Page idea by Colin Leaford

Notes compiled initially from the joint musings of:
David Mills, Ian West, Steve Larwood, Glyn Meredith, Colin Leaford, Charlie Smith, Cliff Martin, Alan Sidell,
 Geoff Cooper, Steve Grant, Bill Atkins, Ian Gomeche, Colin Farrington, Francis Wright

A collection of cars in 1961; between the old gym (left) and hut 24.  At the back is 'Doc' Staveley's Armstrong Siddeley (Sapphire?), next to a Morris Traveller.  The Ford Anglia Mk 2 at the left had only just been introduced and probably retailed for around £600.

The photo at left was taken in 1953 and shows a similar, but different, car.  It could be Doc Staveley's earlier Armsrong Siddeley Typhoon convertible; reported by Derek Buckingham as being silver with an imitation vinyl roof (using chrome "pram" fittings).  John Metcalfe writes: "I think the unidentified staff car is an Armstrong Siddeley.  It was a two-tone job with brown roof and cream body and lots of chrome, walnut and real leather - very up market for a teacher, but I can't, at the moment, recall who it belonged to. Perhaps the penny will drop later.  Incidentally, if the owner still has it, he's sitting on a small fortune.  There is an Armstrong Siddeley owners club, the members of which spend vast sums restoring them. Apparently, they are real collectors' items. - John (Muz)"

It was a marvellous surprise to hear from Doc's eldest son John, who has kindly provided the following details:

The earliest car shown (1953) is the Armstrong Siddeley Typhoon. This was a two door fixed head coupe (not a convertible) The roof was actually made from a perforated gauze and covered with black leather. The car was painted light grey and was registered GAH 182. I have checked with the AS Owners' Club and they no longer know of its existence, so it probably got scrapped years ago!  In or around 1953 we toured Europe in the car with three WC boys but I can only remember the name of one of them, Crawford. It was a bit crowded with six on board and luggage for a month but it was the trip of a lifetime and I wonder if the others remember it as fondly as I do! [Derek Buckingham's recollections of this trip are here - Ed.]

The second car pictured was another Armstrong Siddeley, a Sapphire 346, again in grey but slightly darker and registered, I think, PKV 722. This was an automatic and the car I leaned to drive on at Tibbenham airfield where Doc was an instructor at the Norfolk Gliding Club. I had lots of fun thrashing it round the perimeter track and runways while he was airborne and out of sight!

When AS went out of business he considered a second-hand Star Sapphire and a 3.8 Mk.II Jaguar, my favourite of course, but settled on the first of two new Vauxhall Crestas that he owned.  Both were PB Series Crestas , the first being dark green and the second, two years later, two tone blue by which time the engine had been enlarged from 2.6 litres to 3.3.  I think that certainly my mother felt that they were not ‘quality’ cars and the second one was replaced by a Rover 3 litre Coupe and back to the traditional grey! This gave way to a 3.5 litre Coupe which was a fine car and was kept for many years.

Who had what:

