The above letters, I found online from one of the Scandinavian countrys. I have no idea how they will turn up in the blog and like some of the other stuff found today may require to be retyped so that they can be read.
Welcome to the Swallow Doretti Page which was set up to encourage the maintenance, running and preservation of Swallow Doretti sports cars. The website aims to provide historical articles, anecdotes, tips and technical information to Doretti owners around the world.
About the Swallow Doretti Register
Established in 1975, the Swallow Doretti Register is an independent group of owner enthusiasts that operate under the auspices of the TR Register. Our primary aims are to help other Doretti owners stay “in the know”, on the road and spread the word about this rare British classic sports car.
A brief history of the Swallow Coachbuilding Company that began its life as the Swallow Sidecar Company and eventually evolved into Jaguar Cars Ltd.
The Swallow Gadabout was a British motor-scooter that pre-dated the Italian Vespa and Lambretta scooters that became very popular in the 1950’s.
Frank Rainbow the designer of the Doretti was a very competent and experienced engineer, who had worked for many years as a senior engineer at the Bristol Aircraft Company.
The Swallow Doretti is a rare 1950’s British sports car designed by Frank Rainbow and built by the Swallow Coachbuilding Company of Walsall.
Monkspath Garage located in Shirley near Solihull, was a source of Doretti parts for many years after the factory ended the production of cars.
Kenmar Shirley – a fibre-glass special sold by Monkspath Garage, based on a Ford chassis and running gear. The vehicle was probably the first post-war kit car.
Dorothy Deen was the person who provided a lot of the energy that made the Doretti and Triumph sports cars a major success on the American west coast market.
The Swallow Doretti International Vehicle Register is a comprehensive archive of Doretti sports cars.
Country No. of Cars Country No. of Cars
Australia 17
Austria 2
Belgium 4
Canada 1
France 6
Germany 6
Italy 1
Japan 1
Netherlands 4
New Zealand 7
Norway 4
Republic of South Africa 1
Spain 1
Switerland 3
United Kingdom 66
U. S. A. 57
Venezuela 3
Total Number of Cars Identified 184
The following items are by the authors in bold print.
REAR AXLE – Alan Gibb
The Doretti rear axle is a hypoid semi-floating type with a pressed steel cover at the rear of the central casing. This removeable cover allows access to the differential unit and crown wheel/pinion set. This axle is the same type as used on the Triumph TR2 which was itself an uprated Mayflower unit. Most problems involve half-shafts breaking at the differential end, or oil leaking at the hubs and ruining the brake linings.
If replacement half-shafts from another car are to be fitted; only use a half-shaft from the same side. DO NOT use a half-shaft from the opposite side as this will create “torque” in the reverse direction and lead to failure in a very short time. Half-shaft nuts should be tightened to 145 lbs/ft.
Whenever a half-shaft is replaced always replace the bearings at the same time as these are single row ball-bearings and take a lot of stress. Bearing lubrication is via grease nipples located at each end of the rear axle.
The complete rear axle can be exchanged for a more robust later type axle found on the TR3/3A. This axle can be identified by its round tube end flanges with six bolts holding the brake back-plate. Fitting this axle requires using the TR3/3A U-bolts and lower spring-plates to accomodate the larger axle tube diameter. This axle has Girling brakes instead of the original Lockheed items, which means that a new flexible hose is required to match it up with the original tee-piece. Remember to transfer the handbrake cable stop bracket from the old axle to the replacement unit, and it is also adviseable to replace the wheel cylinder rubbers to keep the system clean.
The rear axle number is stamped on the upper rim of the flange to which the rear cover plate is attached. This number has the prefix “TS”.
