Amongst the SAH awards announced recently are several of particular interest to the SAHB. We heartily congratulate the deserving recipients. British members will be particularly pleased by the Bradley Award which has gone to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, see details at the end of this posting.

First, the SAH Friend of Automotive History 2011, awarded in recognition of an individual who has made a particular personal contribution to automotive history, was awarded to Christopher ‘Kit’ Foster of the USA. 

SAHB member and former Chairman Malcolm Jeal writes: Kit has made an outstanding contribution to the SAH over the past 20-plus years in a variety of rôles – including Treasurer, Membership Secretary, and of course President. To automotive history in the wider context, he has been a long-time writer for motoring magazines both in the USA and Britain, in addition to which he authored the book The Stanley Steamer, published in 2004, which is the definitive text on the subject. As well as the many personal contacts that he has made within the SAH, Kit Foster has also undertaken for a significant period unofficial SAH ‘ambassadorial’ duties – most notably his regular attendance at, and frequent hosting of, the SAH European Dinner in Paris since the inauguration of this annual occasion in 1996. His promulgation of the ‘raison d’être’ of the SAH to those beyond the shores of America is widely acknowledged on this side of the Atlantic – and very much appreciated.

The full award list is:

E.P. Ingersoll Award to O’Keefe Winners Database: A Searchable Comprehensive Digital Database of Motor Racing Events 1895-2010, published on line by Racemaker Press.

Richard and Grace Brigham Award to The Packard Cormorant, published by Packard Automobile Classics, Stuart Blond, editor.

Richard P. Scharchburg Student Paper Award to “The Automobile, the Interstate, and Suburbia,” by Andrew Jennings Mabon, James Madison University.

For articles:

Carl Benz Award to “1951 Buick XP-300: Mr. Chayne Builds His Dream Car,” by Terry V. Boyce, published in Collectible Automobile.

For books:

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Award, English Language to Caribbean Capers:The Cuban Grand Prix Road Races of 1957, 1958 and 1960, by Joel E. Finn, published by Garnet Hill Publishing and Racemaker Press.

Award of Distinction to Voiture Minimum: Le Corbusier and the Automobile, by Antonio Amado, published by The MIT Press.

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Award, Language other than English to Gotha de L’Automobile Française, by Claude Rouxel and Laurent Friry, published by E.T.A.I.

Awards of Distinction, Language other than English to Tatra, Nákladní a Užitková Vozidla, Autobusy a Trolejbusy, by Marián Šuman-Hreblay, published by Computer Press. And to Lindner, Karosserien und Anhänger aus Ammendorf, by Christian Suhr, published by Verlag Kraftakt.

James J. Bradley Distinguished Service Award to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, Coventry, UK (Anders Ditlev Clausager, Chief Archivist).

The SAH statement read The nominations for the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust came from regular users of their collections and services. While they praised the richness of the collections, their most enthusiastic comments were for the professionalism of the staff and the services they provide.  To quote one of the nominations, “Since Mr. Clausager became Chief Archivist, a whole new professionalism has been introduced to the organization in terms of making available the historic information we seek. . . It is an invaluable resource for researchers.”
 
Anders Clausager is a professional archivist with long experience in the automotive archives. He previously worked at BL Heritage (British Leyland) and later the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust. He became chief archivist at Jaguar Trust in 2000.  He is an author of seven automotive history books.  Mr. Clausager and his staff, which include two additional archivists and eight volunteers, are dedicated to getting accurate information to their users in a timely manner.   The Jaguar Trust also has an extensive publishing programme of both original publications and reprints of older Jaguar technical literature which they sell on their website.  The Jaguar Trust is using digital technology to improve access to their holdings.  For example, more than 150,000 car records are currently available on databases.   The staff are also working on the production of a general on-line catalogue. The Jaguar Trust maintains close ties with its stakeholders and is often represented at relevant events, such as Jaguar club rallies, etc.  The Jaguar Trust provides appropriate care for its collections and meets professional standards in its facilities and in its policies and procedures for risk management.
 
The Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust is a model automotive history archives, the standard against other programmes should be measured.

Friend of Automotive History Award to Kit Foster, see at top

The Automobile Handbook and Guide

a reproduction of a possibly unique copy of the original brochure dated 1900, is a joint project of the SAHB and the Michael Sedgwick Memorial Trust.

The original brochure is a rare landscape size illustrated treatise on early production motor-cars, dated November 1900. Loaned by a SAHB member, this reprint project has been funded by the Michael Sedgwick Memorial Trust. The SAHB will oversee the marketing and selling of the publication, and the profits from the venture will be shared equally by the SAHB and the Trust.

Having first undergone significant ‘cleaning’ and ‘image sharpening’ by a qualified commercial artist, nothing has been lost of the style and charm of the original publication. The saddle-stitched cover has been printed on 300 gsm textured card, similar in colour and style of the original. The 48 page illustrated text has been printed on 130 gsm gloss art paper to aid image contrast.

With a foreword by the SAHB Chairman, this edition is strictly limited to only 150 numbered copies, priced at £19.95, or £22.00 with post & packing included.

