The war years

Despite the curtailment of pleasure motoring during the war, EHS was involved with Coventry's supply of military equipment and needed something economical to run during the time of petrol rationing. In October 1941 he acquired a Ford Prefect with 1,095 miles on the clock from Reynolds Tubes at Tyseley. It was registered FOL 878 and had engine number C218419. Again a record of every journey and fuel refill was kept and at 5,000 miles he checked all the carburettor jets to be sure that they were to original tolerance. He was able to return 19 unused supplementary Petrol Coupons as a result of the car's frugal habits.

By August 1942 the little Ford had covered 12,000 miles and EHS then added to his fleet a second-hand 1939 Rover 14 which had covered 5,736 miles. In the unlikely event that it still exists his diary shows it to have been registered DDF 695 chassis number 922469, engine 923062 ex E.C. Gibson of Christchurch. As usual with his cars EHS dosed it with Redex and drew a diagram of the fuel gauge to show exactly how much was in the tank at different needle positions. He got 25 mpg which was not bad for such a heavy car, though he soon substituted a weaker SU carb needle and, having found the speedometer to be 6 per cent fast, he got a replacement one!

By April 1943, the Rover had covered 15,560 miles and it was then stored. The eight gallons of fuel in the tank were drained out in case there was an invasion and kept safely hidden away in cans.

In November 1942 EHS had noted in his diary the serious mileage allowances for using a car to work, 780 per month could be covered, or 1000 if other workers were carried. He also wrote down the basic petrol allowance based on MPG and different horsepower classes. You could have 78 gallons over 3 months with a 7hp car that was supposed to average 40 mpg. A 15 hp car should average 21 mpg and received 124 gallons, whilst a 30 hp and over was not so generously treated and got only 180 gallons and was expected to average 14 mpg.

At the end of the Rover diary EHS noted some cars which may have been types he was considering. Amongst them were Riley 12 hp, MG 1½ litre, Lea Francis, Lancia, Peugeot, Aston Martin and Alvis 12/70. However, after much thought at the end of 1943 he bought a car that had interested him very much before the War on account of its technical originality.

It was a 1939 Citroen Light Fifteen saloon, acquired with 1,736 recorded miles from S. Machin of Shrewsbury. It was registered HUB 74 (chassis 122953), engine DN-06114) and was soon given an extensive test by EHS. He recorded 72mph at 3,200 rpm and weighed the car to ascertain its front to rear weight ration. With 4½ gallons aboard it registered 12 cwt, on the front wheels and 9½ on the rear. He soon worked on the carburettor to improve economy and then returned a regular 29 mpg. In 1944 the car went to the Citroen Works at Slough for a service at 6,058 miles and later in the year it returned for a 10,000 mile overhaul at which the speedometer was returned to zero!

By the end of the war the car had covered a further 4,500 miles and had plainly pleased the Siddeley family because in 1944 they bought a sister car in the shape of an open Citroen roadster. This was a 1940 Light Fifteen (chassis no 125030, engine number DUO 6639). It came from Ernest Sutton Ltd, a London dealer, for £550 at 7,238 miles. Unfortunately the diary covering this desirable car says nothing of its character, simply its fuel consumption, service history and problems. The Solex carburettor came in for attention to overcome a flat spot at the bottom end. In January 1945 it skidded on ice and damaged a nearside front wheel, though fortunately not the front wheel drive mechanism. Tyres were regularly swapped with the Citroen saloon and from the front to back to keep all with an equal depth of tread. At 13,182 miles, at the end of October 1945, the Roadster was sold along with its saloon sister to the dealer who had supplied the Roadster. The sum received for the two was £800, which would undoubtedly have been more had EHS waited for the full pent-up demand for cars to feed through.

My father, returning from war a little later, sold the elderly open Chevrolet he had bought new in 1938 for £265, for roughly double that figure. Ernest Sutton also bought the Ford Prefect for an undisclosed sum and the Rover 14 had meanwhile gone to Reynolds Tubes for £714 15s 4d. EHS was involved with this company and his sister had married one of the Reynolds family. Reynolds Tubes had close associations with the Jensen brothers and had inadvertently led them into the manufacture of complete commercial vehicles just before the war, when they had ordered three lorries for carrying long extrusions for aircraft manufacture. These vehicles were of semi-monocoque construction and had Ford V8 engines. After the war they were redesigned with Perkins engines and made available on the open market.

Continue Ernest's story into the post-war years