Technical Notes and Parts Information
Specification and Performance Data
Bodywork
Type Two-seater open sports
Number of doors Two
Engine
Manufacturer Triumph
Type 4 cylinders inline
Pushrod operated OHV
Bore × stroke 83.00mm × 92.00mm
3.27 in × 3.62 in
Bore/Stroke ratio 0.9
Displacement 1991 cc
(121.498 cu in)
Coolant Water
Compression ratio 8.5:1
Carburettor Type Twin S.U. (type H4)
Ignition System Lucas coil and distributor
Max. output 90.0 bhp (67.1 kW)
@4800 rpm
Max. torque 159.0 nm (117 lbft) (16.2 kgm)
@3000 rpm
Specific output 45.2 bhp/litre
0.74 bhp/cu in
Dimensions & Weights
Wheelbase 2413 mm 95 in
Track Front 1219 mm 48 in
Rear 1155 mm 45.5 in
Overall length 3962 mm 156 in
Overall width 1384 mm 54.5 in
Overall height 1295 mm 51 in
Ground clearance 152 mm 6 in
Curb weight 864 kg 1905 lb
Weight distribution Front/rear 52/48%
Fuel capacity 56.8 litres 12.5 gallons
Chassis
Engine location Front
Engine alignment Longitudinal
Steering Bishop Cam
Steering lock 2.5 turns, lock to lock
Turning circle 33 feet (11m)
Suspension Front Coil spring & wishbone
Rear Semi-elliptic leaf springs
Brakes Front 10in.×2.25in.drum
Rear 9in.×1.75in.drum
Braked area 148sq.in.
Wheels & Tyres Disc or wire / 5.50×15
Transmission 4 forward & reverse
Overdrive 22% step up
Top gear ratio 0.82
Final drive ratio 3.70
WINDSCREENS – Maurice Ford
FRAMES -There are two types of windscreen frame:
a) Early type with externally visible channel fixing screws and thumb screw type hood retainers and
b) Late type with internal channel fixings and ‘clip type’ hood rail fasteners. The hood locating pegs, are, incidentally, farther apart than the earlier type so that an early hood will not fit a late car and vice versa. The late type frame has the uprights set farther out the bottom, relative to the mounting feet, by a good inch and at a different angle so that at the top it is only 3/4 inch or so wider than the early frame. This late frame is also higher by about 1/2 inch.
GLASS – Glass for the early ‘small’ frame still available as Pilkingtons still have the jigs. Their agents (AutoWindscreens) will obtain one from them at around £200. The late type is NOT available off the shelf and Pilkington/Triplex do not recognise it as being made by them. The early type screen will not fit! The only way is to have one cut from a modem equivalent by a competent screen company (I acquired mine from Tamworth Autoscreens who were very helpful) and let them have the frame so that they can fit it. Do not get the screen before you decide on the seals. See below.
SEALS – For early screens the seal is no longer available. Since the glass does not enter very far into the channel the seal is rather odd. It can be made up by using Edgware seal 319 and bonding/glueing L3 to its base.
For the late screen you have a choice – either make up a seal as above and have the screen cut to fit this or cut the screen to fit deep into the channel with comers notched to clear the frame fixing brackets (as MGB) and use rubber seal 325 bedded in silicon.
This last method looks a lot neater but there is a snag. The glass will not stand any serious frame deflection during fitting – I suspect that this is the reason why the original method was used during production, particularly since the method of fixing the screen frame to the body is not very clever. When fitting it is essential that packers are used between the screen frame feet and the body to ensure that these fit exactly each side and will tighten down without fouling the scuttle as it rises up over the dash. If it fouls here it will push the frame outwards at the bottom and try to stretch the glass. Failure to be diligent when fitting the screen and frame to the body will cause you another trip to the screen maker.
I hope that the above is of some use to other Doretti owners but if anyone needs further info they are welcome to contact me.