Mr Dick Bawden	Green Morris Traveller
Mr Mike Brand	Wartburg (3 cylinder 2 stroke) before becoming Volvo man
Mr Keith Davitte	Black Austin A40 registration SLH 178 initially (see above), then a beautiful MGA (photo on Jim Douglas' web site).
Mr Fairhurst	MG.
Mr Dave Goman	Bond 3-wheeler and a Mini Traveller (see top of page).  From John Boughton: "In 1963 did the boys float Dave Goman's mini out on a raft and leave it anchored in the middle of the duckpond?"
Jean Harrison (Fry girls' Matron)	"Had a light blue Renault 5. One of the early ones with a 2CV style dashboard gear lever." Colin Leaford
Mr Jack Hawkyard	Vauxhall Velox
Mr 'Doc' Joyner	Gold Honda CB250, ruined by after-market touring fairing. Still a cool bloke in spite of that.
Mr Lewis	Yellow Reliant Robin
Mr David Lockwood	Some kind of Simca?
Mr Richard Long	A Mini van.  'Bunny' courted Miss Wigham and rumour had it that he bought her a pair of long boots to keep her legs warm when they were sticking out of the rear doors.
Mr Terry Marney	Variously: Red Vauxhall VX4/90, Black Sunbeam-Talbot saloon (the same model that Pat Moss drove in the 1954 Monte Carlo rally) and Ford Anglia (possibly cream and green). "I'm fairly certain that Terry Marney also had a white Jag Mark Vll (?) at one time, similar to that of Mr Woodhouse. It might, of course, have been the same one." Alan Dean
Mr McConkey	"Wasn't it Mr McConkey's car that ended up parked in the space between the walled in covered way and the end of a Hut?"  David Mills
Mr Ray Metcalfe	Grey Jaguar 3.4
Mr Roger Morgan	Red Spitfire
Mr Derek Moss	White MGB from new (J reg.).  "I remember the MGB arriving - there was a young lady teacher in Fry he appeared to have the hots for - can't remember her name - they were often seen swanning about the job in his MG."  Steve Larwood
Mr Alan Russell	"Dark green Austin A30 or 35 van to go with his Rolls Royce." John Chapman
Mr Mick Thornley	Ford Classic (from new?). Graham Haw
Mr Andy Seeley	He had an early 1950s green Rover 90 initially and then, in around 1968, switched to a dark blue Rover 2000.  Although it was badged as a 2000 TC, it was really an SC.  It lasted through to 1971 or 1972 when it was replaced with a K registration Volvo - maybe a 240DL.  His wife Pamela had a Fiat 500. "The way I remember the story was that he had someone who had agreed to convert it to a TC for him and he went ahead and put the new badges on it ready for the conversion.  Whoever was going to do the work didn't/couldn't so it remained a SC.  I remember it in the workshops over the pit with Seeley knocking hell out of a sheet of stainless steel to 'cover' the exhaust and silencer boxes because stainless wouldn't rust and he wouldn't need to buy another exhaust system.  Pamela had a Fiat 500 with the "soft top" and I remember Seeley hunched up driving this with the impression of his dome pushing the soft top up!"  Colin Farrington "Here's my theory: he had more than 2 Rovers. I suspect he had both a mustard SC and a blue TC (or some permutation thereof)."  Francis Wright "I always thought it was yucky honey coloured SC."  Geoff Cooper "I recall Andrew Seeley saying that he bought his Volvo for something like £1500, kept it on for five to ten years and then sold it for almost £1000. Now that is cost-effective motoring!" Cliff Martin
Mr Derek Staveley	His Armstrong Siddeleys (see above) were followed by a Rover P5B 3.5 litre coupe (G registration), in Arden Green with a white roof.  Mobile phone included. "I think that after his Armstrong-Siddeley, Doc Staveley had a green and white Mk III (?) Vauxhall Cresta at one time  - one of those big square flat efforts that looked like an aircraft carrier (probably drove like one as well if my Mk II Victor was anything to go by...)" Alan Dean
Mr Steve Wood	"Mr Wood had a 'sit up and beg' Ford Popular & always seemed to have his head inside the bonnet ...'cept when he closed said bonnet over my head as I peered in commenting on the complexity of his rubber band!  Year Four humour!"  David Mills The Popular was followed by a Triumph Herald.
Mr Woodhouse	An early 1950s Jaguar Mark 7.  "It was rusty as hell and he described it as a "lighter as you drive car"... each engine stroke and another bit of rust falls off.  He made his own anti-freeze from glycol and methanol! Got the ingredients correct but forgot to add an inhibitor to prevent corrosion!" David Mills
Mr Peter Woodrow	Saab 95.
??	"The only car that stands out in my memory I believe belonged to one of the members of staff in Norwich House (next to Durham in Peel) in the early 70's. A brownish coloured Triumph Stag (convertible) with a big eagle/phoenix decal on the bonnet. It was regularly parked outside on weekends attracting a lot of attention. Anyone know who that belonged to?"  Steve Grant

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Wymondham College Remembered