Two more unusual bodies fitted to the long wheel base 346 Sapphire chassis.
Our first image is of a 'one off ' special, ordered by machine tool manufacturer Adcock and Shipley. This company commenced business in 1914 based in Bright Street, Leicester, manufacturing vertical and horizontal drilling machines including a Bridgeport design under licence from Bridgeport Machines, Inc.
By 1961 the company had developed equipment and established a name for itself in the grinding of glass lenses. Was it this departure or some other technical development which caused them to require a mobile facility to demonstrate their machinery? When the vehicle had completed its task the Perspex dome was removed. Sometime later the now conventional looking pickup truck came into the care of the Armstrong Siddeley Owners Club. It was loaned to the Coventry and Ansty branch of Rolls Royce Heritage Trust for a period and is now in the hands of an Armstrong Siddeley club member who is preparing it for road-use once again.
Our car in the second picture is dated as having been manufactured in the mid summer of 1957 for a customer living in a desert climate, possibly for the Shah of Persia.
There are several clues that point to this car being equipped with air conditioning, the extra wide radiator grill, air vents either side of this grill and vents on the rear turrets. It is most likely that this was an early air con system with much of the boot space being taken up by the equipment.
Additional points to note are the sun visor over the windscreen and the matt glass in the headlights, the latter are a bit of a puzzle.