…Maurice Ford
LUCAS WIRING COLOUR CODE
Black All ground connections
Black / Green Relay to radiator fan motor
Blue Headlight switch to dimmer switch
Blue / White Headlight high beams
Blue / White High beam dimmer switch to indicator lamp
Blue / White Dimmer switch to long-range driving light switch
Blue / Red Headlight low beams
Brown Main feed from the battery. No switches or fuses
Brown / Yellow Generator to voltage regulator
Brown / Blue Power feed to headlamp switch
Brown / White Ammeter to main alternator terminal
Brown / Yellow Long-range driving light switch to lamp
Brown / Yellow Alternator to ‘no charge’ warning light
Brown / Purple Alternator regulator feed
Brown / Green Fuse to horn (No relay)
Brown / Black Horn to horn button (no relay)
Green Ignition circuit, additional switches or fused
Green / Black Fuel gauge to fuel tank unit
Green / Blue Water temperature gauge to temperature sender unit
Green / Red Direction indicator switch to left-hand flasher lamps
Green / Purple Stop lamp switch to stop lamps
Green / White Direction indicator switch to right hand flasher lamps
Green / Yellow Heater switch to heater motor
Light green / Blue Flasher switch to left-hand flasher warning light
Light green / Brown Flasher switch to flasher unit
Light green / Purple Flasher unit to flasher warning light
Purple Accessories fed direct from battery via fuse
Purple / Brown Horn fuse to horn relay when horn is fused separately
Purple / Red Switches to map light, under bonnet light, glove box light and boot lamp when fed direct from battery fuse
Red Tail lights, instrument lights and side markers
Red / Yellow Fog light switch to fog light or fog light fuse to fog lights
Red / Blue Front fog light fuse to fog light switch
Red / White Fuse to instrument lamp switch, Instrument panel lamps
White Ignition circuit, no additional switches, not fused
White Power to coil
White / Black Ignition coil to distributor
White / Brown Oil pressure switch to warning light
White / Pink Ignition switch to radio fuse
White / Red Ignition switch or starter switch to starter solenoid
Yellow Generator connections wired through the ignition switch
Yellow / Green Dynamo ‘F’ to controlbox ‘F’ Alternator field ‘F’ to control box ‘F’
More to follow………………………………….but not tonight………………. sorry!
SOME MONTHS AGO MY BROTHER(JOHN) ASKED ME IF I KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT WALSALL HAVING IT’S OWN MOTOR CAR BUILDER, I DID NOT, BUT TOLD HIM I WOULD LOOK INTO IT AND LET HIM KNOW!
Well i searched and because i had no idea of who manufactured it i did not get very far, then today researching something else in an Amercian search i came across some information. I then looked at Wiki Pedia and this is what was on there.
The Swallow Doretti is a two-seater sports car built on Tube chassis utilizing Triumph TR2,mechanicals, made between 1954 and 1955.
The marque came from Swallow Coachbuilding Co. (1935) Ltd. which was sold in 1945 by Jaguar (formerly SS Cars Ltd) to the Helliwell Group which was taken over in 1946 by the British conglomerate, the Tube Investments Group (TI). The Dorreti name was derived from Dorothy Deen, who Managed the Western US distributorship Cal Sales.
The first and only model produced by Swallow under TI ownership was the Doretti, which had a tubular Reynolds 531 manganese–molybdenum, medium-carbon steel chassis with a body made of a steel inner structural skin and aluminium outer. Most cars were supplied with overdrive and they were capable of 100 mph. 276 MKI cars were made, including a single fixed head coupe version. Also two MK II cars The car was designed by in-house engineer Frank Rainbow, and produced in the TI factory at The Airport, Walsall, Staffordshire, England.
Production stopped in 1955 when the parent company TI changed policy. Allegedly, pressure from the British motor industry, most notably Jaguar itself, led to the cessation of production of the Doretti. It is thought that the directors of TI were pressured in that in the production of the Doretti sports car placed TI at an advantage over their customers buying raw materials, creating a serious conflict of interest.
Performance
A car with overdrive tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1954 had a top speed of 100.2 mph (161.3 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 12.3 seconds. A fuel consumption of 27.9 miles per imperial gallon (10.1 L/100 km; 23.2 mpg-US) was recorded. The test car cost £1,158 including taxes.[1]
The standard version without overdrive cost £1102. At the time a Triumph TR2 cost £887.[2]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Doretti.
