SPARKPLUGThe newsletter of the Letchworth Garden City Classic & Vintage Car Club

APRIL 2017

The Special had been under-used for far too long so, last year, I used it to have a go at Austin 7 trials for the first time - and was immediately hooked.

I should explain that these trials are designed to be very testing but not so rough as to cause damage to the car. That said, the bumps, dips, tight turns, and loose surfaces need to be treated with considerable care.

The off-road course is laid out in several Sections of about 100 - 150 metres length. They are marked out with gates comprising of twelve pairs of poles set at intervals. Very steep inclines are the norm.

Each gate carries a number. These descend from 12 at the start down to 1 at the end. The car must be driven through each gate without touching a pole. Scoring is determined by the number on the gate where the car comes to a halt and can proceed no further – or if the car touches a pole. If the section is completed without mishap then a 0 score is entered. The aim is to get the lowest possible score each time.

On starting a section the car must be driven continuously forwards; no reversing is allowed. Speed is not relevant. The only thing that matters is the score. Passing through the gates the car must be driven with considerable awareness and judgement in order to maintain progress on treacherous surfaces. Touching a pole, sliding backwards, reversing, or coming to a stop, ends the run and the score will be the number on the gate. Spinning the wheels without forward movement is limited to 3 seconds at most events.

The 750 Motor Club organises several trials each year and they epitomise the original purpose of the club when founded in 1939 - to promote the enjoyment of inexpensive motor sport.

You don’t need an A7 to take part - any pre-war car is welcome in the ‘Demonstration’ class - as illustrated by the wonderful GN that turned up recently and was terrific to watch and to hear as it tackled the course.

For fun, this trialling takes some beating!N.S.

Fun!

The Chairman’s BitThe start of the club new year, and the opening of the fair weather event season. We shall all be out and about enjoying our vehicles and it would be great if you could take photos and do a little write-up on anything interesting that you come across. Sparkplug needs you!

I’d like to record my thanks to all those in the club who have done so much to make the last 12 months a success (well, it feels like as success from where I stand and I hope you agree!). Without the ‘doers’ we would not have much fun and it’s always a joy when someone steps forward and lends a hand. Here’s to some great motoring in the coming months! N.S.

© Matt Barker

Heroes:Don BurgoyneBy ‘Plug Cap’

At a time when the cheapest family saloon car cost about one hundred pounds, how would it be if you could pick up a brand new aeroplane for around sixty quid?

In 1934 that is exactly what Frenchman Henri Mignet was offering the world.

True, you needed to build it yourself and in most countries they were not quite legal, but in spite of this his ‘Pou-du-Ciel’ or ‘Flying Flea’ started a craze for a new flight concept that continues to this day.

Henri set out to invent a DIY plane that could be built without special skills from a single sheet plan costing five shillings and flown without lessons. The resulting tiny aeroplane had two wings of roughly equal size, one placed slightly lower, behind the other - and a large rudder. Moving the joy stick side to side swung the rudder and pushing it forwards and backward raised and lowered the rear of the entire front wing. Simple as that. So you could turn left and right and go up and down. What more could you want ?

Oh yes, an engine - and builders bolted on anything they could get their hands on, including unmodified Austin Sevens, Ford Tens and many motor cycle types. The huge weight of these including their radiators and dynamos coupled with often poor construction and inadequate wingspan led to a few disasters, but most of them, incredibly, actually flew quite well.

Some notable manufactures climbed on the band wagon. Do you recall Abbot Coachbuilders of Farnham? Best remembered for their superb Estate conversions of the Ford Zephyr and Vauxhall Velox. They offered a ‘developed’ Flea. £150.00 would buy you a properly made kit including a Carden modified, ten horsepower Ford engine, lightened and with twin ignition and an aerodynamic radiator.

The Scott motorcycle company produced an inverted in-line air-cooled two stroke specifically for the Flea. They called it the ‘Flying Squirrel’, confusingly the same name as their water cooled motorcycle of the day.

By 1936 Fleas were being made and flown by men with a death wish all over Europe and the U.S. - and quite a few of them had their wish fulfilled.

