Wolseley Hornet Special Club of Australia Inc

Hornet Special Newsletter

Issue 69 June 2017

WHSCA Club ContactsSecretary

Margaret Cooper, ph (07) 3312 2365

PresidentJohn Prentice

ph (02) 6281 2618Editor

Henry Hancock, ph (07) 3878 2850

3 Gilia Court Indooroopilly Qld 4068hlaevt@aanet.com.au

JOHN and ANNABELLE CLUCAS’S NEW CAR - 80 years ago

2017 AGM and HORNET EXTRAVAGANZA15,16 &17 September 2017

Junee NSWTemora Aviation Museum Flying Day

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14hp Hornet Special Wakens From 60 year HibernationJust when we thought there were no more Hornet Specials to be unearthed in Australia another has been discovered. It was driven into a shed in Adelaide in 1956 and placed on blocks. And it stayed there for exactly 60 years. The Special is a four-seat tourer and looks to have been bodied originally by Adelaide coachbuilder T.J. Richards.

John Clucas got wind of the car late in 2014 - through a friend of a friend of a Jaguar mate. Then late last year, during a raid of South Australian Hornet hideouts, John and Michael Santin removed all the household furniture from on top of the car, gave its tyres some air, dragged it out of hibernation and took it home to Melbourne. The car filled one tandem trailer, but Michael filled another tandem to the brim with a whole variety of Wolseley components collected from other sheds around South Australia (includ-ing the shed of Alan Batten -inspected during the club’s AGM in the Barossa in 2014).

Of the fifty Hornet Specials and Hornet Sports surviv-ing across Australasia, there was thought to be just one complete 1935 14hp Hornet Special – the grey one that John and Annabelle Clucas own. However, the Adelaide discovery means the club re-cords need updating because now two complete 14hp Hor-

net Specials exist in Australia and they sit side by side in John’s carport. Few 14 hp Hornet Specials were built, and this latest car is just seven numbers later than John’s grey one.The car appears in “The Hornet Book” as s163-Ref05, s163-Ref06 and s163-Ref09, and K.N. (Bill) Brooks raced the car in at least ten events between 1936 and 1939, including venues such as Lobethal Hillclimb and Sellicks Beach sprints. Because the car hadn’t been seen for decades it was thought to have been wrecked. However it is quite complete and original albeit very tired and partly dismantled, so it won’t be mobile again for a while.

STOP PRESS: After John Clucas brought the 14hp Adelaide “Hibernation” Hornet Special home to Melbourne, he decided he didn’t need two 14hp machines, so he has sold the grey one to Grahame Vaughan in Launceston, Tasmania.

Welcome to Hornet enjoyment Grahame!

Bill Brooks at Lobethal again in the Stock Car Road Championship in January 1939.

The Brooks machine on arrival in Melbourne last November.

Only three of the four tyres held air after 60 years. This one didn’t.

Grahame Vaughan with the ex-Clucas machine just before boarding the ship to Tasmania.

Issue 69 Page 3

2017 AGM and HORNET EXTRAVAGANZAJunee NSW

15,16 & 17 SEPTEMBER 2017All 1930 - 1935 Hornet enthusiasts welcolme to attend

PROGRAM: A Program has been emailed or posted to all Member (if you haven’t received it please contact Club Contacts).

ACCOMODATION: The Crossing Motel, 39 Seignoir Street, Junee. Ph: 02 6924 3255 crossingmotel@bigpond.com Cost: $134/day inc continental breakfast (book directly, quoting WHSCA)

CONTACT: Bill and Rhonda Trollope - 0408 274 839

The Temora Aviation Museum’s Aircraft Showcase on September 16th 2017 will feature the Supermarine Spitfire, CA-13 Boomerang, Cesna O-2A, and P-40 Kittyhawk.

The Hornet Special – a Contemporary ComparisonWhen our Editor published an Australian road-test of the 1932 Hornet Special in a recent Newsletter, it reminded me that I had started a project to compare the WHS with contemporary road-tests of similar vehicles, i.e. of close engine size and price. However, I only came up with two (!) cars, so I expanded my horizons to include all sports cars from 750cc up to 1.5 litres, regardless of price. I did leave out the rather exotic “Shelsey” Frazer-Nash which although of 1.5 litres had twin superchargers and was factory guaranteed to exceed 100mph. I said exotic because the price for this car was GBP £805.00, which was not far short of Rolls Royce’s price for a Phantom 3 chassis and would have bought you about three small homes at the time.

In these times of cheap fuel (compared to income levels), we have forgotten what an important factor that fuel con-sumption was in the thirties so I have included this in the table of results – where available. You might think that a lot of work was involved in looking up all those test results – however, I was fortunate in finding an article in a near 50 year old copy of the long defunct V & V magazine where the author had done all the leg-work and all I had to do was extract the info and tabulate it. I also topped up his results with some from other elderly books.