See also
• List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom
References
1. “The Swallow Doretti 2-seater”. The Motor. September 15, 1954.
2. Robson, G. (2006). A-Z of British Cars 1945-1980. Devon, UK: Herridge Books. ISBN 0-9541063-9-3.
Overview
Production 1954-1955
276 made
Body and chassis
Body style
open 2 seater
coupé
Powertrain
Engine
1991 cc Straight-4
Transmission
4 speed manual. Optional overdrive
Dimensions
Wheelbase
95 in (2,413 mm)[1]
Length 156 in (3,962 mm)[1]
Width 61 in (1,549 mm)[1]
Height 52.5 in (1,334 mm)[1]
It looks like one even took part in the Monte Carlo Rally (according to the wiki pedia picture above.
I was astonished to find that there is now a record of probably every surviving swallow still around, that is unless there are some more hidden away in old barns like the one in Devon about 2 years ago. I have to sort through the other material I have found to see if its possible to publish. Not exactly a lost Brownhills Business, Pedro, but just down the way at Aldridge airport!
IF I CAN SORT IT I WILL PUBLISH TONIGHT, IF NOT PLEASE KEEP A LOOK OUT!
(From the Odgen Standard – July 4, 1914)
Memory of Trap Doors, Secret Elevators and Stove, Wherein Bodies of Women Were Burned, Haunted Man for Nineteen Years.
A few weeks ago word was sent over the telegraphic wires that Patrick Quinlan had killed himself in his home at Portland, Mich. The telegram did not cause much of a stir. Quinlan’s name had been forgotten. A new generation is reading the newspapers, which nineteen years ago carried stories day after day for months about the remarkable murder system of H .H. Holmes, with whose name the name of Quinlan was linked.
Quinlan proved his innocence. He showed that he was only an employee of H.H. Holmes, arch-murderer. He proved that he was Holmes’ janitor and caretaker of the Holmes Castle, 701 63rd St., Chicago, and nothing more. He admitted he had helped construct some of the secret trapdoors and had helped line some of the rooms with asbestos, which it is believed aided in deadening the sound of dying men, but Quinlan new nothing of the purpose of the traps he helped build, and had no part in the machinations of his chief.
Yet when the body of Quinlan was found lying in his room where he had taken poison, a note was found beside his body. The note said:
“I could not sleep.”
For nineteen years Quinlan could not sleep. At night he would wake with a start, and find himself covered with sweat, his friends say. He would call for help and when a light would be brought to his room or when the electric switch would be turned on he would recount how he was attacked while half asleep by strange hallucinations.
For nineteen years this man had been unable to sleep peacefully because of the awful experiences he endured during his employment by Holmes and during the period immediately after.
Holmes Castle was a three-story flat, looking more like an ordinary residence than like a castle. In that place it is believed four women, at least, were slain. It was the retreat of the man who also had killed men, women and children in Philadelphia, Toronto and Indianapolis.
The castle was built admirably for a murder shop. A dumbwaiter ran from the third floor to the basement and there were no connections with the dumbwaiter on the intervening floors. The conveyance was big enough to admit of a man riding upon it. On the top floor in one of the rooms was a gigantic stove. It was eight feet high and three feet in diameter. It was an ideal stove for the burning of a human body. A person could be thrown into the stove bodily and could be burned to nothing.
In the basement were quicklime vats. Bodies could be thrown in quicklime and consumed. The flagging in the basement could be torn up and bodies could be buried beneath the flags.
The trouble with the average slayer is that he does not know what to do with the body of his victim.
