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Motor-related sights during a week away.
I'm the first to admit that looking at other people's holiday photos can be a draining experience, and as this page contains images taken while we spent a week away, I'm warning anyone reading this that yes, what follows are some holiday snaps, so by all means run away now before I open the album. However, as all these photographs have a transport theme to them, perhaps someone will find them of interest.
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The plan was to take a week off and stay in a holiday cottage in the Shropshire/Welsh borders area. With lodgings booked, a fruitful couple of hours was then spent online, searching out potential places of interest that we could venture to, if the opportunity arose. Over the course of the week we visited quite a few villages and towns, dotted around the countryside of Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Radnorshire just over the border in Wales, land of my forefathers (well, some of them).
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Kings Cup Air Race.
Handily, our first full day away coincided with the Kings Cup Air Race, due to be held at Shobdon airfield, which wasn't too far from our base. Despite the day starting off rainy, the clouds eventually cleared, enabling the race to take place. Anyone more used to air racing at the likes of Reno in Nevada, may have visions of P51 Mustangs vying with Harvards and other warbirds for glory. The Kings Cup, a historic event that dates back to the 1920s, is a more modest yet still hugely entertaining affair, fielding homebuilts against the likes of Cessna 152, Grumman AA5, and a sprightly Siai Marchetti. The race was very enjoyable despite the lack of warbirds. To add to the scenery, a "well patinated" Series 2 Land-Rover was on duty with the airfield staff, and a fine pre-war Riley arrived shortly before the flag dropped. In the car park, a Bentley and early Austin A30 were also spotted.
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1920's AA telephone box.
Pootling around the backwaters of the country, often turns up interesting roadside things to look at. In Eardisland for instance, a fine restored AA telephone box can be found, outside The Cross Inn. Originally Box 321 was located at Legions Cross in nearby Pembridge. After its useful life had ended, an enthusiast rescued the old telephone box and kept it in his garden, until it was decided that the box be restored and put on display in Eardisland. Across the road, above the village shop, is a small display of AA memorabilia, that includes photographs and some rare pre-war AA road signs.
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Vauxhall-Bedford dealer's sign from the 1920s.
The lure of junk and antique shops only seems to increase as I get older. On a trip to Leominster we discovered a plethora of interesting shops, packed to the gunnels with antiquities, collectables, architectural salvage, old books and more than a little junk. In one such establishment this well-preserved old garage sign turned up for Vauxhall-Bedford dealer G. Hopkins and Sons, located in Ledbury. Their telephone number was 3. Signwritten onto a wooden plank, the sign must date to the 1930s if not a little earlier. If the price tag had been a little more modest, I'd have been tempted to snap it up, but in a rare moment of level-headedness (much welcomed by 'er indoors), I ran away before I did something I might later regret. A check online shows that the sign, which could well have once adorned the firm's Bedford breakdown lorry, sold a couple of years ago for less than half the current ticket price, so perhaps I did the right thing after all.
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Land of Lost Content.
During my pre-departure search online for interesting places to visit, details of the Land of Lost Content museum in Craven Arms popped into view. As it is situated just a few hundred yards from the main A49, this was pencilled in for a visit. I'm glad we did too. Outside, along with various old advertising signs on the building, is a Morris Z van. Signwritten with the museum's details, it doesn't look like it moves very often, if at all. In fact the owner told me that a few years back, some local ruffians decided that it would be amusing to tip the poor Morris onto its side. This probably explains the battered state of its nearside front wing. The Morris is looking a bit neglected, with green mould forming in places it shouldn't. If the owners just cleaned it and perhaps gave it a wipe over with an oily rag, it'd stave off the worst that the elements might throw at it, but as it is, I can only see it deteriorating rapidly over the coming years.
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Inside the museum though is a sight to behold. The building is almost bursting with collectables on display, grouped loosely by category. The content focuses on the 20th century, and there are plenty of display items to interest the motor enthusiast, as well as the collector of old toy cars, signs, posters, and related memorabilia. Words cannot really do the huge collection justice, so all I'll say is that if you're interested in old things, whether they be wartime related, domestic, transportation or old things in general, this is well worth a look if you're passing. Hopefully the little Z van will come in for some tlc one day also.
