Recommissioning the 1909 Rover 15

One of the oldest vehicles in the Museum collection, the 1909 Rover 15, has been in the workshop for some serious attention over the past couple of months.  Whilst this beautiful vehicle is much admired by visitors to the Museum, and even occasionally goes out to shows such as the Festival of Motoring and the NEC Classic Motor Show, it has been hiding some dark secrets.

The Rover was acquired by the Museum in 2004, having undergone an expensive restoration by its previous owner, but hasn’t been run since its arrival.  Earlier this year, the decision was made to recommission the vehicle to running condition, and in July, Museum Technician Chris Strawbridge set to work.

The first job of course was to change all the fluids, and here’s where Chris discovered the first problem – at some point one of the seals had shrunk, meaning that all of the radiator cooling water had ended up in the oil in the bottom of the engine – and since the oil had been emulsified by the water, it looked likely that this had happened when the engine last ran.

As you can imagine, this water had caused severe engine damage, the worst of which was corrosion on the oil pump drive gears, to the point where there were barely any teeth remaining – Chris is currently having new gears made at a local engineering firm to completely replace the ruined parts.

Next up, when Chris took the sump off, he discovered more play in the big end bearings than you would expect of an engine that has been rebuilt, and his initial suspicion was that this was another casualty of the water leak.  On closer inspection however, he found that the engine had not been assembled properly when it was rebuilt before arriving at the Museum – in particular, parts of the big end bearings had been left with metal burrs attached, meaning that Chris had to strip the lot to get the big ends functioning correctly.

Chris is currently awaiting the arrival of the new gears to replace the corroded ones, and is none-committal about how long the rest of the work will take once these parts arrive, since he can’t be sure what other secrets may be lurking as the work continues.  

Whilst Chris has many years’ experience of working on all kinds of different vehicles, it is the first time he has worked on a vehicle of this age and he is learning a huge amount about it as he progresses with the work.  Chris feels that it’s vitally important to carry out this kind of work and try to keep older vehicles running – otherwise how else will skills and understanding about how they were built and how to look after them be passed on for the future?

If Chris succeeds in getting the Rover running there will be another interesting challenge to overcome in order to put it on the road – the car carries acetylene lamps, and if it is to pass an MOT the lamps must be in working order.   

Calcium carbide powder will have to be placed inside the lamps, onto which water is dripped, producing acetylene gas though a jet, which is then lit to form a sort of candlelight to light up the headlamps.

If and when the lamp-lighting day arrives it will be wonderful to see, and will be a testament to a lot of hard work and patience by a skilled technician – we will keep you informed of Chris’s progress with the Rover over the coming weeks and months.

Introduction to the 1916 Maudslay Subsidy Chassis Restoration Project

One of the major projects currently being undertaken by the Friends of Coventry Transport Museum alongside Museum staff, is the restoration of a 1916 Maudslay Subsidy Chassis.

The Friends of the Museum are recording their work on this project on a separate Maudslay Project Blog, but we asked Curator of Vehicles Christiaan van Schaardenburgh to give an overview of the project so far, for readers of this main Museum blog:

In the period before the First World War, the government set out specifications for lorries for military use. Several commercial vehicle manufacturers actually built these vehicles, including: Daimler, Thorneycroft, AEC and Maudslay. Although they were all different, they were built to the same requirements such as weight, horsepower, dimensions, etc. Different body styles were fitted to these vehicles, depending on their use. Large numbers of these military lorries were sold as surplus at auctions after the Great War.

This particular chassis would have been built by Maudslay at Parkside for the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. The vehicle is believed to have been used by the War Department on an airfield in the Angus region of Scotland. Four identical Maudslay chassis were purchased by Coventry Corporation Tramways after the war in 1921 for conversion to buses.

The Museum’s 1916 Maudslay Subsidy chassis was acquired by the Museum in August 2000 from a farm in Dundee, for £10,000. The vehicle was mostly complete, but in a totally unrestored condition. The Great War, Model B three-tonner, was last used in the mid 1970s as a holiday home at Crathy on Deeside, and before that it had been a showman’s living van until 1932. It was stored for many years until being sold to the museum.

Ever since the purchase of the Maudslay chassis, the Friends of Coventry Transport Museum have been raising funds for the restoration of the Maudslay. Restoration of the chassis started in July 2007, every Friday a dedicated team of Friends work with the museum’s collections care team on restoring the lorry to its former glory.

Although the chassis is largely complete, because of its long life as a showman’s vehicle and subsequently as a holiday home, almost every component has a significant amount of wear and tear. It is our goal to rescue as much of the original items as possible - rather than just replacing components with newly made examples, we try to repair the original items, this always adds to the authenticity and gives it ‘the right look’ when inspected closely.

The restoration started with making a detailed photographic record, which has already proven invaluable when the re-assembly started. Once a complete condition survey had been written, the Maudslay was completely disassembled into its main components.

Due to the impending centenary remembering the start of the First World War in 2014, we are aiming to complete the Maudslay during that year. Should we fail to do so, and it is always a difficulty to put a completion date on a restoration project, then we aim to finish the project during 2016 - the 100^th anniversary of the chassis.

Follow our progress on the Maudslay Project blog.

The following companies have provided us with their services so far, often with a favourable rate:

Lenoch Engineering, Ramsay Precision Engineers, Matrix Lasers, CMR Engineering, Clifton Rubber.

Billy Baxter’s Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R

We have recently acquired another record holder to add to the long list of other record breaking vehicles to have been displayed at the Museum over the years.

This latest acquisition though comes in the form of a 2002 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R motorcycle, one of the fastest ever production motorcycles to be produced by the Japanese company since 1954.