Finding of Body Starts Search
The finding of the body of the victim always starts the search for the slayer. If a man could dispose of the body he could slay on a wholesale plan and avoid detection. Holmes is believed to have built the castle with a view of hiding bodies of those he slew. He directed the work on the building. Quinlan was only an ordinary workman who did what he was told unhesitatingly. Quinlan never questioned the authority of the slayer. He never asked who the women were Holmes had visiting him. He never asked where they went when they disappeared. He was an ideal servant. Born in a small Michigan community, he went to Chicago to make his fortune. Chicago was about to have a world’s fair in commemoration of the discovery of America.
It was a good town to go to, thought Quinlan. An honest Irish young man, his only thought of making a living was by honest hard work. That is why he went to work for Holmes and worked so willingly and so faithfully. The other day when he drank the fatal potion he was middle-aged and broken in health. He looked as though he had been carried to the point of death by the ghosts of the slain women of the castle he helped to build.
It is said by some of his best friends that he often reproached himself for his part in the affair. He blamed himself for not suspecting Holmes and turning him up to the police. Yet he could not be blamed. Everything in Holmes Castle seemed to be right. There was no sign of murder there. Everything was quiet and still. The rooms were lined with asbestos and the dying victims never made a sound that reached the outside world. There at night in the dark house they met their death.
Some of them were asphyxiated, it is believed. Others were stabbed. Others were shot, according to the opinions of investigators. No one knows. Holmes knew and the victims perhaps could tell harrowing tales if they could talk, but they are gone and Holmes has been hung for his crimes, so in this world no one ever will know.
How many crimes Holmes devised no one can tell. The first thing to attract the attention of the world was the sudden, horrible death of B. D. Pietzel, a chemist, in Philadelphia. He died in such a manner that it seemed he had been making chemical experiments and had met with an accident when his chemicals exploded. Holmes, whose right name was Herman W. Mudgett, telegraphed to St. Louis to the home of Mrs. Pietzel and told her to come to Philadelphia and identify the body.
It is alleged that Holmes met Mrs. Pietzel and informed her the body was not that of her husband but that her husband had his life insured for $10,000.
“He’s safe in Canada,” Holmes told Mrs. Pietzel. “He had me frame up his body. It is so badly mangled by the explosion that no one can ever recognize it. You identify it and we’ll get the insurance. Your husband said for me to give you half and bring the other half to him.”
Mrs. Pietzel later confessed that she identified the body without believing it was that of her husband. She thought it was a big swindle game on the part of her husband and she entered into it readily. She brought her three children, Alice, Nellie and Howard with her. Alice was 15 years old. Holmes separated her room from her children and took them to Toronto, Canada.
Later the bodies of Alice and Nelly were found in the cellar of the building Holmes had occupied at Toronto.
Tip from Crook Revealed Holmes
Marlin Hedgepeth is the man who first directed attention to Holmes. Holmes was conducting the drugstore in St. Louis when he was arrested on a minor charge and placed in jail. There he met Marion Hedgepeth, noted as an out and out criminal. Holmes asked Hedgepeth to tell him the name of some St. Louis lawyer who could give him assistance in putting over an insurance swindle. Hedgepeth said he gave him the name. In return Hedgepeth was to get $500. This swindle was consummated. That is Pietzel was killed in Philadelphia in order to collect the insurance, but Hedgpeth got no money.
Then Hedgepath notified Chief of Police Harrigan of St. Louis that he had “the biggest insurance swindle case the police ever had to deal with anywhere, anytime in the world.”
He sent that message to Harrigan October 9, 1894. Pietzel had died September 3, 1894. That failure to deal squarely with Hedgepeth is doubtless what cost Holmes his liberty and life and checked his long career of crime. Police at once set out to hunt for him. The Philadelphia death of Pietzel had caused them some wonder, but the word from Hedgepeth made them doubly sure of crime. They trailed Holmes to Toronto, where the bodies of Alice and Nellie Pietzel were found. Later they found the body of Howard in Indianapolis and identified it as that of Howard, because of some peculiar playthings he had. His body had been burned in the stove and the bones alone were left intact.
Holmes was found in Boston and arrested. He was going under the name of Howard there. He was arrested July 14, 1895.
