15 replies to this topic

[Leigh Trevail]

A bit obscure this one…. Would any one know about a Healey Duncan being written off in the Tulip Rally. This was either 1949, 50 or 51, it may have been driven by Bill Lamb. The car (OVF 940) was subsequently rebuilt as a Silverstone by a chap called F.E. Jarvis of Norwich who entered the car in the first event at Snetterton in October 1951.

[Vitesse2]

1951.

BRITISH MOTORISTS HURT

Two British entrants in the Tulip Motor Rally were hurt yesterday when their car crashed near Spa, about 30 miles from Liège. The men, Mr William Lamb and Mr PH Crowley, were taken to Verviers hospital with facial injuries. Mr Lamb also fractured an ankle. - Reuter

The Times, Apr 27 1951, p5.

[Leigh Trevail]

Being stupid I wrote down the wrong registration number; it should have been HVF 940. However being resourceful; I have managed to obtain this picture, this is the Jarvis replica Silverstone body.

http://URL=http://img516.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hvf940in1957ux1.jpg][IMG]http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/7037/hvf940in1957ux1.th.jpg[/URL][/IMG]

[David Birchall]

Is this car now a Silverstone Replica, replica, replicar, copy, historic special or....?

[Leigh Trevail]

None of those, I believe it was scrapped! Over the years it has caused some confusion amongst Healey owners, the chassis number was to early for a Silverstone and the body not quite right! I suppose it would have been considered a Special.

[Mark A]

The Autocar, May 4, 1951.

So to Clervaux, and thence through Belgium to the Dutch frontier; but on the way, near Spa, W.D.R. Lamb's open Duncan-Healey left a straight road at high speed and hit a tree; the car was completely wrecked, the occupants being taken to hospital at Verviers, where they were detained, but miraculously without too serious injuries.

The Motor, May 2, 1951

It was between Verviers and Liege that Lamb and Crowley (Healey Silverstone) apparently went to sleep and collided with a tree.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Leigh Trevail
Being stupid I wrote down the wrong registration number; it should have been HVF 940. However being resourceful; I have managed to obtain this picture, this is the Jarvis replica Silverstone body.

Let's have a good look at it then...

[Leigh Trevail]

Ray...........There was no need to include the bit about me being stupid! Thanks for blowing it up!!

[Chris Berens]

There was also a Healey Duncan that crashed on the 1949 Mille Miglia.Registration number HVF 172 driven I think by a MrCowan. It is not the same car as the one in the Tulip Rally crash. Does anyone know any more about this car?

[Leigh Trevail]

Thank you to those who posted a reply. Last week I had a letter in the Norwich based Eastern Daily Press regarding Lamb, Duncan and Jarvis, with the Norfolk connection to each of these I was surprised when there was no responce to this. Yesterday I visited the Norwich Library where the E.D.P. archives are held, checking through the relevant copies there is no mention of the rally what so ever! Not a sausage!!

[HARLEY]

RE: HVF 172

Chris,

Steve here at Mail Boxes Etc in Cheshire. One of my customers knows the history very well of HVF 172. It was his uncles. I have about 4 x pics of the car pre and post crash, together with the news paper article and cover of the Miglia programme from 1949.

I'll contact Simon, my customer, and ask if its ok to send you the info. (I run a business service centre and do the scanning of his images/emailing etc).

You can get me at mbecheshire@btconnect.com and Simons email is sjdsystems@hotmail.com
maybe just pop him an email requesting the images and news article etc and I will forward to you.

I dont follow this thread at all, I was literally just scouring the net for "HVF 172" when I came across your entry and had to register to enable this reply. There is some interest in this Duncan Drone from Australia at the moment as well so we're both digging for more info, esp the chassis number.
Please email simon/me as above for more info. Ta v much.


Cheers - Steve

[Patrick Quinn]

G'day

Came across this by chance. By coincidence just a few weeks back I finished an article for the Association of Healey Owners Gazette on this same car. Please find below an extract from the article that should explain all. I should say that I do own a Healey Duncan Saloon.

I received an email from Simon Deutsch in the UK and it was his uncle that drove the car in the 1949 Mille Miglia.

Best wishes

Patrick Quinn
Sydney, Australia

Simon went on to say that the Healey Duncan was privately entered by his uncle James Cohen with friend Reg Hignett as co-driver. If the car in the photo is one and the same, I have wondered if James Cohen received support from the Donald Healey Motor Company.

