A pair of humorous car drawings from 1944 - at Old Classic Car Forum
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A pair of humorous car drawings from 1944
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RAF Staff Car query

Jane dropped me an email in Feb 2006 with a copy of two drawings, drawn by her mother back in 1944, whilst serving as a driver for RAF officers. Jane's question is this - from the cartoon shown below, can anyone suggest what car was being represented here? fortunately the serial number appears quite clearly - M 1134051 - so perhaps there are wartime records around that could aid identifying this car, or at least provide some clues.

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Wartime cartoons

RAF officer in the car

Walking the car! Before seeing the drawings, I was thinking of large Humbers, but these cartoons suggest a much smaller, open top, car. I've seen Austin 8 tourers decked out in military colours, so could the car shown have been an Austin perhaps? or a Standard 'tilly' ? all clues welcomed, drop me a line via the contact page and I'll forward any ideas on to Jane. I've suggested contacting the IWM to see if they have records of this serial no.

[Update: Keith (in Western Australia) and Graham have separately been in touch, suggesting that the car depicted in these drawings could indeed be an Austin 8 tourer, as both 2 and 4 door versions were used. Keith goes on to say .. " I believe the wartime cartoons are depicting a 1940 Austin Eight. The British Army had hundreds of them during the war. The bonnet is of the alligator type with a "rocket" emblem that twists to release the bonnet catch and allow it to be opened. The view of the grille in the first cartoon from the side has indications of the Austin Grille.". Thanks for the extra information chaps!!]

The drawings are great I think. Cartoon 1 shows a portly officer with his trusty canine friend, wedged into the diminutive motorcar, and the second image shows Jane's mother 'walking the car', another hint that its a very small car we've got here!!

Thanks for sending the drawings in Jane, hopefully someone can help your quest!

There is a photograph showing a 'real' RAF Austin 8 staff car, elsewhere in the period photographs section, click here to see it.

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