So what’s so special about this particular bike? Well in August 2003, Billy Baxter, an ex-soldier who is completely blind, smashed the then current blind solo motorcycle Land Speed Record of 78.4mph, with an incredible speed of164.8mph.

This was achieved using a special autocom communication system, with the aid of outriders from the Flying Gunners – the British army’s display team.

See Billy breaking the record.

Billy also appeared on BBCs Top Gear, and drove one of their ‘reasonably priced cars’ around the circuit in 2.02 minutes.

On display at the Museum for a period of six months, this Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R is sure to excite those fortunate enough to view it whilst becoming yet another scoop for Coventry Transport Museum.

CTM has over the last few months delivered several vehicles to Museum of Museums in Manchester. The museum is located next to the Trafford Centre. The Museum of Museums is bringing objects and displays together from other museum and/or private collections. It officially opens on the 9th September.

Click here for more information

We have taken the following vehicles to Manchester:

1910 Humber Landaulette EH 225

1923 Humber Chummy XN 2972

1936 Armstrong Siddeley 14HP BKV 552

1955 Standard 10 PKV 81

1960 Sunbeam Rapier 7523 IJ

1977 Jaguar XJ-S VGW 777S

Premier Safety Cycle c1920

1929 Triumph CSD Combination 550cc motorcycle

56” High Wheeler Cycle

Dursley Pederson Safety Cycle

Velocipede with Phantom Wheels

Sinclair C5

CTM Events Calendar 2010

New Props for Doctor Who

The Doctor Who exhibition that's been on at the Museum since this March, originally scheduled to close in November,it has now been extended to the 10th of January 2010, owing to its whopping success! Thinking of it now, it's one of the longest running special exhibitions we've had! But that's not all... we now have brand new props in the exhibition from the latest Doctor Who special, ‘The Waters of Mars’, screened 15th November on BBC One.
So you can now meet 'The Flood' (a monster who spews water at the touch of a button!) the costume of Captain Adelaide Brooke (played by acclaimed actress Lindsay Duncan), the costume of Andy, and the robot GADGET!

We also have on display in the Museum ‘Bessie’, the Third Doctor Jon Pertwee’s yellow roadster car together with his costume. There's no charge to see these as these are not in the exhibition. So you can pose beside Bessie for a photograph for free!

So for all you Doctor Who devotees, an excellent way to spend time over Christmas holidays. I even coined a slogan: "When you're bored and can't find anything to do, come to Doctor Who!" ... Cheesy, huh? But don't let that put you off! Do come along and see our new 'Waters of Mars' props for before you know it, it's going to be 2010 and they will be gone! So don't miss this fabulous opportunity!

Booking information is available here or call our Doctor Who Information line 0871 976 9461.

Xmas Factor Grand Final this weekend

The Xmas Factor heats were simply great on the Saturday before last, 21st November that is! And we have 11 spectacular finalists including a guitar-based duo and 9 year-old identical twin girls who call themselves "Paw Prints"! All the singers will be performing two songs and the lucky winner will receive £100 cash prize, plus other great prizes.
There's going to be other great stuff as well... the Phoenix Dance Academy dancers will be performing, so will this year's Britain's Got Talent stars Good Evans while mum Estelle will be on the panel of judges. And Brody Swain will be playing presenter! So, if you are looking for some entertainment on a cold Saturday afternoon, why not join us at the Museum at 2'o clock and give a big 'whoop whoop!' to all the particpants? It's totally free!
Though you might want to book the tickets right away... free tickets, they are going faster than hot cakes!

Xmas Factor Returns

You know what they say... If you've got it, flaunt it! Well, here's an excellent opportunity for you all to show off your musical talents as our popular singing competition Xmas factor is back for a third time! So if you think you've got it in you come along and strut your stuff at the heats which be held this Saturday 21st November and see if you can make through to the Grand Final on 5th December.

The competition is open to all, young or old, amateur or professional. All you need to do is perform a Christmas song and spread some Christmas cheer. You can perform at the heats unaccompanied, or accompanied by a CD. If you wish to sing to a music track, don’t forget to bring along your CD. There will be four categories of performances: groups, under 10s, 10 – 15 years old and 16 years and above. You will be judged for your stage presence, professionalism and ability. So get practising as the heats are just around the corner!

The Grand Final will take place on Saturday 5th December 2pm – 5pm. The show will be hosted by Touch FM’s Brody Swain and there will be grand performances by ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ stars Good Evans while mum Estelle will be on our panel of judges and also by Coventry’s own Phoenix Dance Academy performers. With grand prizes for winners and loads of fun for everybody the event promises to bring a fun-packed evening for one and all!

No pre-registration is required for entering the heats. For free tickets to the Grand Final email us at enquiries@transport-museum.com or call 024 7623 4270

1971 Rover P5B

A 1971 Rover P5B has been offered to Coventry Transport Museum. We have accepted the offer and will add the car to our collection early next year.

The car was built in Solihull (the current Land Rover factory) and was bought at a dealership in Coventry. The gentlemen who will donate the car to us has been the only owner and it has always been based in Coventry.

Click here to see photos of the Rover

We have a Rover P4 and Rover P6, so it fills a gap in our collection.

The BIG DRAW 2009

Lots will be happening here at the Museum this October Half Term with the The Big Draw where you can make your mark. We are having a series of master art classes where kids over 12 can work with local artists and learn unique, smart and wacky forms of art. From turning socks into cute kittens, puppies and bears to technical drawings and Japanese manga art, the idea is to keep the kids busy with something exciting and creative. For the under 12s, we will have craft activities such as ceramic and fabric painting and spare part arts.
Our Highlights Tours will be on throughout the week along with a number of hands-on activities, where you can discover about Coventry's past.
Spaces at the master class sessions are limited, so do hurry to book your place. Further information about the October Half Term events is available here