E364 - UK-Oz-UK
By Nick Coates
The factory ledgers confirm a production date of 23rd July 1921, and it was sold new from Frank Wellington and Bowring Ltd. of 220-222 Great Portland Street, London, to a Mr M. Jackson of St George Queensland, Australia – lucky man! I believe Mr Jackson bought the car at the end of a mini-‘grand tour’ of Europe.
I am fortunate to have in my possession, a copy of a Herbert Robinson sales advertisement for E364 from the Autocar dated 30th July 1921. The Herbert Robinson dealership was in Regent Street, Cambridge. I think it most likely that the car, having been registered when new, with its Cambridgeshire registration CE9617, was delivered to Frank Welllington and Bowring’s premises in London, prior to purchase by Mr Jackson. The car retains its Frank Wellington and Bowring dealer’s plate on the dashboard, in addition to a Herbert Robinson dealer’s plate, which I believe was a kind donation from Nic Portway.
The Herbert Robinson advertisement describes the car as being ‘Kingfisher Blue’ with black wings and polished bonnet. The photos and correspondence I have of the car in 1946 confirm it was polished aluminium all over. The car was subsequently painted cream with red wings and upholstery when in Australia and latterly, post-box red with black wings. I hope in due course, to return it to polished aluminium.
On the 27th January 1928, the car was involved in a rather nasty accident, whilst grass track racing at the Deagon Sportsground Speedway in the suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland. The unfortunate driver, Edgar Hanlon lost control on a lunchtime practice lap after the car shed its front near side tyre. The car ploughed into the inner barrier, and one of the timber railings, knocked him out of the car, fatally injuring him. His passenger Roland Bennett was lucky to have survived with only minor grazes, having made the prudent decision to duck under the scuttle before impact ** This tragedy was widely publicised in the local newspapers of the time. George Hanlon, the brother of the late owner, then dismantled the car and allegedly left it in the cellar of the family house, although this may well be apocryphal. I understand the car remained in a dismantled state from 1928 until 1946, when it was purchased by Alan Robinson, who was a close friend of Edgar Hanlon, and was present at Deagon on that fateful day. Alan set about restoring the car, which at that stage was still largely unmolested, still retaining its original upholstery and toolboxes.
The car then passed through various well known figures in the VSCCA and 30-98 world, including, Geoffrey Clampett, and Gavin Sandford-Morgan - where it formed part of the Birdwood Museum collection. Bill Chadwick then acquired it and set about ‘re-restoring’ it; by that time, it had acquired an external exhaust system through the bonnet, and had lost its running boards, in the usual ‘boy-racer fashion’, so typical of the time, when these cars were used as ‘hacks’. E364 passed to Eric Rainsford, where it kept company with OE 56, and examples of D type, 23/60 and 14/40 Vauxhalls respectively.
Ralston, his son, confessed to me a few years ago that following a post-rebuild engine seizure on the Bay to Birdwood rally, the car was loaded on to a trailer behind a Ford Falcon ‘ute’ to the first night stop. En route, the driver lost control of the tow, veering off the road, before hitting a gum tree. The trailer ended up on top of the car which, no doubt, did not do it much good. Following a ‘re-rebuild’ the car was auctioned by Christie’s in 1993, along with various other Vauxhalls in the Rainsford collection. The late Robert Humphris bought it, and it was subsequently re-sold through Brooks in 1996, where I believe, it failed to sell. James Roberts purchased the car in 1997 repatriating it to the UK, and I would think almost certainly for the first time in 76 years. Tom Griffin bought the car in circa 2013, where it kept company with a delectable Crossley Shelsley, a Sizaire-Naudin and a delightfully patinated, skiff bodied 3 litre Bentley.
I became the new custodian in October 2021. This was the realisation of a long held ambition – having never seriously thought I’d be able to own one. I blame (at least in part) John Newens for sowing the seed, having spent many happy miles of motoring, travelling in his immaculate example E383.