You may think it easy to see why. An unregulated aeroplane, designed by an amateur, built by a greengrocer, from a plan written in French, powered by an old car engine - and the Flea and its pilot often both experiencing their first ever flight, at the same time. It was a miracle that so many lived to tell the tale.

But there was a more sinister reason for crashes. Pulling the stick back and tilting the front wing downwards placed its trailing edge in close proximity with the leading edge of the rear wing. This created an aerodynamic ‘slot’ effect on the rear wing and slots, as we know, increase lift, so, as the incidence of the front wing tried to raise the nose, the increased lift of the rear wing often won the battle and flipped the Flea over frontwards, upside down . This would often occur in the final stage of landing, leaving a confused and embarrassed pilot - with a headache.

Governments could not decide if, or how, to regulate the Flea phenomena and this, plus a mounting confusion over accidents, and then finally, WW2, ended the Flea’s mass following.

Mignet died in Morocco in 1965 but he would be gratified to know that modern Fleas with perfected versions of his concept are now operating all over the world and they fly very well.

So who is our Fying Flea hero ? Probably Henri Mignet himself, plus ‘anyone who flew one’.

But I am singling out Mr Don Burgoyne of Knowle. Don built and flew his own Scott-powered Flea and formed a syndicate that created several more. He became a master carpenter in the aircraft industry, built several more light planes and rebuilt gliders for the ATC. No big deal?

Well as a child, playing with his dad’s shotgun, little Donald leant on the muzzle and blew off the whole of his right hand and most of his left. He achieved all of the above with just three fingers. Good enough for me.

Note. Flea G-AEBB built and flown by K W Owen in 1936 with a four cylinder Henderson but fitted now with a Scott Flying Squirrel can be seen at Shuttleworth. Mr Owen gave up flying his Flea when it ‘frightened him’. Really? Can’t think why.

THE NOT-RODAnon.

Car is narrow,Driver wide.A miracle,

He fits inside.

Car is lightweight,Driver not.

Suspension rating,Best forgot.

Car is lovely,And the bloke.Let us hope,

He sees the joke!In period the A.A. would attend an up-ended Flea as well as stranded motorists.

A few weeks ago, I looked through previous owners of the Magnette listed on the old log book. One in particular - Peter J Cashman of Bristol - looked distinctive enough that it might be possible to track him, and sure enough 192.com found a Peter J Cashman living close by in Bath.

According to the website his estimated age was “65 plus”, which seemed reasonable if by any chance he had bought the car in his 20s. I therefore wrote to this address, enclosing some photos and apologising in case I had found the wrong person. Within a few days he rang me up, and afterwards was kind enough to email me several pictures. Peter is 73 now and bought the MG - his first car - when he was 21 or 22. He loved it, wishes he had never sold it, and has often wondered where it ended up.

A friend of Peter’s had a P-Type Midget, which clearly made an impression on him, and he started looking through the ads in the Bristol Evening Post for something similar. He bought the Magnette from Henlys in Clifton for £60. It was completely rotten and it took him exactly a year to get it back on the road. When he bought it, it was painted ivory. He thought British racing green would be more suitable and he hired a professional coach painter - “a dying art, even then” - to paint it for him. He remembers the painter spraying water everywhere to keep dust under control. He brush-painted it but did such a good job that it looked as though it had been sprayed. I’m sure that the car still has the same paint today.

The MG was always costing money and Peter did not have much to spare. He said it was for ever eating crown wheels and pinions. He took it to a man in Clifton, the leading MG specialist for the south-west, and he couldn’t get the original crown wheels and pinions, so he fitted ones adapted from a Ford, which weren’t strong enough. The invoice that I have from the 1979 restoration includes a crown wheel and pinion.

Peter drove the Magnette about 10 miles to work into Bristol every day, and one day he collided with a Morris Traveller coming the other way on a narrow lane. That was the end. The accident smashed a wing and bent the front axle, and he couldn’t afford to have it repaired. He sold the car for £80.

