GUY GRIFFITHS - Key Persons
Jock Leith had had it completely rebuilt, with many new parts from Sunbeam, who still had plenty of spares. A sensible modification had been to take the camshaft oiling off the main dry sump system and get rid of the dashboard drip feeds. The work had taken much longer than he had hoped and cost a very great deal more than he expected; nothing changes! He had competed a few times including Brighton, but now wanted to do some serious racing and buy the red 2.3 Bugatti Charles Martin had been racing. Unfortunately he could not buy the Bugatti until he had sold the Sunbeam and he needed £100.
We wandered out to the road and talked beside his car, the beautiful ex-Zbrowski Boulogne Hispano-Suiza that the Count* had left Clive Gallop when he was killed. After the war Morin Scott used the wings on the Hispano Special he built. I said I would love the car but £100 was more than I could justifiably afford for a car I would not want to sell, as I could buy four or five cars for stock for the same amount. He quite saw my point and after inviting me to take the Hispano round the block, he drove off."
(Count Louis Zbrowski raced in the 1920s; the wealthy son of a Polish Count and an American mother, he lived at Higham Place a large country house near Canterbury, where with his engineer Captain Clive Gallop he built three aero-engined cars, all called Chitty Bang Bang. These later inspired James Bond author Ian Fleming to write the eponymous book, which was adapted for the screen.)
"A few days later he came again and said the Sunbeam was outside, ‘come and have a look' She seemed in perfect condition, dark green with a 1924 type cowled radiator, a great improvement, everything seemed original apart from the rather stumpy tail, the petrol tank, seats, dash, even the original cream painted interior. He said he would leave her for a few days if I would run him home. He may have been an ‘Hon', but he was a good salesman.
Having had the car at his disposal for a few days, Guy succumbed to temptation and bought the Sunbeam for £100.
"Jock then bought the Bugatti and said if we could use my trade plates we could take her out and see how she went before he entered any events. On a Sunday soon after, we went down to Symes, at Byfleet. We filled the car to the brim with methanol and off we went, driving in turns. We stopped for lunch in Guildford then dipped the tank, now getting empty, did a few more miles and took her back.
The Sunbeam still had her Brooklands silencer and I took her to the track to see how she performed. Though not particularly fast she was vice free and a delight to handle; by hand timing the lap speed was about 103-105 and she would have gone on all day. This was on pump fuel (about 75-78 octane) and road plugs.
I entered for the first available Donington meeting and towed her up, staying the night before race day in Nottingham. There was a fine entry including Shuttleworth's Monoposto Alfa, Eccles' 3.3 Bugatti, all the fast 2.3s; Leith, Martin, Dobson,and Brackenbury, apart from many smaller but very quick cars.
Job Titles:
- Autocar Editor
- Sports Editor of the the AUTOCAR
One day in 1934 soon after I had opened, I had a phone call from Sammy Davis, Sports Editor of the THE AUTOCAR, a national hero after his epic win at Le Mans in 1927 and so at this time at the very top of the motor racing world. He said the paper had had a complaint about one of my advertisements and would like to come and clear it up.
I must admit in those days of innocence all traders could be a little optimistic about the merits and performance of their stock. I also knew that if THE AUTOCAR refused my advertisements I would be finished before I had really started.
He arrived in his International Aston Martin just after lunch. It seemed that a reader had complained I had advertised a 12/50 Alvis as lap speed 90 mph. When he said that, a huge black cloud lifted; the car was ex Purdy and I had an old Autocar reporting a race at Brooklands mentioning a lap speed of 92 mph by Purdy in his 12/50 Alvis. I showed Sammy Davis the car and the report. He said "Fine, that clears everything up", and then with a little smile he said something like "Always make sure any fact you mention can be verified", surely the best advice any journalist or writer could have.
Stirling Moss in a Kieft 500 at Brands Hatch in October 1951.Stirling Moss holding his trophy to celebrate winning the Touring Car Race, alongside Mike Hawthorn Silverstone in May1953.John "Autocar" Cooper, Denis Jenkinson & Bill Boddy, editor of Motor Sport, photographed by Guy at Brands Hatch in October 1950
Brands Hatch 14-10-1950 "I photographed nearly every weekend and covered many events for THE AUTOCAR, the American magazine ROAD & TRACK' and other publication. Sammy Davis was back as editor of THE AUTOCAR, but soon due for retirement, and when he asked me to suggest a replacement, I thought of John Cooper.
He had been apprenticed at Alvis and had been there with Lofty England and Harry Mundy. Apart from that he was an electronics expert and at that moment was working on the Decca Navigation system and had helped with the design.
He was an instant success and his reports set new standards, continued later by Denis Jenkinson for MOTOR SPORT. Sammy often still came to events and gave a hand and sometimes Spike Rhiando joined us; the Six Hour Relay-Race was a huge event and we all covered it, I took the pictures and Spike and Sammy observed parts of the course and we all gave John "Autocar" Cooper as he was now known, any interesting tit bits we had seen.
Whenever John had an interesting road car for THE AUTOCAR to test, he used to pick me up from my home at Thames Ditton and we would go to Cambridge and have lunch with Pat Stevenson who worked for Cambridge Instruments. This gave us a chance to let it out over the almost deserted Newmarket flats.
When John was killed in a Frazer Nash going to see Pat I should have been with him, but I was ill in bed."