5 replies to this topic

[Arpajon146]

As part of my research into the history of the FIAT Mephistopheles I am seeking information on the following:-

 

John (Jim) Ames who was E A D Eldridge's friend and mechanic and they worked together approximately between 1919 and 1927 when Eldridge moved to France.

 

Ewart's  346 - 350 Euston Road, London W.1  This company was well known for making geysers but in the early 1920s made light-weight racing car bodies. Is anything known?

 

Any information at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

[D-Type]

While we're on the subject, what colour was Mephistopheles when she set the Land Speed Record?  Was she red or black?

[Vitesse2]

Rather than Ewarts of Euston Road, could it possibly have been Ewarts of Dudley? A firm of sanitary engineers would seem a strange choice for such a project.

 

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Ewarts

[robert dick]

The 1922 3-litre Bentleys used by Hawkes at Indy and by Clement, Hawkes and Bentley on the Isle of Man were fitted with bodies by Ewart's.

[Arpajon146]

The Motor article of July 15th 1924, page no. 1035, quotes "the great red car".  This is an eye witness account as the author mentions that he examined the tyres after the record attempt. Contemporary French newspaper reports also mention the colour as red.  What is interesting is that this is the only event in which the car carried the word "FIAT" on its flanks.  Could this indicate sponsorship by one of the FIAT agents?  The car did not compete with this livery again until it raced in VSCC events in the early 1960s.

 

It has been suggested that Ewart's also supplied light-weight door-less two seater racing bodies to Gordon Watney's South Lodge Motorworks at Weybridge before the first world war. Can anyone confirm this?

[D-Type]

Thanks for that.  With the satanic connotations of the name "Mephistopholes" i wondered if it might have been black.