Mrs. Pietzel told her part in the affair and tried to atone by fighting for the conviction of the man who had made her a widow and slain three of her beautiful children.
In Chicago the record of Holmes was looked up. When he was under arrest in Philadelphia awaiting trial for the death of Pietzel word came from all parts of United States that Holmes, or a man answering his description, had taken women from their town and the unfortunates had never been heard from. From Fort Worth came the information that Miss Minnie Williams and her sister, Anna, had been led away by Holmes several years before and no one had ever heard of them. It was found that Miss Minnie Williams had entered Holmes Castle under the supposition that she was to be the wife of the arch-slayer. She sent to Fort Worth for her sister, Anna, to be a bridesmaid at the wedding.
The sisters had $60,000 worth of property in Fort Worth. They were induced to borrow heavily on the property and that is the last anyone heard of them. Minnie, the bride-elect, died before the wedding in Holmes Castle. Anna the bridesmaid-to-be, also died without ever having a chance to wear her bridal clothes. What happened to the bodies no one knows for certain. In the flue of the chimney, which led from the big stove on the top floor, hair was found. It is believed that the hair was that of the sisters as it corresponded to their hair. The theory was advanced at the time that the sisters were thrown into the stove and burned. The suction of the flue carried the hair up in the flue, where it remained as needed evidence against Holmes.
From Davenport, Iowa came another story of disappearance and Holmes name was linked with that too. Mrs. Julia Connor and her daughter where the missing ones.
Beautiful Woman and Daughter Lost
For more than three years prior to 1895, Mrs. Julia L Connor and her daughter, Pearl, had been missing from their friends in Iowa. Mrs. Connor had gone to Chicago with her husband and daughter to work in the drugstore conducted by Holmes. The drugstore failed and Holmes gave the property to Connor. Mrs. Connor was so taken with his generosity that she ceased to love her husband. She returned to Davenport and Connor obtained a divorce.
Then she returned to Chicago, ostensibly to open the boarding house in Chicago or the suburbs. She and her daughter never were heard of again. When Holmes was arrested in Philadelphia, relatives of Julia Connor claimed he killed her.
Many bones were found around Holmes Castle. He explained they were beef bones. He explained that the flat had been used as a restaurant during the World’s Fair at Chicago and that much meat was used there. He explained that the huge dumbwaiter was used to convey food. He explained that the asbestos was to make the house fireproof and to keep out cold.
He had an excuse for everything. He admitted he was crooked. He explained that he went to Toronto to smuggle furs into the United States. He admitted knowing all the women he was accused of murdering. He admitted knowingPietzel. He denied killing any of them. Damaging evidence against him were buttons of the women he was charged with killing, which were found in his castle.
But the defense of Holmes netted him nothing. He swung from the gallows for his crimes.
Though Holmes paid for his misdeeds with death, Quinlan suffered much more than he. He was arrested with Holmes but freed. When he went back to his Michigan home he found himself the center of eyes. Everywhere he went he was stared at or else he felt he was stared at. While the rest of the world forgot Holmes, the little town where he lived always rehearsed the story.
No wonder the honest Irish janitor finally picked up a piece of paper and wrote, “I could not sleep.” No wonder that after writing that simple line which told the story of nineteen years of suffering and horror, that he took poison and ended it all.
Airship Was a Great Success (1904)
From the Minneapolis Journal – January 6, 1904
The Wright Brothers Give Out a Statement Regarding Their Recent Experiments
Their Machine Succeeded in Traveling Into the Teeth of a Winter Gale
DAYTON, OHIO – The Wright brothers, inventors of a flying machine which has attracted widespread attention, have prepared the following which they say is the first correct statement of the two successful trials made by them:
“On the morning of December 17 four flights were made to by Orville Wright and two by Wilbur Wright. The starts were all made from a point on the level. The wind had a velocity of from 24 to 27 miles an hour as recorded by the aerometer at the Kitty Hawk weather station. The flight was made directly against the wind.”