Rewind the clock to July 2017, and I was having an enjoyable weekend staying with a friend in Orford, a pretty and unspoilt village on the Suffolk coast. I recall seeing a well-cared for but tatty 3 litre Bentley parked in the driveway at the friend’s house. This turned out to be none – other than Tom. Orford Ness is a wind-swept and bleak, but beautiful spot, and perhaps most well-known for its use as a site for testing bomb aiming devices, and aerial photography during both the 1st and 2nd World Wars and atomic bomb detonator testing during the Cold War. The concrete pagodas, for detonator testing were apparently designed so that in the event of an explosion, the sides would blow out and the roof would drop, containing the explosion. The Ness is perhaps equally well known for its lighthouse (now dismantled), and ‘Cobra Mist’ a cold war radar listening station, complete with operations room and sanitorium as left by the Americans in 1973.
Glowing with pride, I gingerly drove my new purchase back to London from Saffron Walden. Unfortunately, my return coincided with half of London seemingly returning from a Saturday afternoon at the retail park – not conducive to stress free motoring. Rather to my surprise I arrived back in Putney without any problems, save for a protesting clutch which was silenced with some graphite. I had carefully measured my lock up garage for the car when I bought it, even shoehorning in a workbench and drill press. This gives me just sufficient space to squeeze around it, but I’ll need to avoid the doughnuts.
I entered the car at Prescott in 2022 and soon realised that my Austin 7 Ulster is perhaps better suited to hill climbs. Returning to London on the M40, on a balmy summer’s evening, one of the valve guide crow’s foot studs snapped off. The crow’s foot made a bid for freedom, bouncing along the central lane, before being run over a few times, ricocheting off the Armco central reservation, and ending up in the undergrowth on the hard shoulder. A search for the errant component proved fruitless and thought better of effecting a fudge to get me home on 3 cylinders. Having made the call to the RAC at 6:30pm, the local relay recovery service turned up at 12:30am. However, they could only take me as far as Beaconsfield Services, where I was unceremoniously dumped. For some reason the RAC then sent a van, before realising they might need something larger. They redeemed themselves (only marginally) when the RAC chap bought me some chips from the nearby McDonalds. I then had to wait another 3 hours, before a proper recovery truck turned up, eventually depositing the car and me back in Putney at 5am!
The car has now undergone a very comprehensive rolling restoration, from big end re-metalling to ammeter and voltmeter re-winding. My father (and mother) have been instrumental in helping with this. I have been incredibly fortunate to be able to obtain one of the original number plates for the car. I am indebted to Julian Ghosh who, whilst chatting to him in the paddock at Prescott, recalled seeing it in the collection of the late John Giddy. John Kent then put me in touch with Murray McDonogh who very kindly agreed to part with it – it really is amazing how the ‘grapevine’ bears fruit! I have now re-united the plate with the car, after circa 78 years. If anyone happens to know where the other one is, please let me know.
Last October the car did duty for our wedding in central London. The following day my wife Clara was somewhat bemused at my request to drop in at the former Frank Wellington and Bowring premises on Great Portland Street. The building is sadly now Amazon serviced apartments and a hair implant boutique. Amazingly, Clara didn’t object to spending the first day of our married life on an anorak trip. That’s why I married her!
I had managed all of three months of motoring, when I then discovered that the cylinder block had cracked where welded across the valve seat faces. This is a D type block – suggesting that it was replaced previously at some point. I have obtained a new one through the excellent services of Richard Marsh. I am looking forward to getting the car back on the road for the new motoring season. Hopefully this will be the last of the ‘heavy expenditure’. I’d be very grateful for any further information that anyone can provide on the early history of the car.
I’d like to thank Peter Latreille, and Dave Stuart particularly, with helping me trace the history of E364 – Peter is in the process of writing his ‘magnum opus’ - ‘THE 30-98 VAUXHALL AND ITS ANTECEDENTS IN AUSTRALASIA’ a collation of the history of Australian 30-98’s, and their ancestors. I would like to make a plea on behalf of Peter, to all owners of cars with antipodean history, to get in touch with him with any information they have, to help with his research for the publication of his book.
