 This is about the dilemma of Stewart Wilkie. While restoring his Talbot Saloon (hear-hear!) he has arrived at the point where he needs to decide about colour. Stewart adds: "Very few of the type 110 saloons have survived as they were broken up for racing spares or converted into racing specials. Even more rare than the standard saloon is the James Young creation. Two were made and only one survives. My 1935 Talbot BA110 James Young sports saloon has the wonderful 160 BHP engine - designed by George Roesch the maestro. It was with a similar production car (not a single seater) that he lapped Brooklands at 130 m.p.h. After a 22 year restoration it wil be seen on the road by early next year. The photo above is the other one while my car - the survivor - was made for the Birkin family (Tim was one of the Bentley boys) so Brooklands green or Bentley BRG are the favourite colour options at the moment and with a month to decide I will have a bit to think on..." Editor: In view of the Brooklands story, that shade of green seems to be more close to the essence of the car. Yet that's only our humble opinion. What would be your vote? Editor (2): James Fack adds to the info about the James Young coachwork as provided by Pass & Joyce Ltd.. Archie H. Pass & Charlie J. Joyce were the partners in a car-dealing business which they described - rightly or wrongly - as the largest in London and its surrounding counties (the so-called 'Home Counties'). They also fancied themselves as coachwork designers, and during the early 1930s they were either the owners of James Young & Co., or its financial backers in one form or another: I've just received an e-mail from Tom Clarke, probably the greatest authority on coachbuilding in Britain - if not in the world! - and he has a 1936/7 Pass & Joyce Rolls-Royce and Bentley sales brochure in which every single body is by James Young & Co.! I've heard it said that Charlie Joyce died young - in about 1937. Whatever, James Young & Co. was then bought by the major Rolls-Royce & Bentley dealer Jack Barclay, and he re-named it James Young & Co. Ltd. He then bought J. Gurney Nutting & Co., and transferred the latter's Chief Designer A.F.McNeil - whom many believed to be the best in the country - to James Young & Co. Ltd. Gurney Nutting then carried-on with John Blatchley as its Chief Designer - but he went to work for Rolls-Royce during the War and never left it afterwards: he part-designed the Mark VI Bentley/R-R Silver Dawn, and totally designed the Bentley S/Silver Cloud and the Bentley T/Silver Shadow! Gurney Nutting basically never recovered from this, and went out of business in about 1947... |
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What colour to choose for George Roesch's finest saloon?
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