Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on November 25, 2001 at 11:03:14 from 195.93.33.167:
In Reply to: Re: Rattletrap posted by Eric Abraham on November 24, 2001 at 15:45:18:
An open four door car, which "can't do forty except downhill". She was really Jim's car, not Molly's (she "knew her master"!). She is bigger than a cyclecar, because she has four doors and will take a fair load, (two children plus the sort of holiday trunk that was consigned to the guard's van) but still not a big car, and certainly not as smart as the doctor's closed car in WH, which took 7 children! What were Austin, Morris et al turning out in the early to mid 20's which would meet this description?
Incidentally, Molly's expertise with the gears is not to be derided; when Sir Henry Royce drew up the specifications for the Phantom II in 1931 (I think) he required the car to be able to start in top, because there were now "lady owners who will wish to drive themselves" and he doubted if a mere woman could manage to change gear! These were "crash" gearboxes, with double declutching, of course.