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You will notice three vehicles at the end which do not fit the criteria- firstly the 1.5 litre SS (later Jaguar). This mostly-forgotten car was about the nearest in price, engine size, and performance to the WHS. At the time the “petrol-heads” of the day described it as “a sheep in wolf’s clothing”, a reference to the stylish Bill Lyons bodywork that was similar to that on the more racy 3.5 litre SS Jaguar. Whatever, the public loved it and it sold in tens of thousands when the bigger cars sold only in the hundreds. It laid the foundations of the Jaguar Company – though, strangely, Lyons never bought it back after the war. The next car – also close to the WHS in price, size, and performance was the Lancia Aprilia. There is a hidden problem here, in that such an advanced, exotic car was actually worth a lot more than the price in the UK. At the time the UK pound was highly overvalued which not only made English cars too expensive in export markets, it also made imports very cheap – hence the false, rather low price for the Lancia compared to the WHS. The Joker in the pack is the Ford V8. At 3.6 litres it is way out of our territory, but gives an indication of what was available at the price, if you could afford the horrendous annual registration on a 30HP car. All three of these cars carried full, four-seat saloon, bodies, of course.

Some may wonder why the MG seems to have a superior performance to the WHS when it used the same engine. This, I believe, can be put down to the very fierce valve timing on the MG (over 25deg of overlap) which may have given more power – in a very limited range – but lost the lovely flexibility that is such a feature of the WHS.

So, how do our vehicles stand up? Pretty well, I would say, but bare figures are not the whole story. There was an old song which said: “t’aint what you do, it’s the way that you do it” and I think this sums up the Hornets and WHS. The figures do not relate the wonderful flexibility of the engine, its capacity to rev so freely in the gears, the superb gearboxes which make changing gear a delight rather than a chore, and - top of the page – those wonderful, reliable, Lockheed brakes, light-years ahead of what the others offered at the time. For the price this was an unbeatable combination.

John Ireland. 27.11.16.

Issue 69 Page 5

The Passing of an EraAt the 2016 Australian Club AGM the retirement of the foundation Secretary and Treasurer by some means happened at the same time.

In recent Australian and UK magazines, Bill Russell acknowledged the contribution and retirement of the founda-tion Treasurer of the Club, John Ireland. “A milestone has been reached with the retirement of our very long-serving Treasurer John Ireland. John was our Foundation Treasurer and served in the office for 22 years – always obliging, always on the ball, always ready to arrange complicated payments to the UK for subs or parts, and always offering the sage advice that has allowed our club, small as it is, to run so well. Thanks to John, it ticks over smoothly like his unique 1930 Hornet saloon. Not everyone is willing to be Treasurer of a club – not everyone is capable – but John did it in his stride. Thanks John and Dee for all that terrific work over nearly a quarter of a century. What a fabulous contribution to the running of our Club.”

Bill Russell - We would not have a Club had not Bill our foundation Secretary, set about finding and contacting Wolseley Hornet Special owners all over Australia to form the Club back in 1995. Bill has been a tireless worker for the Club over this period, when from a few members at the beginning, we now have around forty and are still finding Specials turning up each year. Bill has a personal collection of Wolseley cars which he has sourced over fifty years, some restored, others in a large garage in the country. Bill’s passion for cars dates to boyhood and a box camera he used to photograph any car without front-wheel brakes. That led to a 1929 Hupmobile Century Six he bought while at school. His first real car, which he still has, was a 1932 Wolseley Hornet Saloon, for which he paid $15 back in 1966, closely followed by the 1934 EW International which he finished restoring in 1995. Bill has many talents and still leads a busy and varied life outside his love for Wolseleys.

After completing his history degree at Melbourne, he became the first qualified archivist in Victoria, having obtained a Diploma of Archive Studies from University College, London. In 1980 he completed his doctorate in history at Monash University, and subsequently held professorial positions at five universities. In 2005 he became President of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, after previously serving on the Historic Buildings Council during the 1980s and as Director General of Property and Services, Secretary for Mines and Electricity Commissioner for the State Government.

Back in 1995, Bill put together a small booklet listing the then known Hornet Specials and from that he, together with Michael Santin, our Registrar, and John Clucas produced a hard cover 300 page book in 2015 with listings of all known Wolseley Hornet Specials, Hornets, Nines & Wasps in Australia and New Zealand. A great feat as it also contains competition results and the history and a photograph of each car.

Thank you Bill for your persistence and loyalty to the Wolseley Hornet Special in this country. Bill’s son Will has now joined the Club and we hope he continues with the enthusiasm that his father has.