Each time the machine started from the level ground by its own power with no assistance from gravity or other source whatever after a run of about forty feet along the monorail track which held the machine eight inches from the ground, it rose, and under the direction of the operator climbed upward to the height of eight or ten feet from the ground was reached, after which the course was kept as near horizontal as the wind gusts and the limited skill of the operator would permit.
The First Trials
“It had previously been decided that for reasons of personal safety these first trials should be made as close to the ground as possible. The height chosen was scarcely sufficient for maneuvering in so gusty a wind and with no previous acquaintance with the conduct of the machine and its controlling mechanisms. Consequently the first flight short. The succeeding flights rapidly increased in length and at the fourth trial a flight of 59 seconds was made in which machine flew a little more than half a mile through the air and a distance of more than 852 feet from the ground.
“The landing was due to a slight error of judgment on the part of the navigator. After passing over little hummock of sand in attempting to bring the machine down to the desired height, the operator turned the rudder too far and the machine turned downward more quickly than had been expected. The reverse movement of the rudder was a fraction of a second too late to prevent the machine from touching the ground and thus ending the flight. The whole occurrence occupied little, if any, more than one second of time.
Weather Unpropitious
“Only those who are acquainted with practical aeronautics can appreciate the difficulties of attempting the first trials of a flying machine in a 25 mile-an-hour gale. As winter had already set in, we should have postponed our trials to a more favorable season but for the fact that we were determined before returning home to know whether the machine possessed sufficient power to fly, sufficient strength to withstand the shock of landings, and sufficient capacity of control to make flight safe in boisterous winds as well as in calm air. When the points had been definitely established, we at once returned home knowing that the age of flying machines had come at last.
“We have employed entirely new principles of control and as all the experiments have been conducted at our own expense without assistance from an individual or institution, we do not feel ready at present to give out any pictures or detailed description of the machine.”
I have hung back on this story as me mate Brownhills Bob originally blogged about these two coaches rotting away in Ireland and Aston Manor trying to raise the money, and I did not want to steal his story, but he has not blogged, so here goes.
For years they had been left to rot in a field behind an old barn, hundreds of miles away, but now this pair of vintage buses manufactured in the Black Country have returned home to be restored to their former glory.
The coaches came off the production line at Guy Motors Ltd. factory in Fallings Park, Wolverhampton in 1959 and were bought by the Heath Hayes firm Harper Brothers to carry passengers on day trips to the coast. After eleven years of service they were sold to a scout group in Northern Ireland in 1971 and re-deployed to ship youngsters from their headquarters in Limerick to scout camps across the country.
Three years ago it emerged that the 52-seat coaches were stranded in a field on the outskirts of Dublin in a dreadful condition, their once gleaming distinctive green and cream paintwork peeled away and tarnished by rust, polished interiors now sullied and engines dead to the world.
But thanks to the generosity of their former owner and an un-named benefactor the buses are back on home soil, having arrived at the Aston Manor Road Transport Museum in Aldridge, after being loaded onto large flat-bed lorries and transported across the Irish Sea.
You will notice that this is a reblog of a post of a few days ago. The reason that I have done this is because of the comment below from Phil. Now I have asked for permission to post these photos but not sure of who they belong to, so appologis to who actually owns them, but I felt that they should be posted with the blog to assist in the raising of funds to rebuild, so sorry in your offended!
May i take the liberty to say, if you are paying a visit to the museum, then please make a small donation towards the refurbishment (more a total rebuild). The people from the museum put in the hours restoring all of these pieces of our transport history, but are forever short of the funds to carry out the purchasing of materials (parts etc) so i am sure would be grateful of any help we the public can give!
Here are two stories about the most famous painting THE MONA LISA.