**N.B. The accident was widely covered by local Newspapers at the time. On commencing the rebuild it was discovered that steering box was slightly damaged, and the windscreen may be slightly shorter than standard, which would seem to add weight to the above.
April 2025
I am fortunate to have in my possession, a copy of a Herbert Robinson sales advertisement for E364 from the Autocar dated 30th July 1921. The Herbert Robinson dealership was in Regent Street, Cambridge. I think it most likely that the car, having been registered when new, with its Cambridgeshire registration CE9617, was delivered to Frank Welllington and Bowring’s premises in London, prior to purchase by Mr Jackson. The car retains its Frank Wellington and Bowring dealer’s plate on the dashboard, in addition to a Herbert Robinson dealer’s plate, which I believe was a kind donation from Nic Portway.
The Herbert Robinson advertisement describes the car as being ‘Kingfisher Blue’ with black wings and polished bonnet. The photos and correspondence I have of the car in 1946 confirm it was polished aluminium all over. The car was subsequently painted cream with red wings and upholstery when in Australia and latterly, post-box red with black wings. I hope in due course, to return it to polished aluminium.
On the 27th January 1928, the car was involved in a rather nasty accident, whilst grass track racing at the Deagon Sportsground Speedway in the suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland. The unfortunate driver, Edgar Hanlon lost control on a lunchtime practice lap after the car shed its front near side tyre. The car ploughed into the inner barrier, and one of the timber railings, knocked him out of the car, fatally injuring him. His passenger Roland Bennett was lucky to have survived with only minor grazes, having made the prudent decision to duck under the scuttle before impact ** This tragedy was widely publicised in the local newspapers of the time. George Hanlon, the brother of the late owner, then dismantled the car and allegedly left it in the cellar of the family house, although this may well be apocryphal. I understand the car remained in a dismantled state from 1928 until 1946, when it was purchased by Alan Robinson, who was a close friend of Edgar Hanlon, and was present at Deagon on that fateful day. Alan set about restoring the car, which at that stage was still largely unmolested, still retaining its original upholstery and toolboxes.
The car then passed through various well known figures in the VSCCA and 30-98 world, including, Geoffrey Clampett, and Gavin Sandford-Morgan - where it formed part of the Birdwood Museum collection. Bill Chadwick then acquired it and set about ‘re-restoring’ it; by that time, it had acquired an external exhaust system through the bonnet, and had lost its running boards, in the usual ‘boy-racer fashion’, so typical of the time, when these cars were used as ‘hacks’. E364 passed to Eric Rainsford, where it kept company with OE 56, and examples of D type, 23/60 and 14/40 Vauxhalls respectively.
Ralston, his son, confessed to me a few years ago that following a post-rebuild engine seizure on the Bay to Birdwood rally, the car was loaded on to a trailer behind a Ford Falcon ‘ute’ to the first night stop. En route, the driver lost control of the tow, veering off the road, before hitting a gum tree. The trailer ended up on top of the car which, no doubt, did not do it much good. Following a ‘re-rebuild’ the car was auctioned by Christie’s in 1993, along with various other Vauxhalls in the Rainsford collection. The late Robert Humphris bought it, and it was subsequently re-sold through Brooks in 1996, where I believe, it failed to sell. James Roberts purchased the car in 1997 repatriating it to the UK, and I would think almost certainly for the first time in 76 years. Tom Griffin bought the car in circa 2013, where it kept company with a delectable Crossley Shelsley, a Sizaire-Naudin and a delightfully patinated, skiff bodied 3 litre Bentley.
I became the new custodian in October 2021. This was the realisation of a long held ambition – having never seriously thought I’d be able to own one. I blame (at least in part) John Newens for sowing the seed, having spent many happy miles of motoring, travelling in his immaculate example E383.
