:: [ S V V S Evening Meeting - The Plough,  Bletchingley - July 2006 ] ::

The Plough (7) on the A25 in the village of Bletchingley has been one of our most popular venues for an SVVS evening meeting. The following text is based on the SVVS Magazine report by Chris Cuss and photos are by Bozi Mohacek. Please click on any thumbnail picture below to see the full size picture. To return to the thumbnails please click the Explorer "Back" arrow (top left of screen). 



Thankfully the rain kept off this year although thunderstorms had been threatened. The day's heat had been so intense that Tim Harding ignored his Riley, Frazer Nash, Alvis and Belsize Bradshaw and opted for his modern Saab simply to enjoy the cool of its air-con. To be fair to Tim he had been out in the Belsize for most of the day on a VCC run through Kent. Others forced to leave their proper cars at home included Roger Bishop who is suffering from a painful attack of DVT. We all wish Roger a speedy recovery. Our sympathy also goes to the other Bishop - Simon - whose recently restored Singer Le Mans dropped a valve which in turn led to a smashed piston and cracked liner. 

     

As usual we had a fair number of visitors. Arriving late in the evening was a pair of Wolseleys that looked like Hornets. They parked at the top of the field adjacent to a T type MG. Also in the top row was a Riley RME, OOP 840, and an Aston Martin DB3, UXY 52. Other cars that I assume to belong to non-members were a Triumph Roadster, KNN 100; a TR6, RAA 427M; a flat nosed Cowley, TP 9063; a late M.G. Midget NWO 66M and a large M.G. tourer that I think was an 18/80. One car that gained much attention was Graham Appleyard's Land Rover special. This creation has a two seater all aluminium body on a 110 inch Land Rover chassis. Not vintage but an interesting example of a home built car in the thirties' tradition. I even got Graham to agree to join.

     

Joy Vaughan had bashfully parked her Alfa Romeo Bertone 105 coupe on the tarmac and I think the Triumph Roadster parked nearby could have belonged to Terry Mistry. The only Alvis of the evening was the 1952 TA owned by Bryan Pooley. Keith Piper parked his immaculate, concours winning, 1934 Aston Martin Sports Saloon under the trees at the bottom of the field. The Austin marque was represented by Alan Reid's 1932 7 special, Colin Fytche's 1953 A40 Somerset and Mike Gorman's 1971 Sprite. This car is one of the few Sprites that were marketed as an Austin rather than an Austin Healey. The mention of Healey brings us to Chris Geary's 1952 Healey Tickford saloon powered by Riley's largest four cylinder engine. 

     

In my opinion one of the nicest vintage cars is the 12/50 Lea Francis and so I am always pleased to record Bruce Glover's 1928 tourer. John Kirkby brought his delightful 1924 11 h.p. Humber saloon in the correct shade of mole. A rather larger Humber was the 1930 25/70 Snipe saloon belonging to Tony Oakes. A quintet of Jaguars attended. Dave Keen's 1949 Mark IV saloon was the oldest followed by Don Westcott's 1956 XK140 drop-head coupe that I had admired at Brooklands the previous Sunday. Lionel Higginson brought his 1963 E type roadster and Ron Smith his 1968 Mark II saloon. 

     

The final Jaguar was the V12 powered XJS owned by Mr. Mohacek.  Clive Bracey created a deal of noise and confusion with his late arrival in his recently acquired 1924 3 litre Bentley with a 4½ engine. An earlier arrival was Ian Maclennan in his 1929 4½. The third Bentley was John Chapman's 1937 Thrupp & Maperley drop-head coupe. Peter Clark had the hood down on his 1962 Ford Consul convertible whereas Tony Russell chose to keep the hood up on his 1937 Ford 7W. One of our most regular attendees is Tony Tester who once more was exercising his 1929 Chrysler 75 Phaeton. 

     

As is often the case M.G. was the most popular marque. The oldest was Mike Gooch's 1931 Montlehry Midget followed by the Alderton's 1948 Y type saloon. Dave Kilner's 1952 TD was a couple of years older than Colin Mulford's TF. MGB's were represented by Karen McBride's 1982 roadster and the GTs of Alan Pratt and Alan Rothwell. The Cheam Riley trio of 1935 model-year cars appeared in the shape of John Manvers' Falcon, Brian Lloyd Jacob's Lynx and my Kestrel. Making its first appearance at one of our meetings was the Riley Mark IV tourer that Michael Brown has just rebuilt with a view to using it as a trials car, hence its lack of running boards. From darkest Kent Robin Vince brought his 1932 Gamecock and Bryan Shepherd his 1936 Lynx. Final Riley was the rare post-war RMC drop-head belonging to Viv Landon.

     

Pre-war Morrises were represented by the 1923 bull-nosed Oxford tourer owned by Peter Dingle and the 1928 flat nosed Cowley saloon belonging to Chas Moody. Post-war models included Bob Drew's 1971 Minor The only Rolls Royce on the field was the superb 1936 20/25 Hooper bodied saloon owned by Douglas Wright. We only have two Volvos in the SVVS and both are owned by Bob Cakebread. It was the turn of his 1970 Amazon saloon to put in an appearance. 

     

Turning to Triumph our newest member, Brian Rice, brought his yellow Spitfire; Jon Quiney exercised his splendid 1940 Dolomite roadster; Jeremy Shackel arrived with his TR3 and Roger Horstman his 1968 TR5. First to leave was David Woodburn with the 1928 Star Pegasus. The Binghams brought their 1933 Singer Le Mans prototype, Don Williams was in his 1927 Trojan droptail tourer and final mention goes to Derek and Jacqui Wright in their Rover 110.

     
Overall I counted 45 cars that appear in our register. Chas Moody reports that 73 magazines were taken although I know that many of us take copies to deliver to neighbouring members to save on postage. It had been a very successful evening although it would have been better if the front row had parked nearer the tarmac to avoid the later lack of space in the back rows. We have only one more outdoor evening meeting, how the summer flies by.
     

Of direct interest to at least two of our members was a visiting Minor. The Moggie was most recently owned by Junior Russell, Phillip, and formerly to that was owned by Junior Mohacek,   - in both cases their first car. It is lovely to see and note that MPD continues to survive despite all that the Russell/Mohacek Juniors have managed to do to it and more specifically had omitted to do to it, like service it. It did however manage to gain a lot of weight because the Mohaceks welded lots of metal to it and the Russells added even more by putting a new floor in. Its current third full rebuild is really brilliant and the car is now like new, albeit a bit of a street rod, as commenced by Phillip. Also carries a new name 'Belle' and is now transport for a lady!

     

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