Out and Horne.—By "The Extractor."
Page 15
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The Show is over, for which fact all are grateful.
I know that the War Office representatives made calls at many stands, but I have not heard of any actual purchases.
At the Sirdar stand I saw a band tire which had done 27,102 miles, and Mr. MacLulich assured me that they had been making them for three years.
The Anglo-American people have hit upon a novel method of advertising Pratt's motor spirit. Coming out of the show one night, I saw a horse-drawn lorry containing a gigantic motor spirit can of the familiar green colour, and it was lighted up from the inside and quite a striking object it was too.
The Critchley-Norris steamer attracted great attention at the show, and all the other steam people came and gazed long and interestedly. Mr. George Grimshaw, the principal of this firm, seemed very satisfied with the results of the show, and we should hear more of this steamer before long.
One interesting and dainty visitor to the show whom I met was Miss C. de Fl. Venest, from Ryde, This lady drives her own car, but in addition has a strange penchant for taking the wheel of heavy commercial vehicles, and has often driven both Milnes-Daimler and Thornycroft buses in the Isle of Wight. She was seen by a friend of mine at the show on the footplate of the Fowler tractor, and she told me she would really like to try her hand at it, at any rate, for a short spell. •
Mr. Eric W. Goslett told me they had done wonderful business in Berna motors at the show, especially with the 5-ton vehicle. He gave me the figures for publication, but I resist giving quotations. I do not doubt Mr. Goslett for a moment; in fact, I had some confirmation of it from outside, but I would sooner not give the details.
"THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR " office at the show was quite a popular rendezvous, and hosts of our friends came in and smoked a cigar with us and drank a ginger ale or whatnot, but the time when our resources were most taxed was between four and six, when tea and cakes held sway. Two good friends of mine came to see me on a matter of business just as we were in the throes of it, and I pressed them more than once to join us, hut there was a lack of interest. Just as they were leaving, I remembered that we had other varieties of refreshment, and I murmured that perhaps whisky and bubbles was more to their liking" Now you're talking," came from them almost simultaneously. Some of these sturdy north countrymen still associate tea solely with drawing rooms and femininity.
It was very hard on Clayton and Shuttleworth that absolutely opposite to them in the show they should have a great " Otto " gas engine noisily at work from early morn till dewy eve. Clayton's travelling representative, Mr. E. Jackson, must have had a trying week of it. In my opinion, such an exhibit at work should not be allowed.
I mentioned in these columns two weeks ago that I should be glad to hear from any of our friends who would like to see the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, because I was arranging for a motorbus to run down from the show and back again. In due course a bus, belonging to Commercial Cars, Ltd., was pressed into service, and behaved itself excellently and well. In addition, a motorcar fitted with " tires and lent by Mr. A. E. Gelder, the manager of the " K.T." Syndicate, rendered auxiliary assistance, and a joyous little party left Olympia at 2.30 of the clock. I had previously been down to the river prospecting for a good vantage ground from which to view the race, and I arranged with the authorities who owned the land adjoining Thornycroft's, but nearer to the winning post, and the result was that we ran in our vehicle with perfect ease and comfort, and from the roof of the " Commercar " saw the race not better than the best, but better than the rest. The first indication of the sporting spirit which naturally was aboard was a hat passed to me to draw a paper and I found that I had drawn one of the only two" horses," so to speak. I had found Oxford, and then came a demand for money. I held on to my Oxford, but Mr. W. J. McCormack, of Frome Tires, who drew Cambridge, was induced to sell his chance, the buyer being Mr. Julian Halford, who paid a big figure, but still continued to make money on the deal. " He possessed the true Commercial Car ' spirit," some wag remarked. Then back to Olympia to the usual round of business, and to astonish enquirers thus early with the result of the race. In two short hours we were able to make this a delightful break in the day and sec so much.
A recent illness is supposed to have pulled down Mr. Edwin Foden, but I can detect little sign of it; he has the same vivacity of manner, the same fund of humorous anecdote, the same convincing style. We all know the type of British yeoman, self-willed, dogmatic always, with the courage of his opinions and with an honest, deeprooted belief in his own manufactures. He is a thorough good citizen and father, and with it all a great sociable man who is welcome everywhere. Edwin Foden is all this and more—he has no exact counterpart ; he is a type all to himself. It used to be said of him not much more than a year ago that " he was 6s, looked 45, and felt 25." He started his business life with his father, as a grocer, but he soon showed his mechanical bent, and his father apprenticed him to a maker of early thrashing machines, and it is characteristic of him that before he was out of his apprenticeship he was made foreman. This was all very close to where he is located now, for he is a Cheshire man with an undoubted Cheshire ring in his tones. He got into shipbuilding and also saw some service in the Crewe locomotive works, and at one time, it is of interest to note, he was a postman, and, I should say, judging by the man and his career, that he was a very good postman too. This is not the page to give an account of the building up of the present great Foden concern, it is only a brief, and, I fear, inadequate word picture of the man who founded the company, but it may be said that traction engines formed at one time its principal business, and it was only after a world of experimenting and repeated refusals on his part to sell until he had satisfied himself that the wagon was a commercial article, that such machines were marketed. There is little question now of the company's position and standing in the trade to-day. He heartily believes in the steam vehicle for pleasure purposes, and occasionally drives himself in his large Stanley car. As I have said, Edwin Foden is a sociable man and has made hosts of friends, but his has been, and will, I daresay, continue to be a strenuous life. One thing I have noticed, and this stamps the man, he has won the respect and goodwill of his business competitors.