1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

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Ian Grace
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1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by Ian Grace »

Delighted to report that I am in the process of acquiring Ian Samuel's Maddox. This unique car was shipped to the USA just over forty years ago and spent ten years in a museum in Milwaukee before Ian bought it in 2011.

The best news is that I will be repatriating it back to England for use when we are in the country and I cannot wait to bring it to the Summer Rally, very possibly next year.

Here's some photos of this quirky little car - the black and white photo was taken some time prior to its 1975 export. The car has never been restored.

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martinng
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by martinng »

It looks remarkably good for a car that has never been restored. Let's hope that the beauty is more than skin deep.
Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by Ian Grace »

Thanks Martin. Here's a photo of the interior - high spec. with leather bench seat.

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Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by Ian Grace »

Plans are moving ahead and I am expecting to take delivery in May or June. The current plan is to spend some time giving it a sympathetic service and then ship it home to England, hopefully in time to use on our 2018 Summer Rally.

Can anyone suggest a source of good/period 400 x 18" tyres in the UK? The new three-stud 18" tyres I have seen are all too fat at 4.5".
amershamlad
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Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2017 9:15 pm

Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by amershamlad »

Congratulations Ian, she looks fab, enjoy!
I look forward to seeing her in the flesh when you get her to the UK
peterb
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by peterb »

Can anyone suggest a source of good/period 400 x 18" tyres in the UK? The new three-stud 18" tyres I have seen are all too fat at 4.5".
I have Metzeler Block-K 4.00x18 sidecar tyres on my saloon. I ordered online from Germany without problems. Delivered to the door. They have a squarer profile than the 18" Avons and were cheaper than Dunlops.
I bought them just before the re-manufactured 4.00x18 block tread pattern came out, which I might have preferred. Presumably these are what you refer to as too fat.
It would be interesting to compare the dimensions of these new block tread tyres to an original 1930's 4.00x18 one. They're advertised as 4.00x18 but also 4.00/4.50x18 which would make them too big, as you say.
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Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by Ian Grace »

Hi Peter,

These tyres certainly look correct, period and not too fat. I'll follow up as soon as I can get the car across to England.
Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN5810

Post by Ian Grace »

It isn't the best photo, but here is the Archie Maddox, Huntingdon plaque on the leather-covered instrument board:

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Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by Ian Grace »

Tremendous news from England. As many of you will have seen, I put an appeal for a good home for the Maddox in the Prescott Souvenir Programme. I'm looking for someone to take care of it and use it while I'm not in the country.

Every year when we visit, we stay with old RAF friends Peter and Ally Balding at Tarlton, near Cirencester. This has been our Prescott 'base camp' for many years. Peter has just sold his classic Porsche, so has space in his garage, and when he saw the appeal, he offered to take the Maddox. This is a perfect arrangement as the car will be ready for us when we arrive - no collection trek, etc. Peter will also use it, rally it, etc. which will keep it in fine fettle.

So with this settled, I have just initiated the shipping of the car from Picton, Ontario to Seattle and expect it here by the end of the month. The plan is then to give it a thorough service and put some miles on it to get it road sorted before shipping it to Southampton in the spring. I will be receiving the logbooks, etc. in a few days and then I can initiate the process of recovering the registration number. Hopefully this will not be a problem and I have full documentation from its earlier life in England, plus the shipping documents from when it was shipped to the USA.

As you can see from the photos, the car is in fine, original condition, but Ian Samuel has put scant miles on it in his ten years of ownership - just around his property I believe. Before that it was in a museum for about ten years, so it must have been around 20 years since it had any real use. Hence a thorough serviced will be in order this winter.

Jayne and I are REALLY looking forward to being able to actually enter our summer rally next year! Ian Samuel sold the car to me on the express understanding that I would return it to England, so I have promised him plenty of photos of it bimbling around the Cotswolds!

As for its previous UK history, we do have the old V5 and earlier buff logbook. The last recorded owner (on the V5) was a John Eric Biddle. I have discovered that this gent passed away some year ago, but by a stroke of luck have managed to trace his daughter-in-law, to whom I have written to see what she can tell me. Evidently, Eric (as he was known) was quite a colourful character, running a pub and owning a collection of some 50 motorbikes, a few of which he had on display in the bar.

Much more news when the car arrives here in Seattle.
Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN5810

Post by Ian Grace »

Today I started the process of reclaiming the registration number for EN 5810. I have lots of documentation to support the process including an old buff continuation logbook and what was probably the last V5 issued some time in the early eighties, I believe, as well as the shipping documentation covering its shipping to the USA from England, which I have not seen yet. The car also has all its matching numbers.

I am working with Margaret Goding, the registrar for the Bullnose Morris Club, as that club has DVLA accreditation to recover numbers. When I went through the process for my fabric saloon, I used Mike Worthington-William, but he no longer offers this service.

The first steps today were to order the V55/5 form and the accompanying notes which can be ordered from http://forms.dft.gov.uk/order-dvla-forms/.

I also contacted Derek Tew at Gaydon to obtain an official Heritage Certificate.

As I am not a UK resident, the car cannot be put in my name, so I am filling in all of the paperwork as if i were Peter Balding of Tarlton, Cirencester, who will be the car's keeper for me. Ian Samuel, who is selling me the car has put all of the documentation he has in the post to me, which I should receive next week.

The costs are GBP 100 to the BNMC for their services, plus GBP 55 to go with the V55/5 to the DVLA. If the vehicle needs inspecting by a DVLA representative, there may also be his sundry costs to cover. But it will all be very much worth it to recover the original number.

