Towards the end of the Nineteen Fifties Armstrong Siddeley Motors published a book called the Evening and the Morning, it was a celebration their past and looked forward to the future. From time to time we will publish excerpts for this book, here is the first which was copied from the Western Leader published in October 1932.
"Two Hillhead men and a 50's automobile figured in a wonderful motoring feat last week. The two men are Norman Goudei and James Dornan, who carry on business in Otago lane, Hillhead, as motor engineers. They specialise in buying old models for breaking up.
For business purposes it became necessary for them to make a trip to London, but to their dismay they found that all their hiring cars were out and the only one they had in the garage was a 1924 model Armstrong Siddeley, which they had bought for 50 shillings, and which had been put on the “shelf” to be broken up for scrap. They finally decided to make the journey with this car, and set off for London in it, the car being in practically the same condition as when they had bought it. Much to their surprise, the car successfully completed the double journey, giving a performance which they believed impossible. The route lay through Liverpool, and the journey took twenty-four hours, twelve hours each way."
"Not a single car passed this “scrap” model on the road. On the contrary, it passed everything it saw in front of it as occasion demanded, and drew away from all cars that came up with it, including a 1932 sports model capable of exceptional speed. For hours on end the two engineers, who drove alternately, were able to keep the throttle wide open, a feat they believe would be impossible for any car produced today for under £500.
Every moment they expected to see the engine fly to pieces, but nothing of the sort happened, the only trouble they experienced being a puncture on the return journey in one of the tyres bought with the car.
The “scrap” model is now back in Glasgow, and the owners have decided, it would be a sin to break up such an amazing bus. It is still running splendidly, none the worse for its long journey of nine hundred miles, which was completed with only one days stay in London."
We have assumed that the car was a 30hp Armstrong Siddeley, however, its unclear which model was involved in this epic run. The image shown above is a 1921 30hp with a Mann Egerton body, below is an image of the opulent interior of a Burlington bodied saloon.
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