As you are probably aware, we recently had a long weekend of celebrations in the UK to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. That’s 70 years without a break, and although I’m not the country’s biggest monarchist, I was happy enough to have a few days away from work in honour of the occasion.
The epicentre of activities was That London, but events were held in pretty much every town and village across the land. Streets were closed and decorated with patriotic bunting, trestle tables groaned under the weight of cakes and nibbles and flaming beacons were lit on every hilltop; a great opportunity to dispose of those old pallets, asbestos and half empty paint tins.
My time to indulge in Jubilee fever was limited but I did manage to drive over to the vintage rally at Cauldon Lowe, a tiny windswept settlement 1122 feet up in the Staffordshire Moorlands (that’s 342 metres to our metric friends). The Moorlands are pretty wild at the best of times and the weather here is best characterised as three months of winter followed by nine months of bad weather. With it being early June, the nine months of bad weather was in full swing, so it was a case of stalking the field in coats and hats trying to keep the rain out of the camera. Of course, I exaggerate a little. We had an afternoon back in April where it was really quite warm for a few hours and I even took my main jumper off.
The turnout may have been small but there was plenty of quality, as you can see from my photographs which I significantly brightened in post-production for your enjoyment. There were a couple of nice Morris Minors, one in Police livery but nothing to say whether it was an original Panda car or not. Perhaps the sign had blown away. The 1971 Austin Maxi 1750 is a rare sight; this being an early car it presumably has a single carb fuelling the (nearly) 1750cc engine as the twin carb HL version didn’t arrive until the following year. The oft-quoted Pub Fact about the Maxi tells how the rear seat folds both fully forwards and fully backwards, so if you did break down on the moors you could at least get some kip whilst waiting for the recovery truck to arrive.
Similarly scarce is the Vauxhall Nova saloon, the hatchback variant being much preferred at the expense of the three-boxer. The 1.2L model we see here looked lovely in the Staffordshire rain, temporarily dialled back from storm to drizzle at the moment I took the photographs. One of these would make nice daily driver and the early ones will be tax exempt soon too. A more established classic could be found in the form of the Ford Escort 1300, again in less desirable more-door form. The number plate was still appropriate though, HFM being an acronym for “how f***ing much?!”. There’s no such thing as a cheap Ford Escort anymore. It was nice to see such a standard example though, with not a thing out of place as far as I could tell through the mist.
As you’d expect in such a rural area, cars made up less than half of the attractions and there was a good line up of old tractors, large and small. The oldest was a 1935 Fordson Model N, a type that offered a first experience of mechanisation on many farms. Built from 1929 in Cork and then from 1933 in Dagenham, the Model N continued throughout the war to finally cease production in 1945. This one is apparently a “water washer” variant, so called because the bottom of the air cleaner on the 4 cylinder petrol engine is filled with water instead of oil. The design was upgraded in 1937 to an oil-bath system to eliminate the risk of freezing. I have learned something new.
Lined up behind the tractors were some nice commercial vehicles. The immaculate 1947 Fordson E83W milk delivery truck was finished in the livery of a local diary but was laden with a collection of old milk bottles from all over the country. I could have spent hours looking at these alone and I had to wonder who had thought to preserve them all. In case you’re wondering, they’re cleverly filled with polystyrene balls to replicate milk. The Leyland Reiver and Bedford TK were regular sights when I was younger, when lorries looked like lorries. New ones don’t even have proper mirrors anymore, what is the world coming to?
The Reiver and everything else was dwarfed by the intimidating presence of an American Army REO M35A2C1 2½ Ton Cargo Truck. If you’re thinking it looks capable of carrying a far higher load you’d be correct. Officially rated at 2,300kg off road and 4,500kg on road, they can haul up to twice this weight. Up front is a 7.8 litre six pot developing 134 bhp and 330 lb/ft of torque, The engine is classed as multi-fuel, equally happy to run on diesel, jet kerosene, ordinary kerosene or heating oil. It can even take petrol as long as clean motor oil is added every at the rate of ½ gallon to every 30 gallons of petrol to avoid damaging the injection pump. This REO was built in 1957 and served in Germany with the 29th Support Group, undertaking various deployments including peace keeping duties in the former Yugoslavia, until it was demobbed and brought to the UK in 2007. It is very much an REO non-Speedwagen but not much would stop it.
Finally a quick look at some of the autojumble, including a Raleigh Chopper bicycle. These were highly prized the last time the country had a big knees-up for the Queen, that being the 1977 Silver Jubilee. I’ll close with a fiendishly difficult competition; guess the mystery car from the spare wings and bonnet. Entries on the back of a £50 note to the usual address please. The winner will not be notified and will receive no prize. Have fun!
