HMC Quattroporte assaulted

[lesapandre]

36 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

He was indeed married to Winifred and they had one child, a daughter named Jeanette. She went to Upton Convent School and then onto finishing school in Switzerland, where she studied French. Later on she worked for a solicitor's practice in Hoylake. Jeanette was a noteworthy showjumper and had represented Cheshire in competitions. She became engaged to (or married) a James Chapman in January 1966. His parents had a nice house at 28 Quarry Road, Heswall, which was used until at least 2009 as a Prep. school.

Albert was, genuinely, a cotton merchant in Liverpool.

Cassir & Co Ltd - with which Albert Cassir may have been associated, was incorporated in March 1956  according to Companies House records - the registered office was located at 403 Cotton Exchange Building, Liverpool. The company went into voluntary liquidation in 1988 and no longer exists.

The Cotton Exchange no longer exists either with the demised of the UK cotton trade - but the building still stands. Some history:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_Cotton_Exchange_Building

This would all seem to tie together with a prosperous entrepreneur buying a Rolls Royce.

[Sigmund Fraud]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

I decided to risk depending on it for a work trip so wafted to my destination and back

I secretly hope it was a careers fair talk, and you used the Shadow to illustrate how well remunerated the profession is !

[lesapandre]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

Here we go

In no particular order (theres at least 40 pages ) 

 

 

 

First of 3 (!) paint shop inspections

Bodies were manufactured at the Pressed Steel Fisher plant at Cowley Oxford and then shipped up to Rolls Royce for fitting out.

[Mrs6C]

59 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Cassir & Co Ltd - with which Albert Cassir may have been associated

The late Ken Cassir, champion powerboat racer, was associated with Cassir & Co Ltd too.

[HMC]

meanwhile our Rolls men were in the hand built engine zone….

 

 

 

[HMC]

And were not messing about when it came to the a/c …..

[HMC]

And id love to see what a “slammometer” looks like…

[HMC]

[HMC]

Surprising about of electrical fails that needed attention….

[HMC]

I imagine K WOOD has bryl creamed slick back hair and would in later times be diagnosed with OCD….

 

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Born in Egypt on 3 Mar 1911. Albert CASSIR married Winifred POPPLEWELL. He passed away in Lancashire, England.

Ancestry.com has the Chapman family linked Albert Cassir as born 24 Feb 1911 Ash Shatibi, Al Iskandariyah, Egypt.  That's Alexandria.

Could be two Alberts, possibly, but unlikely in same region

Birthdate records can get mistakenly recorded.  My Grandfather, born at Teignmouth, found out at his retirement that he was older than he thought he was - he could have retired a year earlier!

[HMC]

As far as i can tell i think Ken Cassir the powerboat racer was his son

[flat4alfa]

6 minutes ago, HMC said:

As far as i can tell i think Ken Cassir the powerboat racer was his son

From the Hampshire Chronicle 31st December 2019

It was his earlier life that is believed to have led to his death as he was part of the family company, Cassir and Co, working as a cotton trader.  Cassir, of Peach Hill Lane, Crawley, was diagnosed with mesothelioma – a form of cancer caused by asbestos.

An inquest into his death at Winchester Coroner’s Court heard that he would often travel to Peru and Columbia on ships, and it is understood that some of the ships were made out of asbestos.

It was also mentioned that the family company was located in Liverpool Docks, which at the time were being pulled down, and the buildings could have contained the substance.

[riek]

17 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Birthdate records can get mistakenly recorded.  My Grandfather, born at Teignmouth, found out at his retirement that he was older than he thought he was - he could have retired a year earlier!

Mine discovered at the age of 65 that he was Alfred Derek not Derek Alfred

[Crackers]

50 minutes ago, HMC said:

And were not messing about when it came to the a/c …..

From what I can make out through the very squiggly handwriting, this is quite an insightful read, I'm very surprised they would send it out with the car though - surely they wouldn't want the customer to know how badly they'd built it the first time round, and how much rework it needed. Would be interested to know what the total rework minutes were, although it's probably not counted anywhere. 81 miles of road testing is quite something. 

45 minutes ago, HMC said:

I imagine K WOOD has bryl creamed slick back hair and would in later times be diagnosed with OCD….

 

Again, quite surprising that some of these faults made it to the final quality report before being rectified. "Headlamps loose" especially - I assume this car has done all its road testing in that condition. Wouldn't be allowed out on test nowadays until that had been sorted.

[Cookiesouwest]

Re the test faults.

Hand built does not mean well built.

[Mrs6C]

Looks like the owner of this business is the grandson:
https://www.michaeljchapman.co.uk/

[The_Equalizer]

Noticed it was originally Shell Grey.  Very nice colour in my eyes and one available from the beginning of Shadow production. Just need to find £10k down the back of the sofa to get it back to original. Ho, ho.

Sundym is an interesting option too. It's quite subtle and nothing like modern offerings.

[Mr Pastry]

It's fascinating to see all the owner's family history emerging, and so quickly.  Of course it helps to have an unusual surname - a Smith or Jones would not be so easy to trace.

[richardmorris]

12 minutes ago, Cookiesouwest said:

Re the test faults.

Hand built does not mean well built.

Rather like some handmade suits that look quite shoddy in the stiching.

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, HMC said:

quartz iodine fogs

Including Purchase Tax, those foglights were ~£650 in today's money

Which seems reasonable considering the price of door mirror with indicator, for a modern Volvo.

[HMC]

22 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

Looks like the owner of this business is the grandson:
https://www.michaeljchapman.co.uk/

Good research! Ive just pinged him a quick e mail- hopefully some memories might be jogged!

[flat4alfa]

31 minutes ago, Cookiesouwest said:

Hand built does not mean well built.

[flat4alfa]

Park Ward Museum's own Shell Grey example

Aussie sunshine lifts a blue hint out of it

[wuvvum]

Ooh, now that is a nice colour.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Bodies were manufactured at the Pressed Steel Fisher plant at Cowley Oxford and then shipped up to Rolls Royce for fitting out.

Did they use full size scalextric track?

[Crackers]

32 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Did they use full size scalextric track?

Technically yes, actually, and it's used in varying forms in almost every automotive plant. 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Park Ward Museum's own Shell Grey example

Aussie sunshine lifts a blue hint out of it

interesting, i'd say that would be registered as SILVER as far the DVLA is concerned? so that would imply from the details I can dig up on it from its DVLA record that it went from its original colour directly to white then?

On 08/01/2024 at 17:47, LightBulbFun said:

looks like it had its colour change to white, on the 20th of the 11th 1988, previously to that it was Silver! what it was before then I sadly dont know

which I find quite interesting because I did not  realise as early as 1988, RR Shadow's where considered wedding car material like they are today, unless it was painted white for a different purpose/reason? 

 

 

Like Mr Pastry, im loving all the history  I dunno why but I always get a kick out of seeing ephemera like this that does manage to survive against the odds

[Mr Pastry]

38 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

which I find quite interesting because I did not  realise as early as 1988, RR Shadow's where considered wedding car material like they are today, unless it was painted white for a different purpose/reason? 

 

One of my cousins had a badly painted white Shadow as her wedding car in about 1987-88 and this did not seem unusual, so yes, it was a thing back then.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

9 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Slight aside, but The Beast finally has its Roller nose back. Looking better for it, too.