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A Member's Story (part 3)
A
20-25 in a Sunburnt Country
by Arthur McComb
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| The chassis of GEH37 after dismantling and painting by Denis Pond and Adrian Birdseye. | On display at a Club meeting in 1985 with David and Christine McComb |
After
another memorable boat trip I arrived in Fremantle in late 1962, and spent
much of the day arranging paperwork about importing the car and having it stored
for a time in the care of the RAC. Then I rejoined the Orsova for the final leg
of the voyage to Melbourne, where I was delighted to meet up with family and friends,
and to keep an appointment with a Rolls Royce.
Before I left Cambridge my brother had written to say that (presumably stimulated by my many letters home about the 20/25), he had decided to trace the Rolls with the golden radiator which we knew in East Malvern (see Part 1 in this series), had discovered it was part of a deceased estate, and had been able to acquire it. He took me to see it at his earthmoving equipment company, and it looked rather down at heel, the radiator not polished and the interior drab. Ray had no intention of doing it up to the sort of standard required, and as I would soon fly to Perth to reclaim my 20/25, it was not long before Ray decided sell the car on to someone who would be able to look after it.
Ray eventually presented me with a copy of ’The James Flood Book of early Motoring’, edited by HH Paynting, published in 1968 by AE Keating, North Melbourne; and there on page 180 is an excellent photograph of the car, 78/MC, its radiator once again gleaming gold, and looking as I remembered it in East Malvern. It is listed as owned by the editor of the book, to whom my brother must have sold it.
The car is described in Rolls Royce and Bentley in a Sunburnt Country (where on page 178 it is recorded as a 1925 Phantom I, rebodied in 1933. My brother’s brief ownership will be recorded in a forthcoming supplementary volume.
Returning to Perth, I reclaimed the 20/25, found a flat and settled in at the University to frantically write lectures, arrange laboratory classes, meet people, and start to acquire research equipment. The Rolls continued to run beautifully, and when my parents came by train to visit me a few months later it was a real pleasure to meet them in Kalgoorlie in the Rolls, and take them on a trip around the south west. During the following year I became friendly with a senior student, Jen Chessell, who was just commencing a PhD on plant inheritance and evolution. It emerged that Jen’s former neighbours in Floreat Park had been the Markham family, and it was not long before I had been introduced to Percy Markham, who took me to see his fabulous collection of cars, housed in a large shed m Wembley. Markham explained that he and some friends were starting a RoIls Royce owners club in Western Australia, and so it was that I joined the club just after its inaugural meeting. Jen and 1 attended club meetings and rallies - Owen Dixon and I judged the bodywork at the first club concours -, and when Jen and I married the club gave us a gold-painted spade and rake.
Ray came from Melbourne to be best man at our wedding, and drove the 20/25 through Perth from church to reception with the spotlight accidentally switched on. (He thought the waving pedestrians especially friendly). After the reception Jen and I drove in the Rolls to the Bunbury/Busselton area for a few days then abandoned it at a garage near the airport and flew to spend two weeks in Portuguese East Timor. Soon the years were speeding past, and as we became increasingly busy at work. Jen became a lecturer in plant science at Murdoch, while I eventually became Head of the Botany Department at UWA we had less and less time for club activities, we stayed involved by attending concours, dinners, and occasional general meetings. Over the subsequent 41 years the club has provided congenial company, cars to admire, publications to read, and invaluable contacts with members generous in providing advice.
As academics we have had a right and obligation to spend time at other universities, primarily to carry out research, and during periods away we have had far less difficulty in making temporary arrangements for the Rolls than fm the house, dog, the cat, etc.
On our first study leave we spent a year in the United States, and Club member Andrew Brownell lived in our house and looked after the Rolls, ably assisted by another member, Tom Clarke (the Tom Clarke). What an ideal combination to look after our Rolls! They even spruced it up and entered it in the first Perth Federal Rally in Perth, and sent us photographs to Michigan, making us nostalgic as we tried to reign in a Ford Mustang charging along the tollways.
