraber]

Coventry Climax?

[nicanary]

Coventry Climax?

No.

[nicanary]

Experts?

[FrontMan]

Arnott, Lea-Francis engine, fibreglass shell, Daphne Arnott ?

[nicanary]

Arnott, Lea-Francis engine, fibreglass shell, Daphne Arnott ?

None of the above. Sorry.

[FrontMan]

 

[Willie McCrum]

Armstrong Siddeley engine perhaps ?

[nicanary]

Armstrong Siddeley engine perhaps ?

No. That'd be the Sphinx.

PS I didn't ask for the name of the circuit but it's not a million miles from Willie McCrum.

[FrontMan]

Lester-MG ?

[nicanary]

Lester-MG ?

Not Lester and not MG.

[Willie McCrum]

Ah yes, a (probably very small) part of the DP155 saga.  Driven by a peer of the realm (choine of two) at the circuit which lies right outside my office window. I was fooled by the grassy hummock in the background, but of course that's not there any more....
I've a feeling the pilot os Lord Dunleath, the engine could be Aston Martin, or possibly Jaguar and the rest of it...
HMMMM
There are differing accounts, and I don't have my excellend Simon Taylor book to hand, but HWM may well be implicated....

[nicanary]

You're almost there Willie. I may have mislead you - it's not Kirkistown but Long Kesh. The owner/driver lived just a few miles from Portavogie, at Ballywalter Park. I've met the current Lord and Lady, but at the time I didn't know the history of this car, and failed to ask if I could have a look round the stables which in the 1950s were used as the workshop for Lord Dunleath's mechanics.

Yes - you know you're correct. It's HWM chassis FB103, one of the 1950 team cars, fitted by now with the engine from an Aston Martin DB2/4. Picture from 1958. These days of course it's worth more money reverted back to HWM form. Go on - find out what bodywork that is.

LOCKED.

[Willie McCrum]

Aah.  Lord Henry Dunleath, the current Lord , Brian by name, is perhaps less petrol headed, although he did host a gathering of the Banjafield Club some years ago, and sent a posse of Bentley boys down to Kirkistown to play one afternoon - great fun !
As for the HWM/Aston/ Lord knows what else, the rear body section has a definite DB3S loiok to it, but so did at least one Cooper Bristol, while the front end reminds me of a photograph I once saw of an RGS Atlanta.  Any nuggets there ?

[nicanary]

Still locked for you.

Not the answer I'm afraid. The bodyshell usually makes people think it's GRP from a well-known maker with hints of Gracie Fields, but in fact it's the donor which created the mould.

The present Lord Dunleath is far more interested in pheasant-rearing.  Their corpses litter the road round the park in breeding season. Great for a tasty supper if they're fresh - less so if they've been lying and nibbled by foxes and crows.

[Willie McCrum]

I think it might be better if you were to unlock this - and the Riley one as well.  That would clear the way for somebody who REALLY knows - and educate me in the process....
Willie

[nicanary]

OK Willie, but you've identified the car in question and I'm awarding a point.

UNLOCKED for someone to identidy the source of this car's bodywork. My clues are probably only meaningful to someone from the UK.

[Willie McCrum]

Hah !
I should have looked at the book more closely....
Connaught !!!

[nicanary]

Hah !
I should have looked at the book more closely....
Connaught !!!

Yes! The bodywork came from Connaught AL/SR12. One of these bodies was of course used to create the mould for the Rochdale C-type, hence the reference to Gracie Fields, that town's most famous daughter.

Well-earned point.

BTW Simon Taylor's history of HWM is a corker.