Stolen “Mona Lisa” One of Year’s Sensations (1911)
(From the Honolulu Evening Bulletin – September 30, 1911)
PARIS – The announcement that Leonardo da Vinci’s famous portrait of Madonna Lisa Del Gioconda of Florence, known as the “Mona Lisa,” the costliest painting in the world, had been stolen created a tremendous sensation here, Parisians being said to have forgotten for the time the rumors of war. Great crowds collected in the neighborhood of the Louvre where for five years the painting has been on exhibition and from which the thief carefully removed the portrait from the frame, leaving the frame on the staircase.
The theft of the Gainsborough portrait, stolen from London and recovered many years later through the efforts of the late Pat Sheedy, “honest” American gambler, was insignificant compared to the loss of the “Mona Lisa,” for which it is said an offer of $5,000,000 has been refused. Art connoisseurs aver that, while this seems a preposterous value to place upon a painting, the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece is second only to the Sistine Madonna in intrinsic value. The portrait of the Florentine lady was painted more than 400 years ago and the beauty of Mona Lisa has lived through the centuries on this canvas.
Mona Lisa Recovered; Thief Is In Custody (1913)
(From The Salt Lake Tribune – December 13, 1913)
Mystery that Baffled World for More than Two Years is Solved
France to Get Picture Back
Vengeance His Motive
FLORENCE – Leonardo da Vinci’s famous masterpiece, “La Geaconda,” or, as it is more popularly known, “Mona Lisa,” was recovered in a dramatic fashion in the city today, more than two years after its disappearance from the Louvre in Paris.
A few days ago Alfredo Geri, a prominent our dealer of Florence, received a letter signed “Leonard,” offering to sell a picture of great value.
Geri, in accordance with his custom, made immediate arrangements to look at the picture. When he looked upon the canvas he saw at once that it was the stolen masterpiece and sent for Director Poggi of the Uffizzi galleries. Poggi was also struck with the remarkable resemblance to the missing portrait from the Louvre.
Experts Identify Picture
In order to make certain, however, the two experts sent for Commendatore Ricci, the famous art critic of Rome. When he had looked at the painting he gave it as his unqualified opinion that the painting was none other than the picture that has been sought throughout the world for two years.
Ricci requested that he be given an opportunity to talk with the man who had offered the canvas for sale. Accordingly the man was brought before him. He was questioned briefly. The fellow seemed half-witted, and he could not give a good account of himself. He was then arrested.
As he was being taken away by the police he kept laughingly repeating that he had taken the picture out of revenge for the robbery and destruction of Italy’s art treasures by Napoleon 100 years ago. He declared It had been his purpose to restore it to Italy.
After the police had submitted the man to thorough questioning it was discovered that his name was Vincenzo Perugia.
The correspondent of the International News Service had a talk with the thief. He then told how he had stolen the painting.
“I was an employee of the Louvre,” said he. “Many times I heard my French comrades tell me how many of the treasures in the galleries had been stolen by Napoleon from Italy. Then I decided that I would steal a picture myself and get some revenge for the insult to my country.”
“One Monday in August, 1911, while the guard was relaxed, I removed ‘La Giaconda’ from its place in the galleries and hid with it in the cellar until evening. Then I removed the painting from its frame and took it home with me. I kept the panel hidden for two years. Three months ago I wrote to Alfredo Geri and offered to sell the painting for$100,000, provided that the painting be kept in Italy. When I came here I was arrested. That is all I know about it.”
Yesterday the Great Grandchildren were taken to Dudley Zoo, for the day, by their Aunty Shan.
Here are some of the pictures which were taken of the animals.
I require some answers to the following questions!
1. Would you subscribe pictures to a site either on facebook or as a blog here on wordpress.
2. Which site do you think would spark most interest, facebook or wordpress.
3. Bechdale, Birchills and Leamore information on the same site, good or bad.
There are probably others things which i would like to know, but have gone blank, so please feel free to comment. Brownhills, Bloxwich and Walsall all have their own sites for local stuff to be posted on, so please advise me.
Thank you
Saw this picture and thought that it might raise a smile or two
Holmes Murder Castle
Mikes WFC Players History 