Our second study leave was in Leicester, accompanied by our then two- year-old
son David. We drove an Alfetta and visited some of the places I had known as
a student, even going to the Vintage car races. We returned by ship with the
ultimate souvenir, a five month-old daughter, Christine. While we were away
the Rolls was meticulously looked after by club member Denis Pond, who had served
his apprenticeship with Rolls Royce in the UK. He enjoyed looking after the
car, and took it to club events.
Now
that we routinely owned a second (first? ) car, we could have the Rolls off
the road for longish periods with impunity, and over the years have set about
a number of RR-related tasks. The first thing I tackled was the wiring, the
insulation on which was becoming cracked and frayed. So I bought the necessary
parts and equipment, taught myself to solder and, keeping to the colour coding
depicted in the handbook that came with the car, systematically replaced each
wire leaving pieces laid out around the kitchen, dining room and lounge of our
home for an inordinate time. Miraculously, the car ran beautifully when it was
together again.
The car has suffered many indignities over the years, not least when we shifted from Woodlands to Kalamunda, and the removalists would not transport our bee hive. So with the entrance nailed up we sat it in the back of the Rolls. On the way the comb in the hive broke, and honey leaked out and saturated the deep-pi1e carpet in the rear compartment Despite careful cleaning, for several months if we parked the car for a time with the windows a little down we would return to find it hosting a swarm of bees.
And before the days of the kerbside council collections, it was an ideal vehicle to take to the tip, as with hood down and the back seat out, it can carry large, bulky items of rubbish. Over the years it became increasingly obvious that the paintwork was becoming crazed and breaking off, and that it would be necessary to remove the old paintwork and have the bare metal resprayed. So in our old stable in Kalamundaa, Jen and I unbolted the body and jacked it off. Then we set about stripping off the many layers of paint before transferring it to club member Roger Fry for repainting. At the same time, we had the chassis trucked to the premises of Denis Pond and Adrian Birdseye, who were to carry out repairs to the engine, chassis and exhaust system, while we went on study leave to Canberra for six months. Eventually we coJlected the by - now impressive chassis, and had it delivered- after display at a club Concours at Guildford Grammar School - to Roger Fry, who dealt with some minor bodywork problems, re-attached it to the chassis, and resprayed it .
Our careers continued to advance and while we were in Canberra we learned that
I had been appointed Professor of Environmenttal Science at Murdoch Uniiversity
where Jen had been on the staff since the university started, and was well on
her way to appointment as Professor of Plant Science. At last we could travel
to work in the same car!
After a few more happy and busy years the Rolls was in pretty good shape, and we planned a period of leave at the University of Queensland, The arrangements were in place when I had a medical adventure- heart surgery followed by a stroke- which kept me in hospital for 5 months learning to speak and walk again. But I recovered quite well, and wrote an account of this interlude: "McComb, A.J. Lost in Space and Time: A story of Stroke Recovery. Environmental Science Report 03/2, 2003, Murdoch University, 29 pp."
One of the most irritating outcomes of this adventure was that I now have such spatial problems that I will never again hold a driving licence or drive a car. Luckily Jen is happy to drive me around in the Audi, and even to drive the Rolls! So we went on our delayed study leave to Queensland, and club member Kelvin Ferris drove the Rolls to the car Museum in Whiteman Park where it had a holiday until we returned and it rejoined us in Kalamunda. I toyed with selling the car, as it is a bit pathetic to sit behind the wheel and imagine driving it across Spain or around the fens- or even just down the street! But if you have waded through the three parts of this account, you will appreciate how firmly this car is embedded in our lives. It was made the year before I was born, and I have owned it for 45 years. And what other couple, married for almost forty years, can still rive aruund in the car they use during their courting days?
So we are keeping the car, enjoying it in our retirement, and can look forward to seeing it at future club functions!
Arthur
McComb, 2004-2005