with a 1920s Smith multi-jet carburettor, ostensibly in the interests of reliability.
Having got the Oldsmobile home, I ensured that fuel was getting through and that the ignition system provided a fierce spark at the plug. All I had to do, it seems, was to crank it over and it would start …
No such luck: I cranked and cranked, but there wasn’ t a whisper of an explosion. We tried tow starting behind my Cortina. Despite towing the Olds for miles, it didn’ t fire once.
In desperation, for it was now the day before the Brighton Run, I refixed the original mixer valve, which just dribbled fuel into the Olds’ single cylinder – and the engine started at once... and kept on running.
After a brief night’ s sleep, we left home at 5:30am for Hyde Park, where the car was decanted from the trailer, started readily and was driven round to the start.
The Olds had a lamentable tendency to slip out of gear, which meant holding the stubby lever in place while steering with my left hand on the tiller. My 18-year-old son was passenger and auxiliary bottom( of two) gear. On the worst hills I also had to jump out and walk alongside, steering and holding bottom gear in place.
We made up for this by putting the Olds in neutral and coasting flat out( terrifying!) on downgrades – Handcross and Bolney hills, then part of the route, graphically revealed the shortcomings of tiller steering …
All afternoon we cajoled the Oldsmobile down the
A23, my foot flat on the“ speeder” pedal. Happily, that year the official finish was at the Pylons that mark the northern boundary of Brighton. As we passed the timekeeper with moments to spare, the petrol pipe broke and the Oldsmobile rolled to a halt in the next lay-by. They had to post our finisher’ s medal to us!
Two years later, Paul generously loaned me a Stanley Steamer with a provisional date of 1904. Happily, he also loaned me his mechanic, who understood the mysteries of driving a tiller-steered car with a boiler beneath its seat that held a pressure of 600psi. The car’ s acceleration was amazing; its hillclimbing phenomenal. And, despite catching fire twice, I enjoyed the fastest Brighton Run I have ever experienced, arriving on Madeira Drive at 1:30pm.
Basil Smith’ s immortalisation of my 1999 Run.
Veterans at Purley Corner 65 years ago:( left) 1903 10-hp Renault“ Catherine”;( above) Jack Sears’ 1903 18-hp Clement-Talbot;( below) 1903 8-hp De Dion Bouton Wagonette.
www. veterancarrun. com F / veterancarrun. I @ veterancarrun 23