A vintage voiturette

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From his name, address and occupation, one might not suppose there was anything terribly interesting about Mr Joseph Archibald Skeet, Automobile Engineer and Specialist of 54 Corporation Road, Leicester. But Mr Skeet was a Sénéchal owner, and that’s very interesting indeed. Even the name alone is exciting — a Sénéchal sounds like some sort of African wildcat, lithe and graceful but deceptively fierce.

1925 Sénéchal Type SS

Despite keeping it for 30 years, Skeet didn’t actually get up to too much with it. Bar occasional short journeys, he seems mainly to have kept it protectively wrapped up in his garage, which is somewhat understandable. That was to change in the 1950s when he befriended a young enthusiast, John Proudman, who revived it from its slumber after circumstances forced Skeet to sell it. John and his wife Jill were keen VSCC members, and they drove the 1925 Sénéchal Type SS all over the country in the space of a few years before their first child came along.

Now looking splendid and very dashing in its vivid scarlet hue — the same colour it has been since new — it has landed in the safe hands of a well-known collector who continues to exercise it with the VSCC. Matthew Bell reveals its history in full in the December issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling. Photographs by Reverendpixel.

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