Lyle Cooper Immediate Past President

Welcome New MembersGrahame Vaughan who now owns John Clucas’s grey 1935 WHS.Adrian Walmsley who now owns Joe Wilson’s 1934 / 1935 WHS.John Mallia, President of the Wolseley Car Club Inc (Victoria), whois restoring a 1932 WHS.

Also, John Summerfield has advised that Kim Booth from Tasmaniahas bought his yellow 1933 Doctor’s Coupe.

Kim Booth’s Doctor’s Coupe

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Victorian Coupe ProgressIan and Leslie Mc Conville’s 1934 Coupe has made amazing progress.A very nice restoration!A change from the blue as seen in News-letter Isue No 65, June 2017.Ian says “ Now for the trimming and bits and pieces!”

Wolseley Hornet Special 1934, James Flood Body, fitted with “New Series” Hornet engine (1378 cc), steel rods, large head

studs, etc. Engine, gearbox and diff professionally rebuilt; minimal milage since complete restoration. Spares and manuals. Hood frame but no cover.

Reference s127-Ref05, page 189 in Wolseley Hornet Specials in Aus-tralia and New Zealand

Car No: 157444

$35,000 Phone: Monty and Rita Scofield (07) 3254 1868

For Sale

Issue 69 Page 7

Oh oh, Subs are OVERDUESubscriptions to both the Australian and UK Clubs were due on April 30.The options for Australian Club membership are set out below.To belong to the UK Club with their posted Magazine and access to their spare parts is reduced this year to $60 per annum except that after 30 April 2017 renewal attracts a $10 late fee.The Treasurer collects this money as a courtesy to members to save time and currency exchange fees.

Australian Newsletter by email only (NO membership) $10Australian Newsletter by email with WHSCA Membership $25Australian Newsletter hard copy Posted with WHSCA Membership $50Combined UK and Australian Membership with Emailed Australian Newsletter

$95 because it is after 30 April 2017

Combined UK and Australian Membership with Posted Australian Newsletter

$120 because it is after 30 April 2017

If you have not yet paid please forward your subscription immediately to:

By bank transfer (strongly preferred) to:Wolseley Hornet Special Club of Australia IncSt George Bank BSB: 112-879Account No: 469866952Reference: your name

Or by cheque or money order to:Wolseley Hornet Special Club of Australia Inc C/- Bill Trollope, Treasurer229 Bobbin Head Rd, Turramurra 2074, Australia wwt@bigpond.com

Member John Phillips was much taken with advertisement of the Corscia Motor Works of 11 – 12 Grimaldi Street, Kings Cross, London, reproduced in the January 2017 edition of The Automobile so he telephoned the publish-

ers in the UK and they advised that the WHSCA Inc are very welcome to print anything pre-war because it is out of copyright, however they do appreciate acknowledgement. Thank you to The Automobile.

The Wolseley Hornet Special Club of Australia Inc. (Victoria, No. A0035489S) exists to encourage the preserva-tion and use of Wolseley Hornets, Sports and Specials. The Club and its Committee take no responsibility for the accuracy of this newsletter’s content nor for the consequences of acting upon any information published herein.

Further to Bill Russell’s review of WOLSELEY A Very British Car by Anders Ditlev Claus-ager, Chapter 5 The Racing Programme 1902 to 1907 is fascinating, revealing history and

photographs which are not publically available (refreshing in the age of the internet).

This is the 1904 96hp 12 litre Gordon Bennett race car at the Isle of Man trials. Isn’t the streamlining wonderful? Yet the driver sits high in the air, probably to better see and avoid cyclists, children in

the road, etc, as Anders tells us happened in the Paris-Madrid race where there were 7, possibly 8 fatalities of drivers, mechanics and spectators.

Anders reports that the car finished twelfth in the actual Gordon Bennett race: a chain broke, third gear stripped, the radiator sprang a leak, the car ran on three cylinders (of four) for much of the race, the govenor broke half-way jam-ming the throttle open so that Bianchi had to cut the ignition when the car needed to be slowed for corners!

What exciting times and what engineering triumphs with motor cars just a few years old.

Thank you Anders for this most important book; the heritage of our Hornet Specials, MGs and of course Austins.

Henry Hancock

SPARE PARTSHead Gasket/Flange – ’34 with stainless steel combustion seal - $180 set plus freight(three in stock due to manufacture overrun)WHSC Badge – new Australian WHSC Badge $30 plus $3 postage.Water Pump Pipes – in copper tube. Chromed $170 per set with exchange cast brass fitting; OR Raw - $80 per set plus freightCover Plate Sets for Cylinder Jackets for ’32, ’33, ’34 – I have made some sets from 100mm x 6mm stainless steel (as per photo) - $55 per set plus freight.Water Pumps – don’t forget I will recondition your snail water pump for free plus freight.All these parts will be available at the NSW AGM in September.Lyle Cooper