Interesting cars with interesting histories. 10
From time to time through our writings for the Heritage Trust we have invited anyone with an Armstrong Siddeley car story to get in touch. This week we feature just such a tale and it comes from Mr. Donegan, County Limerick, Eire.
The order for this 1928, two seater Coupe, was placed with the Armstrong Siddeley factory at Parkside by R. Legear, an Armstrong Siddeley Dealer, located in Adare, Co Limerick. Purchased new as a wedding present for Mary Flynn it was registered to her with the Number IU 1809 and the address shown as Main Street Adare Co Limerick. Mary was the first and only owner till our correspondent Billy Donegan discovered the car in a very sorry state in 1970.
For £25.00 a deal was done for the rolling chassis, scuttle and radiator along with permission to search the property where it had resided for some time for the missing parts. Fortunately most bits were retrieved. Two years later Billy started a garage business selling cars and tractors so the project was now put to one side. It would be 2007 before thoughts turned back to the car again and the meticulous work of a full restoration was completed around 2020 during lockdown.
Like so many of us who are real enthusiasts our interests go beyond the car we drive. So it is for Billy Donegan. He has restored, and shows at events, with the help of his grandson, as seen in the pictures below, the extremely rare ‘Overland tractor’ machines designed for smallholdings and farms having a small acreage.
A very smart Scott Motorcycle is another of his interests.
Oddly enough John Siddeley on leaving Wolseley in 1909 spoke with Scott Motorcycles before joining Deasy, another of life’s - might have been.
The full story and pictures of the restoration of this beautiful 12hp car will in time appear in the 12hp section of our main web site pages.