Please make cheques payable to the SAHB and send your order to:

Peter W. Card, Budds Farm, High Street, Barrington, Ilminster, Somerset, TA19 0JB

Full details and booking form at  SAHBspringseminar2012

The Society of Automotive Historians in Britain

 Spring Seminar

Sunday 11 March 2012

 at: The People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Manchester M3 3ER, 0161 838 9190, www.phm.org.uk

 Members will be especially welcome at this seminar, to be held at a new venue for the SAHB. Reflecting the SAHB’s first visit to the northern counties, the lecture programme has in part a northern flavour. The accommodation is at the Midland Hotel, where Rolls met Royce. The Saturday evening dinner is at a restaurant two minute walk from the hotel. In addition to the formal programme, there will be a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry (‘MOSI’) in central Manchester. Members’ guests are welcome to join us for any part of the programme.

 SEMINAR PROGRAMME

 9.30 to 10.10          Arrival and coffee

10.10 to 10.15         Introduction and welcome 

10.15 to 11.00         Scapegoats and Chauffeurs – a social impact of   motoring. (Craig Horner)

11.00 to 11.45         The Crossley Streamline – an aberration, or a Tatra / VW layout pioneer? (John Humphreys)

11.45 to 12.30         Motoring Quiz (Bryan Goodman)

12.30 to 2.00           Buffet lunch at the People’s Museum

2.00 to 2.45             The Sheffield Automobile Club, 1902 – 1914 (Malcolm Dungworth)

2.45 to 3.30             Conflict, Austerity and Optimism – motor manufacture in the 1940s and 1950s (Malcolm Bobbitt)

3.30 to 4.15             Tea and dispersal

Cost – £25 per person

Venue – The People’s History Museum tells the story of the struggle over the last two hundred years of ordinary people in Britain in getting the vote. Its galleries first opened in May 1994 in the Pump House in central Manchester. This is the only surviving Edwardian hydraulic pumping station in the city, and it used to supply power to the warehouses via a web of pressure mains, and even wound the Town Hall clock! A multi-million pound re-development took place from 2007, and the galleries were reopened on the same site in extended premises in 2010. The museum has a café and can accommodate two cars for disabled badge holders by arrangement. 

Accommodation and Dinner - For SAHB members intending to stay overnight in Manchester, accommodation has been arranged for the night of Saturday 10 March, at the Midland Hotel, Peter Street, Manchester M60 2DS (http://www.qhotels.co.uk/hotels/the-midland-manchester.aspx). This is at the special price of £95 for a single room, or £105 for a double/twin room. This price includes breakfast. However, this deal is subject to the first fifteen rooms being booked and only holds until 28 January 2012. Members should contact the hotel directly to book before this date, quoting reference SAHB. You can book online (web address above) or by phoning the hotel direct on 0161-236 3333. In addition, there are alternative hotels in central Manchester or the suburbs that can offer a wide range of types and grades of accommodation. See http://www.visitmanchester.com for more details.

 For the evening of Saturday 10 March, a dinner has been arranged at Don Giovanni’s, 11 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 4PB. Dinner will be at 7.30 and includes a three course meal plus coffee, for £27.50. We have our own private room for the evening.

Early arrivals on the Saturday are most welcome to join the organisers at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) (www.mosi.org.uk). We suggest you tour MOSI at your own pace and afterwards we will meet informally in the Coffee Shop on the ground floor at 4.15pm. The exhibits include many locally made motorcars and motorcycles as well as aircraft, bicycles, railway exhibits and so forth. The Museum includes the surviving building of the world’s first passenger railway station, the terminus of Stephenson’s Manchester and Liverpool railway of 1830.

Parking – Parking is expensive in central Manchester but there are plenty of car parks. Hotel parking is available at the NCP Manchester Central (formerly known as G-Mex Centre) to the rear of the hotel at £18.40 for 24 hours. Disabled badge holders may park their vehicles at the People’s History Museum by arrangement.

Trains and buses – If you arrive by train, there is a free tram (included as part of your rail fare) from both Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria stations direct to the hotel; you should alight at St Peter’s Square. A free bus service operates every day in the city centre; the number 3 bus loops all day between Piccadilly station, the Midland Hotel and the People’s History Museum.

Maps – Getting to the Midland Hotel: http://www.qhotels.co.uk/hotels/the-midland-manchester/how-to-find-us.aspx

Getting to the PHM – http://www.phm.org.uk/visit-us/how-to-find-us/

Getting to MOSI - http://www.mosi.org.uk/media/30544841/mosimap.pdf

Tram and free bus map - http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/download/698/metroshuttle_map

Queries may also be addressed to Craig Horner, c.horner@mmu.ac.uk

Published September 2011. 80 pages, 117 b&w illustrations, softbound. 

Contents:

• Mister ‘Miles-per-hour’: Reid Railton, by Karl Ludvigsen
• The Motor Technical Record Cards, by Michael Worthington-Williams
• The Taylor Bedmobile motor caravan, by Tony Beadle
• Motoring moments in the busy life of Henry Deutsch da la Meurthe, by Malcolm Jeal
• Looking back down the decades, by Malcolm Bobbitt
• Afterwords

Price £11.00, including U.K. postage and packing, £12.50 to Europe including Ireland, £14 overseas. Send a cheque made payable to the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain, and your details, to Aspects of Motoring History, 53 Oak Lane, Easterton, Devizes, Wilts., U.K., SN10 4PD.