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Some of the motoring memorabilia is shown below.
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Morgan visitor centre.
One day was set aside for a trip to Malvern, so it seemed sensible to combine this foray into Worcestershire with a trip to the Morgan Motor Company. If our little lad had been a year or two older, we'd have pre-booked for the 2hr factory tour, as I'm told it's well worth attending. As it was though, we decided to pop in for a look at the visitor centre, which combines a shop and a small museum of key Morgan cars. Everyone was very friendly and the mood of the place welcoming and informal, so a return visit when junior is a little older is definitely on the cards.
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Rare Vauxhalls.
When I first started driving, trips out into the sticks would often result in unusual "finds" and automotive discoveries, either laying at the side of the road, peeking out of hedges, or discarded at the side of someone's driveway awaiting an uncertain fate. As time has passed, and derelict buildings and homes get re-furbished, so too does the stock of roadside sightings deplete. Happily though they still turn up, and this next photo is a perfect example. Heading in the direction of Wales, down a winding country road, I was somewhat surprised to spot the Vauxhalls shown below, peeking out of an open-fronted store room, right onto the road. Fans of Luton's finest will recognise the Vauxhall (Viva) Magnum, and its rare stablemate - a "droop snoot" Vauxhall Sports Hatch, a rare machine indeed and one that hasn't moved in many a year. Accompanying the two Vivas was another Firenza, a fastback Sunbeam Rapier, and a large BMC (Farina) saloon. Quite what the future holds for these scarce 1970s cars is anyone's guess. I suspect people before I have made enquiries as to their availability for purchase. At least they're partially undercover so hopefully will be restored one day.
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Noticed in Knighton.
After visiting an elderly relative in the vicinity one day, we popped into Knighton for a swift cup of tea and a mooch around. Towns such as this often had one or more garage businesses serving the needs of the locals and their vehicles. While many have closed down, the old garage buildings often survive, either unused or adapted for new roles. Just such a garage was found in Knighton, plus the two interesting vehicles shown below, visible from a public footpath. The first is a rotary-engined NSU Ro80 looking ripe for some tlc, while the second appears to be the cockpit of a helicopter, grafted onto a car's running gear. The cockpit looks to be from an Aerospatiale Gazelle, to which certain modifications have been made. Outside a (former?) school building, I assume it has been
used for fundraising events, and/or local parades. It'd be fun to go shopping in that's for certain.
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Old garages, petrol pumps and signs.
As mentioned, old garage buildings often survive even when their use has ended, and their owners packed up for good. The two red petrol pumps shown below were spotted outside a former tractor garage in Knighton, while the white pumps were seen outside a Shropshire garage on the way back home. The two garage signs - one for the RAC, the other for Pratts Motor Spirit -
were seen in Pembridge, while the 1950s cast aluminium Cycling Prohibited street sign was found on a wall in Ledbury.
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Talking of garages, an interesting one in Wales I'd heard of previously, but had never seen before, features a showroom on its first floor. No longer in use for car sales, the garage's owner keeps his interesting collection of old cars up there. We came across this one by accident - a screech of brakes, followed by a couple of photographs, and we continued on our way for that day's planned activities. A trip into Llandrindod Wells uncovered several more former garage buildings. The Pritchard & Sons Hillman/Humber/Commer/Sunbeam establishment, shown below, is featured in greater detail here.
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National Cycle Museum.
Just a short way away from Pritchard's garage in Llandod sits the magnificent Automobile Palace, home to amongst other things the National Cycle Museum. Cycles of many different forms, shapes and sizes are displayed in this amazing collection, accompanied by signs, accessories, posters and trophies going back to the earliest days of bone-shakers, penny farthings, road and race machines. Surrounded by many vintage bicycles is a re-creation of Tom Norton's garage, in which sits a very smart Austin 7 of 1928. The lighting and black walls of the museum make the museum feel a little gloomy in places, but it's most definitely worth a visit if ancient cycles are your "thing".
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Overall it was an interesting week away, involving trips to many locations we'd not been to before - roll on the next one.
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