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Tickford winding hood mystery solved by Kathleen.

by Dennis Maynard: The Patent for the Tickford Winding Hood which was applied for in July 1925 was in the names of George Salmons and Arthur Henry Dalby-Balls. The hood was said to be largely invented by Arthur, (or Tommy as he was known). The extract below clearly confirms that when designed the hood was to be operated by a handle on the offside of the car.
“The hood is raised or lowered by means of a cranked handle situated just below the back elbow at rear of body on the offside”.
Salmons enthusiasts believed that no cars were ever made with the hood mechanism operated from the offside, since it was much safer to operate the hood from the nearside-pavement side.
Four years ago the house of a former Salmons employee was being cleared and several fragments of a photographic plate were found. I pieced them together, the plate was incomplete but it clearly showed a car with the winding handle on the offside. The car is the same one as in the September 1925 adverts and must be the 15/50 Bianchi which was exhibited at the 1925 Motor Show fitted with the prototype hood. The lady winding the hood is Kathleen, second wife of George Salmons. Clearly the handle position was soon changed from the offside to the nearside which is confirmed by illustrations of cars in 1926 adverts.

In September 2010, at a parade of Historic Vehicles, at Newport Pagnell, I saw a 1929 Austin 16/6 Tickford 4-door cabriolet, with the winding handle for the hood on the offside of the car. The car was purchased by the present owner John Hearne, in 1998. It had been in Denmark for many years, and when new was probably a special export order. The original registration KX 3118 number was issued to Salmons & Sons in July 1929 and luckily John was able to get this number back. So a mystery is cleared up and no doubt many Tickford cars that were exported to Countries where left-hand drive was the norm had their winding handles on what we call the offside.

Today on PostWarClassic: Charm school graduate passes driving test.

Comments

#10 2013-03-05 00:42

I bought a 1933 Austin 16/6 Tickford Tourer in 1961 from a fellow student - in exchange for a new Dunlop Maxply tennis raquet. The car had not been run since the War, my first tasks were to remove the cardboard from the sidelights and scrape the black paint off the semaphore indicators. In the summer of 62 4 of us got as far as Monte Carlo in it, and back, at 20mpg, 50 miles p pint and 100 miles per puncture. It ran a big-end near Newmarket in summer 63, and as a rebuild would have been a month's gross wages I had to scrap it. Sadly.

In the bitter winter of 63 I used to put the carburettor bowl in a sink of hot water to get it to start, 10mpg in West London traffic. AMV 55 - have photo but cannot see how to post it.

#9 2013-01-26 19:18

We British are not at fault for driving on the right (that is, left!) side of the road- this was historically entirely correct and everyone else used to travel on that side as well. The reason for staying on the left was of course to keep your sword arm free for fighting any Frenchmen met coming in the opposite direction. This was also the main reason why Tickford coachwork became very popular here, since with the roof quickly lowered the driver could attack with his sword without having to poke it out of the widow. A very sensible race, us British.

#8 2013-01-26 12:44

in the UK nearside is the pavement side, offside is the roadside
very confussing if like me you have a UK car driving in France

#7 2013-01-26 11:47

I had a Tickford conversion on a 1931 Austin 7....The top worked beautifully
it made a very nice little car its somewhere in the American midwest.The crank was on the drivers side.It had been restored by Neil Bruce the photographer.
Keir Helberg

#6 2013-01-26 00:34

Nearside refers to the side of the car nearest to the curb. Offside then of course is the side away from the curb. Where we drive on the left hand side of the road therefore nearside is left hand side of the car!! Conversely in countries that drive on the right hand side of the road it is the opposite. FORTUNATELY nobody except the eccentric English bothered with the "nearside/offside"terminology and used "left/right" and hence no confusion!!!

#5 2013-01-25 23:29

'Nearside' - the side of the vehicle nearest to the kerb (gutter, roadside),
Offside - the other side of the vehicle nearest to the road (and other passing vehicles).

Tony.

#4 2013-01-25 20:49

'Nearside' means nearer to the kerb, or pavement. In Britain, this means the left side of the car as you sit in it. 'Offside' is the opposite!

#3 2013-01-25 20:27

Philip, near side refers to the side of the vehicle nearest to the kerb or pavement i.e. in GB the left-hand side, offside is the driver's side or the side furthest away from the kerb.Probably peculiarly British terms, hope this helps,
Graham.

#2 2013-01-25 17:55

Near side is the left hand side of a horse; offside is the right hand side of a horse. The logical side of the road to ride is the left as you mount from that side. Napoleon changed that gratuitously. The EC is continuing the Emperor's policy of making unwarranted changes in legislation; for example, to drive a three wheeled car like a Morgan, new drivers will have to wait until they are 24 and have taken three two part tests, paid for training to ride motorcycles whether they want to ride or not and bought three motorcycles of different sizes. As well as expense and inconvenience, they will have had seven years of greatly increased risk of injury and death.

#1 2013-01-25 11:12

Puzzling for someone not from the UK: What is "off" in offside en "near" in nearside?

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