Ticket to ride for a rare Wolseley Siddeley
Just before lockdown, restorer Richard Peskett bought a 1910 12/16hp Wolseley Siddeley that had been in good supervised storage for many years, but he has only recently been able to go and collect it. This model was available as a two-seater with dickey or, as in this case, just a two-seater with a flat section at the back for luggage.
It is registered F 3747 and the first owner was a Colonel Taylor from The White House, Creeksea, Essex – better known now as Burnham-on-crouch. After his death, the family kept the car until 1957, when it passed to Jack Burchell of Chigwell, who had it dated by the Veteran Car Club in 1960. It is known to have been at the Eastbourne Concours in 1959.
The VCC also records it having been owned by Mr A Geikie-cobb, and there are pictures taken during his ownership at a rally in 1968. Shortly after that it went into a private collection that is believed to have been put together by Beatle George Harrison, who is known to have owned many cars.
Peskett bought the car from a third party, called FP Enterprises, and it is thought to have been the oldest machine owned by Harrison. It is in wonderful condition, having received a partial refurbishment by Burchell, and has the patina of long-term storage: the brass is all very dull and the rubber on the bulb horn has perished.
The original toolkit is still there, plus the unusual feature of a British Oxygen cylinder of acetylene on the running board. Normally cars of this era had their own small acetylene generators but in this case the front lamps are replacements. This cylinder appears in early photographs of the car, so it may have been there since new.
Peskett has had the car running, but has had to replace the top water manifold, which had split. The 12/16 had its cylinders cast as a monobloc rather than in pairs.