Hi Phil,
This report is long overdue. I do not send in
reports of all our trips as usually ours is the only Standard present and
you can only stand so many pictures of the same car..... however .... read
on.
Sunday the 21st September 2008 was the Autumn
Rally organised by the Blessington Motor Club. This is a very fine and
friendly club and has a wide membership with a large variety of cars of
all ages.
Thank God it was dry as I set out from my home in
Clondalkin. Through the village (noted for its complete 7th century Round
Tower), around Corkagh Park (more later), past Baldonnel Aerodrome,
through Newcastle and Saggart on out to Blessington and the starting
location of Russborough House (attached panoramic pic)
It is with nostalgia that I travel these roads as
they are the same routes that between 1948 and 1955 my father’s family
would travel to deliver groceries from their shop in a 1948 Standard Eight
Woody.
I did meet a man at one of the rallys who
mentioned that his parents also had a Standard Eight Woody which they
called a "Beach Wagon". Noted memories he has is of his very
young brother trying to help out in times of petrol rationing by filling
the tank with water.... Ouch! The other special memory is that while being
brought to school his mother had to travel up Christ Church hill in
Dublin. Having been halted by the traffic cop (before traffic lights) at
the junction at the top she had great difficulty in moving off on the hill
(bendix brakes) and this caused a backlog of traffic behind her. Following
this it appears that when the same traffic cop saw her coming up the hill
he used to stop the cross traffic so as to give her a clear road.
Having arrived at the start I performed my usual
task ... check to see if there are any Standards about. Last time I saw a
Standard was back in 2006, a Vignale Vanguard (see attached pic) but I have lost
the owners name. This time I was not disappointed..... lo and behold, a
1958 Standard 10, Green with two tone Green & Cream interior. Owned by
Harry Cole (a club member) and very well maintained and Harry especially
mentioned and thanked Ian Leggett for all his help. Harry also has a
picture of his car on his business card and his advertisements for his
Classic Car Storage business.
The 70 mile trot took us through Ballymore
Eustace, Brannockstown, Dunlavin, Ballitore to a lunch stop in Athy. After
lunch we travelled to Castlecomer and stopped at the Discovery Park (Coal
mining) and then made our way back through the Curragh to finish up at
Lumville House in the Curragh. Some of the Gordon Bennett lads will
recognise these places.
With various stops I had tried to get to park
along side Harry’s car .... and it was only as the rally was over that I
found a spot beside him to take the pictures.
I had mentioned earlier travelling past Corkagh
Park in Clondalkin. Prior to becoming a public park a Mr Dudley Colley and
family had owned the estate. He was the author of the book "Wheel
Patter – Memoirs of Irish Motor Sport". Noted for driving an Austin
7 over the Halfpenny Footbridge in Dublin City. He had owned and raced a
1934 Frazer Nash and apart from driving it locally, he drove the car to
win the handicap race at the International Cork Grand Prix in 1938. His
son Tony keeps the car in motion now and he and the car joined us at the
end of the Rally on his way back from Cork (70 years after winning the
Grand Prix). Note the suitcase strapped to the side of the car.
Looking forward to another exciting year and
hopefully I will find more Standards in Ireland along the way.
Regards and thanks,
Pat Ging
Click on the photos to see an enlargement
