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Yep. Original No.10 in the original “1-75” series. Scammell Scarab Mechanical Horse!

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Courtesy of  brightontoymuseum.co.uk where I just lost a happy 1/2hr.....😀https://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/index/Category:Matchbox_Series

Edited by NigelG
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1 hour ago, NigelG said:

Courtesy of  brightontoymuseum.co.uk where I just lost a happy 1/2hr.....😀https://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/index/Category:Matchbox_Series

Me Too!

Thanks very much for the link, Nigel! Takes me right back to the days when I actually played with a good dozen or more of those very toys! Interesting to read that Matchbox deliberately shunned any attempt whatsoever at making the vehicles to even remotely the same scale - and they were absolutely correct in that young children really don't give a hoot as to 'proper scale'; they 'make allowances' by virtue of an active imagination!

Cheers again!

And Spot-On (another manufacturer of fine quality toy cars!) to you for getting the name of the Scammell truck correct - if it is, of course, the subject of the quiz!

Philip.

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I think Philip got there first. This is the post war version, of the Scammell local delivery trucks, the Scarab. The pre-war Mechanical Horse was an earlier version and the vehicle I learnt to drive on. It was originally developed by Napier, at the other end of the speed scale from John Cobb's Napier Railton but they then sold the design to Scammell. Our family textile business used a Mechanical Horse to transport wool, yarn and cloth round the factory grounds and outgoing goods to the bus depot and railway station. Ours was an ex-LNER 3 ton articulated Mechanical Horse from around 1936-ish. It had a three speed crash box, on which I learnt to double de-clutch, on on its way to a terrifying 20MPH top speed from its 1L petrol engine. You had to be very careful going round left  hand bends as the engine and gearbox were offset a long way to the left and it was quite easy to get it up on two wheels. The later symmetrically engined Scarab, was I believe much improved. There was a final version called The Townsman, which had a fibreglass body, servo brakes and heating. This Scarab is in the Swindon Railway Museum, which is well worth a visit. I think this example may actually be a mis-match. I think it is a 6 ton trailer on a 3 ton tractor unit. From memory. the 6 ton tractor units had dual rear wheels 

Wilson

 

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On 8/10/2020 at 1:53 PM, wlaidlaw said:

The history of Jowett makes an interesting read. They made a major error in the early 50's,  in replacing the robust if rather graunchy Meadows gearbox, which Morgan carried on using for the next 30 years in their Plus 4 and 8 models...

Wilson

Not quite.  The Plus 8 went to a 4 speed Rover in the early 70s, (the 4 speed Moss box was only fitted for around 5 years) then to a 5 speed Rover in mid 70s, before the introduction of the LT77 and later R380. :)

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51 minutes ago, Graham (G4FUJ) said:

Not quite.  The Plus 8 went to a 4 speed Rover in the early 70s, (the 4 speed Moss box was only fitted for around 5 years) then to a 5 speed Rover in mid 70s, before the introduction of the LT77 and later R380. :)

Graham, 

I always get my Moss and Meadows gearboxes muddled up. I think I must therefore be correct that the Meadows gearbox would have been the one fitted to the early Standard Special 4/4 models and it has a reverse gate unlike the Moss box. Was the Moss box the same one as fitted to Jaguar XK's and pre-1967 saloons? My brother in law has had a 1947 Morgan Standard Special 4/4 for the last 50+ years and I am sure it has a reverse gate box - picture below. My Three Wheeler coincidentally, has an identical colour scheme

Wilson

 

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Bautiful Moggie!

Here's the next one for your delectation;

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Philip.

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2 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

Graham, 

I always get my Moss and Meadows gearboxes muddled up. I think I must therefore be correct that the Meadows gearbox would have been the one fitted to the early Standard Special 4/4 models and it has a reverse gate unlike the Moss box. Was the Moss box the same one as fitted to Jaguar XK's and pre-1967 saloons? My brother in law has had a 1947 Morgan Standard Special 4/4 for the last 50+ years and I am sure it has a reverse gate box - picture below. My Three Wheeler coincidentally, has an identical colour scheme

Wilson

 

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Beautiful Plus 4 Wilson!

Plus 4 eventually ended up with the Moss box too.  It was fitted to +8 from the very beginning in '68.  Very similar to the Jaguar box, but not directly interchangeable.  Some owners have used the Jaguar box as a replacement, with a few managing to fit overdrive version (but it is a very tight fit!).

You are correct on the earlier Plus 4 having the Meadows gearbox, but I can't remember the approximate changeover date - no doubt, knowing Morgan, it was spread across a number of cars! :)

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3 minutes ago, Graham (G4FUJ) said:

Beautiful Plus 4 Wilson!

Plus 4 eventually ended up with the Moss box too.  It was fitted to +8 from the very beginning in '68.  Very similar to the Jaguar box, but not directly interchangeable.  Some owners have used the Jaguar box as a replacement, with a few managing to fit overdrive version (but it is a very tight fit!).

You are correct on the earlier Plus 4 having the Meadows gearbox, but I can't remember the approximate changeover date - no doubt, knowing Morgan, it was spread across a number of cars! :)

Graham, 

That is actually a 4/4 rather than a Plus 4. Both pre and post WW2, the Standard Special 1267cc OHV engine was used when the supply of Coventry Climax engines ceased in 1937. This was an OHV conversion of a block related to but not the same as  the Standard Flying 10HP. Only around 700 of these engines were made and as they seem to be a unique engine, this must have been wholly uneconomic for Standard, so it is no surprise that in 1949, Standard suggested the use of their 2 litre Standard Vanguard engine instead. Some sources say these 4/4 SS cars have a Moss Gearbox but I think my brother in law's has a Meadows. There was a 5 year hiatus in building the 4/4 until it was reintroduced in 1955 using the Ford 1172 Sidevalve engine. 

Wilson

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Hi Stuart and Jim. No; neither an Alvis nor a Railton.

Here's some more flesh for the bones;

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Philip.

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18 minutes ago, stuny said:

Whatever it is, I really like it.

Ha! Me Too, Stuart!

There were two of them present at a sprint meeting and they were both stunning cars. Owners were completely bonkers, mind you...but in a good way!

Fancy another view? Here's the rather shapely tail-quarters;

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25 minutes ago, Charles Morgan said:

I'd say Wolesley Hornet. 

And you would be right to do so, Charles!

A 1934/35 Wolseley Hornet Special according to the programme of events.

Here are a few general views of the whole - and the sister car nearest the camera in the first image . I know one full-pic is usually the order of the day but it's such a lovely thing;

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Over to you for the next puzzle!

Philip.

 

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They are beautiful things - I saw one at the VSCC Double Twelve at Brooklands a couple of years back - might even have been one of the above. This is it - not the next quizz!

 

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Ok, name this car:

 

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41 minutes ago, Charles Morgan said:

They are beautiful things - I saw one at the VSCC Double Twelve at Brooklands a couple of years back - might even have been one of the above...

It is, indeed, the very same vehicle; the arrangement of the dials, the knobs and small details of the dash complete with identical Dymo-tape 'reminders' leave no doubt.

As can bee seen it's also sporting its owners' Mercedes car key fob on the karabiner hooked onto the passenger handgrip in exactly the same fashion as seen in my snaps which were taken at the 2016 Sevenoaks and District Crystal Palace Sprint Meet (but without the household Chubb-style key in your photo).

Philip.

EDIT : I'm pretty sure I know the 'new' one (well; toss of a coin?) but I've been hogging these pages far too much recently to make a guess....

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