project 1951 Lanchester LD10 - Trim Install and Woodworm Treating

[lesapandre]

1954 - at the Motor Show Lanchester showed a new successor small car - the 'Sprite'. But for complex reasons it did not reach production and then Lanchester closed.

Here is the story:

https://www.jaguarheritage.com/jaguar-history/jaguar-engineering/lanchester-sprite/

And the write up from 'The Motor' 1954 Motor Show edition. 

What a waste of development resources  but again the new car was £1077 when the new similar sized and a new model for '54 Austin Cambridge was about £700.  

Once Lanchester closed several 100 workers were let go too - some probably worked there from pre-war days. 

[lesapandre]

I think just a little part of the Daimler/Lanchester works survives in Coventry.

[lesapandre]

Super quality old car made as good as they could make it...may have an interesting history if you can find more from the archives at Gaydon or the Coventry Museum of Transport or owners club. Amazing some of these off-beat cars ever survived the 60's and the MoT. Possibly tucked up in a garage somewhere - these cars appealed to well-healed gentlefolk. These Barker bodied cars seem to survive better than the Briggs all steel ones.

Barker were owned by Daimler who also owned Hooper - two in-house coach builders for extra cachet.

[chompy_snake]

Ok ..... Which one of you was it that actually exploded? 

[quicksilver]

What a splendid gentleman's conveyance. I know nothing about Lanchester but that's a slice of 1950s Britain encapsulated in car form right there and the patina is just perfect.

[DSdriver]

21 hours ago, vulgalour said:

...  Presumably having the wings in steel rather than aluminium was done because they can brush off more substantial bumps.

I have a recollection of the Evening Standard newspaper delivery vans in London having rubber front wings. Presumably so they could bounce off other cars/traffic islands/policemen.

[LightBulbFun]

18 hours ago, DSdriver said:

I have a recollection of the Evening Standard newspaper delivery vans in London having rubber front wings. Presumably so they could bounce off other cars/traffic islands/policemen.

pretty sure GPO moggies n the such like had rubber wings for the same reason as well  

[somewhatfoolish]

Post Office Morris J vans had rubber front wings too.

[vulgalour]

GR8 for wobbly headlights!

[ETCHY]

I'm so impressed with that little car that I was looking them up on Youtube !

I post this as dunno about others but i didn't know how a pre-selector gearbox actually worked. I hope it's of interest.

 

[vulgalour]

Catherine Jones has some useful videos too on a few general bits and pieces with these cars.  They helped give a feel of how things should look and behave before going to view this one.

 

[vulgalour]

Ah, we have a Saturday morning delivery slot.  Excite!

[Christine]

We need 149 pages on this ..?

[vulgalour]

At least!

[loserone]

What's with the road signs window sticker in her car?

[doug]

Off to ebay to look for a Lanchester.

[doug]

Threre is only one look familiar.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lanchester-LD-10-1951/293668155369?hash=item445ffc6fe9:g:7WEAAOSw6Spe9RL6

[LightBulbFun]

disappointed no ones linked this yet  (I should of linked it in my first post in this thread tbh LOL)

 

(a good name suggestion maybe?) 

[vulgalour]

The car does already have a name.  It's not Lance Corporal Chester, we decided that was silly.

[PhilA]

6 hours ago, loserone said:

What's with the road signs window sticker in her car?

My old man's Sprite had one of those, it was a "Fellow British People, your road signs are no longer words! Heed, they are pictograms, and for those of you who are galactically stupid, here are the simplest ones and what they mean. Your future contains traffic circles."

 

Nobody believed they'd last, like motorway speed limits and VAT.

[lesapandre]

Yes they were issued at the changeover of signs - bit of detail that came with the car from the 60's. I can't remember if they were official or given away by petrol companies. Like a lot of ephemera easily discarded and possibly quite rare now.

[anonymous user]

2 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Yes they were issued at the changeover of signs - bit of detail that came with the car from the 60's. I can't remember if they were official or given away by petrol companies. Like a lot of ephemera easily discarded and possibly quite rare now.

"Sybil, put your glasses on, what does that squiggly thing in a triangle mean?"

[DSdriver]

French road sign stickers were given away free to people going across the channel back when I was a sprog.

[lesapandre]

1 hour ago, anonymous user said:

"Sybil, put your glasses on, what does that squiggly thing in a triangle mean?"

Man having trouble with an umbrella?

[PhilA]

4 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Yes they were issued at the changeover of signs - bit of detail that came with the car from the 60's. I can't remember if they were official or given away by petrol companies. Like a lot of ephemera easily discarded and possibly quite rare now.

Yeah, my old man was aghast when he came back to the car after popping into the newsagents and found my mother picking it off the window. Granted, this was about 1978.

[Christine]

I like " uneven road " sign as it  looks like a pair of tits ?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

41 minutes ago, Christine said:

I like " uneven road " sign as it  looks like a pair of tits ?

I wouldn't expect anything less.

[Christine]

1 hour ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I wouldn't expect anything less.

It never crossed my mind until a chick i went out with once , gave me directions to her new yard ..."turn left , down the  lane 400yards and i'm opposite the sign with a bra on it ".  Er wot?    " There's a bra sign ...you'll see the sign with a bra on it .... I'm opposite.." .... Sure enough  ,sleeping policemen humps and a bra sign ?  but they look more like tits...

[lesapandre]

Nice little website on the Lanchester.

https://users.aber.ac.uk/caj55/htm files/video.htm

[ETCHY]

I do keep wondering how come i've never taken any interest in these cars before but i've now just been watching avidly a video of the suspension being greased on one?

Brilliant old things, i'm hooked