Please visit the Club's website https://www.dloc.org.uk/ to join. Visit https://www.dloc.org.uk/adhoc to DONATE towards the cost of the forum.
Please don't post someone's email address to avoid it being harvested by spambots and it's against GDPR regulations.
Always look at "ACTIVE TOPICS" to see all posts in date & time order as they are sometimes moved; or look at "Your Posts".
Please add Reg. nrs. when posting a photo or anything about a car as this will help searches. Don't add punctuation next to nr. as this negates search.
CHANGED YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS since registering?, click your username and check your address in User Control Panel, Profile, Account Settings.
If you want help to register, use "contact us" at page bottom for help.

Lanchester LA11 History

Post Reply
JT7196
Extremely Wise Man
Extremely Wise Man
Posts: 1535
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:22 am

Lanchester LA11 History

Post by JT7196 »

Hi, chaps , just noticed a request on the Lanchester Forum for owners to post the histories of there vehicles, so here goes..

Way back in 1976, I had just sold on a Standard Flying Ten for £250 and was in search of another project, having viewed a couple of Morris Eight's with no success , I received a call from a mate of mine asking what I knew about Lanchester's, as He had just spotted one for sale in a local paper, well I have to admit like a lot of people , I had not even heard of the make before !
A phone call later, and a visit to the seller was arranged, on arrival, it turned out that I knew the owner from my mechanical apprenticeship days, although he had worked in a different garage to me.
There on his driveway was this "Tired" looking old car , dings in nearly every wing, the Body looked as if it had dropped on the N/S/ R ( it had in fact!) , the Interior had certainly seen better days , but she was in original condition and generally unmolested.
We eventually got the Engine to start and it sounded absolutely horrible , but I did take her for a quick spin around the block and on return the negotiations began, with the owner asking for. Circa £700.00 for the car, I in turn offered £200.00 and we eventually settled at the princely sum of £250.00 .
On checking the cars documents, I noticed that the seller had not registereded the Lanchester in his name, thus making me officially the Second "Registered" owner since 1937 .
The first owner was a Miss Olive , Emily , Vincent who lived at "Thirsk Lodge" Sherborne, Dorset ,and who in fact had purchased the car in May 1937 from Saunders Garage in the same town, and who "apparently",was never seen to go out in the Lanchester without wearing Her Straw Hat sporting a Black veil !
Having transported the Lanchester back to my home town of Yeovil , I eventually built a Double garage at my home ,having previously rented a couple of "lock- up" garages , which in fact were completely inadequate for restoration work, the Lanchester then sat there in the new garage for around nearly Ten years while I saved up some money to start the restoration,
The restoration was started "proper" in 1987 and proved to move very slowly,due to lack of cash mostly, but I did manage to get all of the structural woodwork that needed to be replaced by a very competant Cabinate maker, in exchange for me servicing his cars , I stripped the car down to its bare Shell inside and out, replacing all of the worm eaten plywood Floor, Bulkheadhead, and Rear panel etc.
Next I turned my attentions to the mecanical details , anything that showed signs of wear was duly overhauled or replaced , this included a complete Engine overhaul ,Braking system overhaul, including all of the Linkages, New Shackle Pins and Bushes ( Produced to my own design) new Kingpins & Bushes, also a complete Re-wire ( New Loom supplied by Autosparks) ,
Then it was then time to sort out the Body work of which I did mostly my self, but I entrusted the Respray to a friend of mine who owned a body shop, with me doing all of the preparation and finishing work.
On its return, it was time to sort out the interior, I did receive some help from the mate who introduced me to the Lanchester and his good lady, who was a real "Dab -hand" with her industrial sewing machine, together we recovered the Vynal Roof, and the Headlining, leaving me to re-trim the door cards , and fit the new Carpets and generally finish of the Interior, initially coating the tired seats with one of those "Woolies" kits, they have since then, been conmpletely reupholstered by Larry Piper who works from Sparkford in Somerset, and that was some 20 yrs ago, and have now acquired a nice pattena.
I could never understand why the surface of the front passenger Seat was in such poor condition, the answer was provided by another person who knew Miss Vincent quite well, the "culprit" was a large Wicker Basket, that Miss Vincent carried Her shopping in, which was always unceremoniously " plonked down on it !"
Move on to 1991 and the Lanchester was finally ready to return to the Highways & Byways once more with the first event being the annual road run from Bristol To Bournemouth, with the only problem encountered being a leak from the Water Pump.
Having entered many concourse events, the old Lanchester has rewarded me by winning many prizes over the years, and it has been great to meet up with people who remembered the original owner, I have received many stories about her, including the fact that the good Lady used the Lanchester to ferry Nurse's around Dorset during the war years and one amusing story that went something like this....
Back in the "Sixties" with the introduction of the M.O.T. , one of the mechanics that was employed by Saunders Garage in Sherborne, was sent across the road to the local Police station to inquire about the "New" regulations relating to Lighting on old cars , ( You may remember the the Off side Headlamp would be extinguished when the Lights were "Dipped" ) and having asked the question about the subject, the reply from the local Police Sergeant was" Are we talking about Miss Vincent's Lanchester here? The mechanic confirmed that it was indeed Her car that he was asking about, the Sergeant replied " There's no way that We will be bothering Her I can assure you !!! "
Apparently, Miss Vincent was not a Lady to be "Tangled" with and did not suffer "Fools lightly"
My one and only regret ,that I never got to meet this Lady, I just hope that She approves of my efforts to keep Her " Beloved Lanchester" on the road ! ! God Bless you Olive!

Cheers A'l
Last edited by JT7196 on Thu Dec 15, 2016 11:15 am, edited 7 times in total.

User avatar
John-B
Site Admin
Posts: 1755
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2016 9:10 pm
Location: Salisbury, UK
Contact:

Re: Lanchester LA11 History

Post by John-B »

Big A'l wrote:Apparently, Miss Vincent was not a Lady to be "Tangled" with and did not suffer "Fools lightly"
My one and only regret ,that I never got to meet this Lady, I just hope that She approves of my efforts to keep Her " Beloved Lanchester" on the road ! !

Cheers A'l
As a way to remember her, you could call your car after her Christian name. My guess is that it was something like Mildred or Nellie.

JT7196
Extremely Wise Man
Extremely Wise Man
Posts: 1535
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:22 am

Re: Lanchester LA11 History

Post by JT7196 »

Hi John, duly noted and amended
I do actually refer to my Lanchester as Olive, but I can' t say it too loud , as that happens to be the name of my neighbours wife !!!
Cheers A'l

JT7196
Extremely Wise Man
Extremely Wise Man
Posts: 1535
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:22 am

Post by JT7196 »

Olive, Emily Vincent in fact 👍👍
Bless her 👍👍

Post Reply