It has been a very busy and active summer, 100 years since Armstrong Siddeley cars were first produced. To mark the occasion, a group of car owners mainly from the U.K. but joined by members from Holland, Belgium, Germany, Australia and USA came together to participate in part or all of the Celebration programme.
Bamburgh Castle, home to Armstrong, was the venue for the start of a trip to Kenilworth Castle bought by John Siddeley when he became Lord Kenilworth.
A stop-over in York for two days made for an easy and enjoyable trip for both elderly cars and drivers as they made their way south to Chesford Grange Hotel close to Kenilworth. From here outings, which included the Coventry Transport Museum, a Mayoral reception in the historic Guild Hall, and a reception in the Kenilworth Castle Gatehouse followed by an inspection of the Armstrong Siddeley exhibition housed there. The Saturday morning car runs allowed for the exploration of the beautiful Warwickshire countryside.
Sunday the 14th July was the final part of the event and some 103 cars gathered in the Memorial Park, Coventry. Models on show ranged from the 1904 Siddeley to the last Star Sapphire (MkII) registered in August 1960.
The 'icing on the cake' was a special flypast by the only UK airworthy Lancaster Bomber.
A.V.Roe was bought by John Siddeley in 1928 and became a subsidiary of The Armstrong Siddeley Development Company which passed to the Hawker Siddeley group who produced the majority of these planes. The range of Armstrong Siddeley cars produced after WWII were named Lancaster, Hurricane, Typhoon and Whitley declaring the companies aircraft heritage.