The entry list for the 1949 Mille Miglia was sizeable with a zillion Fiats of all shapes and sizes predominating, especially the diminutive 500. If you’re interested the full list and results are at:-

http://www.wspr-raci...hamp1949.html#2

Looking through the result list there are a total of 6 Healeys listed. While 2 were shown as in the entry list only, another 2 are listed as “Did Not Finish” including the car of Messrs Cohen and Hignett. Further up the line the Healey 2400 ‘Westland’ of Geoffrey Healey and Tommy Wisdom are shown as 10th overall and 1st in the Touring Class, while Donald Healey with Geoff Price finished 19th in their Healey 2400 ‘Elliott’. The internet is a marvellous tool for research.

Sadly the 1949 Mille Miglia was destined to be a tragic event for both James Cohen and Reg Hignett. Simon wrote to say that not long after the start at Brescia the car was approaching a stone bridge, the parapets of which were obscured by spectators all vying for a better view.

As the car swiftly closed on the bridge the spectators moved back and it can only be assumed that with the movement of people, Cohen’s perspective was affected and the car crashed into the stone parapet, spun round and into the opposite wall. According to news reports of the period, the accident occurred just 16 minutes after they had left Brescia. Sadly Reg Hignett was killed instantly and James Cohen was thrown some 30 feet backwards from the car.

While contemporary reports say that James Cohen survived the accident and returned to England, Simon says that family history has told him that Cohen sadly succumbed to his injuries just a few months later.

In a recent email from Simon he says that he has been in touch with the Association of Healey Owners (AOHO) in England in an effort to find out what happened with the car. As usual the combined knowledge of members came to the fore. It turned out that the car had earlier been driven by Ian Duncan to the Geneva Motor Show in either 1948 or ’49. After the Mille Miglia it was returned to the UK and there is some thought that it had been re-bodied, possible as a Silverstone.

The chassis number is not known however as can be seen from the attached photos it was registered as HVF 172.

However from an early AOHO Gazette comes an article written by John Bowers on the Healey Duncan Roadsters. After its return to the UK the remains of the tragic HVF 172 was acquired by John Brown. It’s not clear from John Bower’s words, but it appears that John Brown was the Healey distributor for Scotland. He was of course known by the Donald Healey Motor Company as he acquired another chassis from the factory. He also used a Duncan Roadster body from another car that had been owned by friend Edgar Wadsworth that had been removed to make way for a Westland body.

The car was back on the road not long after and ran at an event at Croft in the Spring of 1949 where it was considerably faster than the competing Westlands. It was soon sold on and it wasn’t until later when John Brown found out that the engine had been breathed upon Eddie Meyer of Rileys.

So that’s it. If you put the message out there, others will come forth with more information. Many thanks to Simon Deutsch for taking the trouble to make contact on this interesting piece of Healey History. I wonder the fate of HVF 172?

Simon’s later comment to me that through the wonders of the Internet and in particular Google Earth he thinks he has located the bridge where the fateful accident took place.

Edited by Patrick Quinn, 24 July 2009 - 00:55.

[Doug Nye]

I believe Graham Gauld has some photos which Gordon Wilkins took of the wrecked car, probably the day after the accident. Both Cohen and Hignett died.

DCN

[Graham Gauld]

I believe Graham Gauld has some photos which Gordon Wilkins took of the wrecked car, probably the day after the accident. Both Cohen and Hignett died.

DCN

Sorry for the delay but this is the photograph to which Doug refers. It shows the wreck in a shed after the Mille Miglia accident.



John Brown in Edinburgh was the Healey dealer but I do not recall him ever racing it. He raced a Silverstone at the same time as Jimmy Stewart and also an early HWM before retiring from racing.

[Graham Gauld]

I forgot to mention that my late former father-in-law Harry Havelock Slack raced a Healey Duncan quite successfully in Scottish Club racing around 1952 and have attached a tremendous battle he had with Healey Elliot and later Connaught driver Ken Downing. In this photo Harry has a slight lead over Ken on the notorious Kames Curve which claimed the only three motor racing deaths in Scottish motor racing. In the end Ken Downing won the race with Harry in second place.

URL=http://img6.imageshack.us/i/downingsl.jpg/][/URL]

[Graham Gauld]

I forgot to mention that my late former father-in-law Harry Havelock Slack raced a Healey Duncan quite successfully in Scottish Club racing around 1952 and have attached a tremendous battle he had with Healey Elliot and later Connaught driver Ken Downing. In this photo Harry has a slight lead over Ken on the notorious Kames Curve which claimed the only three motor racing deaths in Scottish motor racing. In the end Ken Downing won the race with Harry in second place.

URL=http://img6.imageshack.us/i/downingsl.jpg/][/URL]

WHAT AN IDIOT ............I MEANT HEALEY ELLIOT. !!