I can't wait to have the car here and start servicing it and getting it thoroughly road sorted after having spent the last 30 years or more off the road, much of that time being spent incarcerated in a US museum.
Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by Ian Grace »

This week I signed all the Canadian export and shipping paperwork to initiate the shipping the Maddox from Picton, Ontario to Seattle. The car should be picked up late next week and moved across the border to Michigan, from where it will be shipped onwards to Seattle, so it is expected here in about three weeks - hopefully by the end of September. Onward shipping to the UK next spring is also being arranged. The car will ship from the Port of Seattle to Felixtowe where I will have it collected and taken to Tarlton in Gloucestershire, its new home just west of Cirencester.

While it is here in Seattle, it will be serviced and thoroughly checked out and I will also be completing an inspection of the vehicle to present to the DVLA with the registration. As Peter Balding will be recorded as the new keeper, I can independently do the required inspection in my capacity as the Registrar of the Vintage Minor Register!

Thanks to Ted hack, I have learned that the car must have two brake lights fitted. it may already have them, but this is one more thing I will be checking. Being a 1934 model, it also has its original semaphore indicator arms, but perhaps it has also had its rear lights configured to flash.

The car is bereft of tools, so I am looking for an original Morris screw jack, wheelbrace and starting handle, if anyone has any surplus to requirements? I am also looking for a good SV calormeter and wings. The photos above show the car with an OHC set, which Ian Samuel is keeping for sentimental reasons.

One item I did pick up for it at Pre-War Prescott was a reproduction 'M" starting handle hole cap for the radiator. Ian Harris has a few if you need one. One slight oddity I have already noticed is that the car appears to have the 1933 season configuration of radiator stone guard - flat on the core. The chassis was indeed laid down in late 1933, but is definitely 1934 season.

I am also starting the process of trying to trace the car's pre-eighties history when it was in England. The black and white picture above was found in Nick Walker's A to Z of British Coachbuilders and shows the car in England. Ian Samuel has now sent me the original R.F. 60 continuation logbook and V5, and the V5 records the then owner as John Eric Biddle. A little sleuthing elicited the fact the Eric (as he was known) Biddle ran a pub and was an avid collector of old motorbikes. I have traced thre address of his step-daughter, who, according to BT.com resides at the same address as Eric in the V5, so I have written to her. Hopefully I will receive a response.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/218 ... s_at_home/

I have the details of a couple of earlier owners, going back to 1962, but searches for them or their families have so far drawn a blank. The other thing I will do is try to obtain the original registration records.

Hopefully the next update will be to report the arrival of the car.
Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by Ian Grace »

Quick note. The Maddox is being collected from Picton, Ontario tomorrow and should be here in about two weeks.
Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by Ian Grace »

The car was collected this morning and is on its way.

Ian Samuel tells me that the car has done less than 100 miles during his ownership. His fair weather cars are an XK 150 and AH 3000 Mk111. EN 5810 was just taken around the lake to keep it in running order and that’s it.

Given that the car was in a US museum since the eighties, that's about all the miles it will have covered in the last forty years.

Ian also tells me, "For sure the brakes need attention and a rad flush is in order and possible hose replacements here and there and some gauges. There is no rust anywhere, chassis/springs/engine/gearbox are great, but tinkering will be a requirement for sure before shipping to Blighty."
Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by Ian Grace »

The Maddox arrived in Seattle from Ontario yesterday!

Many more pics and info shortly.

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Ian Grace
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Re: 1933 Maddox Fixed head Coupe EN 5810

Post by Ian Grace »

An afternoon of some frustration and some success. The car is not running well, having been laid up for so long. There is a steepish hill about 1/4 mile up from our house, and there was no way she was going to take it - even in second. There was just no power past about half throttle, so it wouldn't rev to produce any hillclimbing torque.

A frustrating couple of hours was spent fiddling with the timing and mixture, but everything I tried made things worse. To complicate matters, the American fuel pump had an adjustment from 1 to 5 on it. Perhaps fuel pressure? I had the plugs out, cleaned them, opened up the gaps which seemed very small. This made things worse, so I closed the gaps again.

Then I found a new set of Lodge C3's which I had laid down for the McEvoy. Fitting these improved things a lot, but there was still something seriously amiss. I then had all of the HT cables out of the distributor cap and cleaned off their ends. And finally I took the cable out of the coil, to find that there was a heavily corroded wire stuffed into the end of the coil with no nut! It was only being held against the contact by a rubber gaiter on the cable. I don't have the correct long nut but I re-terminated the cable and stuffed it back in tightly and the result was amazing! The car now takes the hill easily in third and I have had it a couple of miles up the hill and back. I won't be driving it much further for a while until I have the brakes rebuilt - currently there are virtually none - perhaps 10% of what they should be.

There is no charging, but the semaphore indicators work and there are brake lights. The oil pressure gauge is not reading at all, but I can hear that there is oil pressure. The fuel gauge reads zero. So a complete re-wire is in order, plus some instrument replacements.

Plenty do do over the autumn and winter months, but this is a car that will respond very well to a thorough running sort out.

Finally, I removed the front bumper assembly which was covering the front dumbiron and chassis number. Removal uncovered the correct chassis number, so the paperwork can now be presented to recover the original number EN 6810, the car never having been registered in the USA or Canada.

Here's a shot of her taken this morning on our property with the Cascades behind.

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