Americans at the Motor Show, part 3

Geoff Carverhill takes us back to the London Motor Shows of the Thirties, the heyday years of the American car in Britain, with photographs from the Chas K Bowers Collection.

Olympia and Earls Court in the 1930s PART4

American cars became well established ·n Britain during the Thirties, with the "ndustry able to provide motor cars to suit British middle-class tastes and wallets. Consequently, American auto manufacturers looked at Britain as a growing market for their vehicles. Due to the versatility and quality of the American-built chassis, English coachwork would be supplied on an American chassis, often at a much lower price than the few British chassis manufacturers could offer. This combination of high-quality American running gear mated to high-quality bespoke British coachwork proved to be a winning combination throughout the Thirties. Alternatively, standard saloon bodies were available from most volume makers such as Ford and Dodge.

The London Motor Shows were important showcase events for all manufacturers, and between 1902 and 1936, Olympia, in West London, was the home of the London Show and Charles K Bowers was one of the specialist commercial photographers to be commissioned to photograph the exhibitors' stands at Olympia and subsequently Earls Court. Bowers could be considered the Jonathan Fleetwood of his day, and was widely acknowledged by the motor trade based in the London and Home Counties areas as being one of the most expert photographers at capturing spectacular pictures of cars.

After an apprenticeship in Leeds and a job running the photographic department of Short Brothers Aircraft on the Isle of Sheppey, Charles Bowers spent his early automotive photographic career working for the Talbot Motor Company in North Kensington. When the Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq Combine collapsed in 1934, he found himself out of work so, as a freelancer, but while still retaining an office and darkroom at Talbot's coachworks, sought work from other London-based car companies.

He went on to create some evocative and stylish advertising and publicity photographs during the Thirties and Forties. In time, his clients would include many of the Londonbased American car manufacturers and concessionaires, including Hudson Motors at Chiswick, Reo, Graham & Auburn in London, Lincoln Cars at Brentford and Chrysler-Dodge at Kew. These photographs, taken with a cumbersome but high quality, large-format plate camera, are examples of one of Britain's foremost automotive photographers.

The Art Deco splendour of the Olympia Exhibition Centre in West London was the setting for the 1934 London Motor Show. The Dodge Brothers (Great Britain) stand 104 at the 1934 Show had two examples of each of the 'Dodge Dependables', the Senior Six and the Victory Six, while Chrysler Motors launched their take on the Airflow models. Built from CKD kits that were shipped in from Chrysler, Canada, to their factory in Kew, Surrey, the 'British' Chryslers were effectively DeSotos with a Chrysler grille, as well as other detail changes.

Chrysler's stand 11 7 at the 1934 show had a good cross-section of the new Airflow models: a 27.3bhp Croydon Six; a Royal Eight and a Heston Eight, both rated at 33.8bhp. The Royal, with its longer stroke 5297cc eightcylinder engine and more luxurious interior, was priced at £745, a £120 premium over the 4893cc Heston Eight. Chrysler decided to hedge their bets in case the new Airflows did not take off! More conventional Wimbledon, Kew and Kingston Sixeswere also available for 1935. The Airflow was ahead of its time, but the buying public was not ready for it. The last year for the Airflow was 1937.

The Motor Show at Olympia for 1935 saw the re-emergence of the Auburn name. Not since 1930 had these supercharged supercars been on display at the Motor Show. Showcased by their concessionaires RSM (Automobiles) Ltd, who also sold Cord and later Nash from their prestigious Mayfair showroom in Bruton Street, the ubiquitous 4½ litre, eight-cylinder Auburn Supercharged Speedster, a non-supercharged 3 ½ six-cylinder and 4½ litre eight-cylinder Phaeton were on show on their stand number 88. For the 1936 show, RSM had just the two flagship supercars on display - a Supercharged Auburn Cabriolet - for sale at £675, and a front-wheel-drive Cord Convertible, also powered by a thundering Lycoming VB engine, for £895!

As well as Auburn, the 1935 show had the latest Chrysler Motors and Dodge Brothers offerings in the centre aisle, on stands 102 and 94 respectively. Cadillac, Buick and LaSalle were represented by Lendrum & Hartman Ltd on stand 79, and Hudson, Reo with Oldsmobile Distributors, all offering chassis or complete vehicles for sale on the UK market .

The mid-Thirties were successful years in terms of sales of North American-built cars to Britain. According to the official SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) figures for 1935, a total of 11,921 North American-built cars, chassis or 'unassembled' units were sold in the UK; 5227 of the 1935 total represented new assembled Canadian-built cars. The previous year had seen 6022 new American-built cars being imported into the UK and 2873 new Canadian models. These figures did not include CKD units.

By 1937, the London Motor Show had moved from Olympia to Earls Court, where it would reside for the next 40 years.

On stand 95 at the '37 show, Nash had a full complement of 1938 models under concessionaires RSM (Automobiles): an Ambassador Eight De Luxe Saloon, at £495; an Ambassador Eight De Luxe Phaeton with bodywork by Salmons of Newport Pagnell, priced at £595; an Ambassador Six De Luxe Cabriolet, at £475 and two Nash 400 models: a sixcylinder De Luxe Saloon, priced at £385 and 400 Opera Coupe, priced at a very reasonable £370.

Immediately behind Nash was a selection of Packardsfrom Leonard Williams & Co. Ltd, who had been the Packard distributors, based on the Great West Road in lsleworth, since 1929 .

On stand 88 at the 1937 Earls Court show, Chrysler displayed their

1938 models: an eight-cylinder Imperial four-door Touring Saloon; a six-cylinder Royal four-door Touring Saloon; a six-cylinder Wimbledon four-door Touring Saloon and a Wimbledon Foursome Drophead with body by Carlton was available should a customer require the option of open-air motoring. The price, however, was £498, a hundred quid premium over the standard saloon at £395. The Dodge Sixes were on stand 61 - De Luxe Six, Custom Six, with five-passenger Touring Saloon, or Fixed Head Coupe. Dodge always offered straightforward value for money - from £345 for a standard Six Saloon to £550 for a Custom Six seven-passenger Limousine.

Hudson was one manufacturer that would commission Charles Bowers to photograph all of the new Hudson or Terraplane models for advertising purposes or for brochures which would be sent out by the factory or given to customers at the shows. The Special Open Sports Terraplane at £375 is a 1935 model with real bodywork. The Hudson Six De Luxe Saloon is from a 1937 Hudson Motors advert.

For the 1938 models, Hudson was marketed as Hudson-Terraplane at the 1937 show, only to revert back to Hudson for the 1939 models. 1938 was to be the last London Motor Show before the outbreak of war in September 1939. It marked the end of the American car boom in Britain that had started in the late Twenties.

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