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Post by Patrick on Feb 29, 2012 16:57:36 GMT
Times must be hard in the Markham-Harshly household. I see the family are selling off their Limousine on ebay! Originally ordered by Lady Lucy Markham, the wife of colliery owner Sir Henry Markham of Blatchborough Park in Kent. This magnificent Renault carries limousine coachwork by one of Frances most distinguished & longest lived Carrossiers, Kellner founded in 1860 by harness maker George Kellner who continued in business until the outbreak of the second world war.
Recalled another master coach builder, Jean Henri-Labourdette, whose premises adjoined the Kellner workshops in the avanue de Malakoff, "Kellner coachwork was always executed in an impeccable fashion & their design , of classic inspiration , was always elegant in its sobriety."
Sir Henry ordered the Renault in 1911 at the Paris Salon. It was registered in Kent on 11th September 1912 due to the time it took to build this bespoke body of the finest quality. Appropriately this stately carriage was used to carry the highest in the land including King Edward the VIIIth & Prime minister Lloyd George.Click the picture for the ebay page and more pics. Rather lovely.
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Feb 29, 2012 17:58:06 GMT
Cars really were "motorised carriages" back then weren't they...a pair of horses wouldn't look out of place pulling that thing. And talk about "built with pride", it is rather lovely indeed.
AH
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Post by everso on Mar 1, 2012 19:54:44 GMT
Does Trubbs know about this? ?
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Post by trubble on Mar 2, 2012 12:35:18 GMT
Look, are you buying or not?! Or are the three of you just time wasters.
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Post by aubrey on Mar 2, 2012 13:10:17 GMT
There's a JB Priestly essay about driving over a Welsh mountain in the rain. It is a bit later than when this car was made - maybe the 20s - but after a bit you realise that though the car has a roof it doesn't have a windscreen, and your picture of what he is driving changes considerably.
I think LMH's car would leak terribly. Looks nice and all that, but not something you'd really want to drive about in. Sorry, Trubble.
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Post by everso on Mar 2, 2012 20:13:56 GMT
Aubs, you are correct. Mr. E's first car was bought in 1970 and was an early 60s Ford Anglia. It did have seat belts, but very rudimentary ones, not like the sort you get today and probably installed by the previous owner, not from when the car was new. Nevertheless, I thought it was very up-to-date to have them at all. I remember returning home from a holiday in Devon and managing to get 80 miles per hour out of it - I think we were going downhill at the time, with a wind behind us.
A trip to Devon (or any long trip) years ago was fraught with breakdowns - it was sort of expected really (I'm sure Housey, Weyland and Jean will back me up here). Likewise most cars became rust-buckets after a few years and one car we had (the Anglia I believe) was kept together with chicken wire and plastic padding.
Cue Patrick.
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Post by Patrick on Mar 17, 2012 2:14:36 GMT
One of my earliest memories is watching the road go by through the rust hole in the bottom of the rear doors on our Austin Somerset.
I cried as that car was towed away behind a Ford Transit pick up. Well, I was 3 or 4.
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Post by trubble on Mar 17, 2012 14:49:14 GMT
I like pictures of old things but having experienced a 5 hour journey in an open-top (and bottom) citroen, my neck and I prefer to travel in modern characterless thingamabobs.
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Post by Patrick on Mar 17, 2012 18:17:49 GMT
...........but Citroens have wonderfully squashy suspension! Or - They used to have - the modern ones are the crappy ones.
One of my worst experiences was in a VW Polo. The estate version, along with my brother and his new dog who hated travelling and whined loudly and constantly. The car had no suspension at all and must be one of the most vile things to come out of Germany. Even Beetles had more suspension that that horrid thing.
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Post by everso on Mar 18, 2012 8:34:42 GMT
I like pictures of old things but having experienced a 5 hour journey in an open-top (and bottom) citroen, my neck and I prefer to travel in modern characterless thingamabobs. Too right. Every year when Mr. E. and I take our Salcombe, Devon holiday I always think of the 1950s when, usually, there were about 7 of us (mum, dad, auntie, uncle, nan, grandad and me - brother wasn't born then) crammed into a Ford Consul or Hillman Minx, cars that had been borrowed from my dad's workmates. (People did things like that years ago, lent cars) There was always that "will we, won't we make it" and the bit where we went past Stonehenge on the A303 and I was always convinced that we were nearly there ( ) but actually there was at least another 4 or 5 hours to go. Nowadays we easily do the journey in 5 hours.
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Post by everso on Mar 18, 2012 8:36:03 GMT
One of my earliest memories is watching the road go by through the rust hole in the bottom of the rear doors on our Austin Somerset. I cried as that car was towed away behind a Ford Transit pick up. Well, I was 3 or 4. My mum once did the trip from Essex to Cornwall sitting on a biscuit tin because there was no seat and various holes in the floor of the car. Ah, those were the days. That was proper travel. ;D
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Post by aubrey on Mar 18, 2012 10:31:39 GMT
In 1983 three of us and my dog went to Cornwall in Stein's little beetle car (Stein was a bloke who lived with us; he works as a Chinese translator for the Australian Parliament now). It took us about 12 hours; we can't have left very late, and it was dark when we got there. Vladimir (the dog) was amazingly patient, in retrospect.
I don't think the car made any more journeys once we got back. Just sat in the car park and died.
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Post by Patrick on Jun 8, 2012 14:08:54 GMT
Still no takers for Lady Markham's Motor. She'll have to sell the Coal Scuttle collection next!
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