Beeston's Beau Christopher Frost
On Beeston's Classic Cars
F
or two short periods of time, Beeston built cars. Not on the grand scale of Dagenham, Cowley or Sunderland, but more of a cottage industry. Humber Works, on Humber Road between 1901 & 1908, and Middlebridge Scimitar on Lilac Grove, 1988 - 1995. All gone now of course, but their history lives on. If you want to see old vehicles these days, there’s always the Barton’s Garage in Chilwell, where you can see a number of their old buses and associated vehicles on Heritage Days or when they put on one of their many great events. (*CAR 3, CAR 5*)
Or there’s the annual Autokrama at Wollaton Park, where a huge number of period vehicles are on display, usually in the summer sun. If you’re lucky, you can sometimes spot an old vehicle on the streets of Beeston. After spotting a mid-70s Ford Granada recently, it got me thinking about how many vintage vehicles there must be in the area.
Car 1
Car 2
So I put a message on Beeston Updated’s Facebook page, to see what sort of response I might get. I had some replies telling me about th eir vehicles. Carrying on with the Barton theme, here’s ‘Beauty’, a 1933 Riley Open Tourer, which has been in the Barton family for 48 years. Jeanie Barton’s mum Barbara spoke to me about it.“We got the car from Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, as my late husband Elson wanted to be Bertie Wooster. I was invited out for the day on a ‘date’, which was to ‘look’ at a vintage car. We arrived at a smallholding in the countryside and were led to a barn where the Riley was stored. The car was dark green and although most of the bodywork was visible, the seats inside were covered with straw and chickens were standing on the footboards and bonnet!
Car 3
A deal was struck and to my astonishment, I was ‘offered’ the chance of being towed back! I recklessly agreed and a piece of polythene was placed on the seat for me to sit on. I was given a large white handkerchief to hold and was told to wave it if I had any problems. We did a few miles and then I smelt burning. I waved the hankie and we slowed to a halt. Being rather nervous, I had been braking rather a lot and the smell was coming from the brake discs which were very hot! After they had cooled down, I was told not to use the brakes unless considered absolutely necessary!” (*CAR 4*) Jim Goodinson lives on a canal boat in the Rylands. He currently owns three classic cars; a 1961 Ford Popular, a Hillman Minx from 1963 and a 1988 Ford Fiesta. I met him on Canalside by his boat, the Whirligig with the nice smell of burning wood emanating from the stove and asked him about his small collection of vehicles. “I’ve had the Pop for about six years now. I saw it on Ebay, but just missed out. The winner didn’t go through with it, and as I was the second chance bidder, it was offered to me. I had to collect it from Sandy in Bedfordshire. It’s done 68,000 miles. Classic cars tend not to do that many miles in a year. That’s why we get cheaper insurance. She’s called ‘Bertha’. I’ve kept her in the original condition. As I prefer it that way”. (*CAR 7*) “I’ve also got a Hillman from a friend who lives in Bingham. We used to see each other at car shows. He kept pestering me to buy it. So in the end I did. ‘Hilda’ has only done 11,000 miles. It’s beige and cream. It’s stored at a garage in Beeston. Do you know what, the biggest cost to owning a vehicle isn’t insurance, but storage”.
