Vintage cars beauties to behold

By D. C. Ranatungha

Seeing a vintage car on the road always raises curiosity. When it passes, we tend to turn back and take a second look. With the release of four stamps featuring vintage cars in Sri Lanka last week, the ‘old crocks’ are being talked about.

The stamps themselves are unique in that for a change, they are all in black and white moving away from the usual practice of releasing stamps in colour. Being a collector of stamps from my student days (I am not a ‘fanatic’ anyway), I don’t think I have seen a black and white stamp being issued in Sri Lanka – not even during the days of Ceylon.

There is bound to be a wide circulation of the new stamps since they are all priced at Rs. 5 each and if freely available in the post offices (very often new issues are limited), they will be used extensively.

One of the featured models is a 1928 model of the Austin 12 identified as Sir Herbert Austin’s second model after World War 1. The Austin 12 had a 1861cc four cylinder engine with four-speed manual transmission.  Sir Herbert founded the Austin car works in 1900 at Longbridge, England It was later to become one of the greatest car manufacturers in the world. Even here Austin and Morris were the most popular cars for many decades.

Austin was producing 17 different models by 1908. It was on the verge of closing down after World War 1 (1914-18) but somehow survived. The  Baby Austin – still being talked about and seen occasionally on our roads, was launched in 1922 and offered for sale at £225, putting it within the budget of customers who had never previously owned a car. With the sales rising, the price had been reduced virtually every year.

The second is a Rolls Royce 20/25 – 1934 – one of the last two designs by the celebrated engineer Sir Henry Royce, before his death in 1933. Introduced in 1929, it had a 3699 cc straight six-cylinder engine and four- speed transmission with synchromesh on top two gears. Its gear box came in one unit together with the engine. It could achieve 120km/h. Only 3827 units were made and production ended in 1936.

The renowned British car was built by Rolls-Royce Limited founded by Charles Steward Rolls and Henry Royce in Match 1905.

The third stamp features a Jaguar SS 100 – 1937, one of the most aesthetically appealing Jaguar cars. The two-seater sports car with a 2633 cc straight six-cylinder engine had a four-speed gear box. The top three gears were synchromesh.  It was a very rare model with only 314 units being made. Its top speed was 153km/h.

The car was designed by Sir William Lyons known as Mr. Jaguar, who with fellow motorcycle enthusiast William Walmsley, formed the Swallow Sidecar Company, in 1922.

The company became Jaguar Cars Limited after the Second World War. The last stamp shows the ever popular Morris Minor – 1949 still seen on the roads in numbers. It was considered the revolutionary creation of Sir Alec Issigonis, an engineer and designer. The Morris Minor became popular because it was a roomy car with superior handling. In 1961 it became the first British car to sell over one million units. It had a 918cc four-cylinder side-valve engine. The four-speed manual transmission had the top three gears synchromesh.

All the models featured in the stamps are British cars. It was natural that when the British were ruling the country to bring in cars manufactured in their country.

Looking back at the early days of motoring in Ceylon, as the country was then known, the first motor car was imported by E. G. Money in 1902. Bicycles had been imported in 1896. Trains were in operation then with the first train taking off from Colombo to Kandy in 1865.  Before that, the first mail coach drawn by horses had begun its run in 1832. People had got about in bullock-drawn hackeries, racing carts and travelling carts of varying sizes and degrees of comfort.

The first issue of The Times of Ceylon Annual X’mas Number in 1904 had carried an interesting feature on the early days of motoring. As quoted in ‘Ceylon in our times 1894-1969’ – the diamond jubilee publication of Ceylon Cold Stores, the writer says: “To Mr. C. Harn of Messrs. Bohringer belongs the distinction of importing the first motor cycle into Ceylon. His experience was not a happy one for he met the usual lot of pioneers. Lack of petrol was his grievance. None but Hansa steamers would then bring it out, but the law forbade it altogether. However, the difficulty was overcome. The car was a harder matter. The petrol trouble favoured steam cars, and Mr Money imported the first car, a locomobile. The invariable litigant claimed damages for a frightened horse and a pair of broken shafts. The car survived the law courts and attracted the interest of Sir Hector Macdonald who saw its military possibilities. Such a welcome led to the importation of two more locomobiles.”

Once petrol was made available, more cars were imported. The list of the first 21 cars included only two Ceylonese names – E. L. F. de Soysa and N. D. B. Silva. They were the first Ceylonese to own motor cars.

In the 1905 issue of the Times X’mas Annual, it was mentioned that the Ceylon Automobile Club had been formed and reliability trials had been held. It added: “We have all ridden in a car at some time or another during the year.”

The Ceylon Observer Centenary Supplement (1934) carried a full page feature titled ‘The Motor Era – Early models in Ceylon.’ There was also a full page advertisement by Ford Motor Company of India, Union Place, Colombo. It featured two Ford models – a V8 and Four. Titled ‘The lowest priced full-size cars in the market,’ the copy was straightforward. It said: “We sincerely believe they give you more beauty, more speed and power, more safety and more of everything worthwhile than any other low-priced car…..New Ford Cars are the greatest value in automobile history. You get more and you pay less when you buy a Ford.”