Rewind the clock to July 2017, and I was having an enjoyable weekend staying with a friend in Orford, a pretty and unspoilt village on the Suffolk coast. I recall seeing a well-cared for but tatty 3 litre Bentley parked in the driveway at the friend’s house. This turned out to be none – other than Tom. Orford Ness is a wind-swept and bleak, but beautiful spot, and perhaps most well-known for its use as a site for testing bomb aiming devices, and aerial photography during both the 1st and 2nd World Wars and atomic bomb detonator testing during the Cold War. The concrete pagodas, for detonator testing were apparently designed so that in the event of an explosion, the sides would blow out and the roof would drop, containing the explosion. The Ness is perhaps equally well known for its lighthouse (now dismantled), and ‘Cobra Mist’ a cold war radar listening station, complete with operations room and sanitorium as left by the Americans in 1973.
Glowing with pride, I gingerly drove my new purchase back to London from Saffron Walden. Unfortunately, my return coincided with half of London seemingly returning from a Saturday afternoon at the retail park – not conducive to stress free motoring. Rather to my surprise I arrived back in Putney without any problems, save for a protesting clutch which was silenced with some graphite. I had carefully measured my lock up garage for the car when I bought it, even shoehorning in a workbench and drill press. This gives me just sufficient space to squeeze around it, but I’ll need to avoid the doughnuts.
I entered the car at Prescott in 2022 and soon realised that my Austin 7 Ulster is perhaps better suited to hill climbs. Returning to London on the M40, on a balmy summer’s evening, one of the valve guide crow’s foot studs snapped off. The crow’s foot made a bid for freedom, bouncing along the central lane, before being run over a few times, ricocheting off the Armco central reservation, and ending up in the undergrowth on the hard shoulder. A search for the errant component proved fruitless and thought better of effecting a fudge to get me home on 3 cylinders. Having made the call to the RAC at 6:30pm, the local relay recovery service turned up at 12:30am. However, they could only take me as far as Beaconsfield Services, where I was unceremoniously dumped. For some reason the RAC then sent a van, before realising they might need something larger. They redeemed themselves (only marginally) when the RAC chap bought me some chips from the nearby McDonalds. I then had to wait another 3 hours, before a proper recovery truck turned up, eventually depositing the car and me back in Putney at 5am!
The car has now undergone a very comprehensive rolling restoration, from big end re-metalling to ammeter and voltmeter re-winding. My father (and mother) have been instrumental in helping with this. I have been incredibly fortunate to be able to obtain one of the original number plates for the car. I am indebted to Julian Ghosh who, whilst chatting to him in the paddock at Prescott, recalled seeing it in the collection of the late John Giddy. John Kent then put me in touch with Murray McDonogh who very kindly agreed to part with it – it really is amazing how the ‘grapevine’ bears fruit! I have now re-united the plate with the car, after circa 78 years. If anyone happens to know where the other one is, please let me know.
Last October the car did duty for our wedding in central London. The following day my wife Clara was somewhat bemused at my request to drop in at the former Frank Wellington and Bowring premises on Great Portland Street. The building is sadly now Amazon serviced apartments and a hair implant boutique. Amazingly, Clara didn’t object to spending the first day of our married life on an anorak trip. That’s why I married her!
I had managed all of three months of motoring, when I then discovered that the cylinder block had cracked where welded across the valve seat faces. This is a D type block – suggesting that it was replaced previously at some point. I have obtained a new one through the excellent services of Richard Marsh. I am looking forward to getting the car back on the road for the new motoring season. Hopefully this will be the last of the ‘heavy expenditure’. I’d be very grateful for any further information that anyone can provide on the early history of the car.
I’d like to thank Peter Latreille, and Dave Stuart particularly, with helping me trace the history of E364 – Peter is in the process of writing his ‘magnum opus’ - ‘THE 30-98 VAUXHALL AND ITS ANTECEDENTS IN AUSTRALASIA’ a collation of the history of Australian 30-98’s, and their ancestors. I would like to make a plea on behalf of Peter, to all owners of cars with antipodean history, to get in touch with him with any information they have, to help with his research for the publication of his book.
**N.B. The accident was widely covered by local Newspapers at the time. On commencing the rebuild it was discovered that steering box was slightly damaged, and the windscreen may be slightly shorter than standard, which would seem to add weight to the above.
April 2025
The life & times of E364