The car is in good condition today, with no rust in the chassis nor rot in the ash body frame. However, there are various non-standard “funnies” consistent with the practicalities of keeping a cheap car on the road. One of these is an L-Type cylinder head and inlet manifold, interchangeable with the later N-Type assembly but with the carburettors closer together. Peter’s photos show that these were already fitted to the car before he bought it, so they have been part of the car for well over half its life.

Magnette MattersKevin Jones goes in search of his car’s previous owner.

Club ContactsChairman: Nick Salmon

07831 805455chairman@lgccvcc.co.uk

Vice Chairman: David Davis

Secretary: Jim Bassettsecretary@lgccvcc.co.uk

Treasurer: Tim Farr

Membership: Andy Beavanmembership@lgccvcc.co.uk

Press & Publicity: Nick Salmon

Picnic Committee Chairman: David Davies

Events: Les Jaworski

www.lgccvcc.co.ukThis magazine may be viewed and downloaded

from the club website.

Items for Sparkplug can be sent to nicksalmon@splinta.co.uk

Letchworth Car Industry

Many readers will know of the Phoenix Car Company which, predictably perhaps, produced ‘The Phoenix’ in Letchworth from 1911 to the 1920s.

However, less well known will be the ‘Warne’ which was made by Pearsall-Warne also in Letchworth between 1913 and 1915.

This pleasing little 6cwt vehicle was made as both a belt driven cyclecar with an air cooled, JAP engine and as a light car with a water cooled Precision vee twin, three speed gearbox and bevel drive.

If you live near Letchworth please have a look under that blanket in your grandad’s shed.

Events 2017Club Meets are usually held at the Rising Sun unless otherwise stated. The summer mid-month meets may be held at other venues so check the website for latest info.

Sunday 23rd April Drive It Day - Club run. Start at The Rising Sun. Pre booking essential

Monday 8th May Club Meet. Note that this is the second Monday of the month

13th - 14th May Beaulieu Spring Autojumble. www.beaulieuevents.co.uk

Sunday 14th May Herts Auto Show. Stanborough Park. www.hertsautoshow.co.uk

Sunday 14th May Baldock Festival Classic Car Show

Sunday 21st May Walsworth Festival

Saturday 3rd June Club Picnic at Hall Green

Monday 5th June Club Meet

Saturday 10th June Datchworth Fete Classic Cars

Monday 19th June Club mid-month meet tbc

Sunday 25th June Cottered Village Day - classics on the green

29th June - 2nd July Goodwood Festival of Speed. www.goodwood.co.uk

Sunday 9th July - Hatfield House Classic Car Show. www.classicmotorshows.co.uk

Monday 3rd July Club Meet

Monday 17th July Club mid-month meet

Saturday 22nd July Shefford Revs & Rhythms.

Monday 7th August Club Meet

Thursday 10th Aug Pirton RNLI Classic Car Show.

Sunday 13th Aug Pulloxhill. South Beds Classic Car Show.

Sunday 20th Aug Tewin Classic Car Show.

Monday 21st August Club mid-month meet.

Sunday 27th August Little Gransden Car & Air Show

Sunday/Monday 27th & 28th August - Knebworth Park Classic Car Show. Club stand on 28th. www.classicmotorshows.co.uk

2nd - 3rd September. Beaulieu Autojumble. www.beaulieuevents.co.uk

2nd - 3rd September. Peterborough Classic & Vintage Vehicle Show

Saturday 2nd Sept Buntingford High Street Classic Car Show.

Monday 4th September Club Meet

8th - 10th September. Goodwood Revival. www.goodwood.co.uk

Monday 18th September Club mid-month meet.

Monday 2nd October Club Meet.

Monday 6th November Club Meet.

Monday 4th December Club Meet

All information is given in good faith but no responsibility is accepted for errors.

No wonder the VA was reluctant to start and ran like a pig. This fuel, drained from the tank, was only about 4 months old.

If you have left your car standing over the winter and it has poor/no go, have a look at the fuel before you start to fiddle with carbs/ignition.

N.S.