Pre-war photos of a 24hp Wolseley car.
The car featured here, a 1923 Wolseley 24hp saloon, was the second car that Mr Cyril Welland, of Welland's Garage, acquired ownership of, in 1928. It was purchased from London by his father, as a 21st birthday present, which ties in with its XN 254 registration, a London issue that ran for a short period of time only, February through to May 1923. The plan was for Cyril to run the car as a taxi cab, this was prior to the garage's creation in the 1930s.
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First in the trio of vintage images is a frontal view of this imposing automobile, where its distinctively-shaped radiator, common to Wolseleys of the era, can be clearly seen.
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Next, an offside view. A removable side screen is fitted to either side of the driver's cab area, note the triangular lift-up flap - handy for accessing the inner door handles from outside, and making hand signals while planning for a change in direction, say to pass a horse and cart, or preparing to pull over. A small electric horn is mounted on the Wolseley's running board, close to the (leather?) lower side valances.
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Poking down just behind where the driver's head would be is a speaker tube, to enable communication with passengers tucked up in the rear compartment. The position of the spare wheel prevents the driver from having his own front door, he'd have to make do with that on the nearside. All three views confirm that this particular vehicle was not lacking in the illumination department, note the huge headlamps that are virtually in line with the front end of the chassis irons.
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Alongside the car is a typical cast iron "finger post" road sign, here giving directions and distances to Weston-super-Mare, Lympsham, and Burnham.
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The third and final photo in this set reveals the nearside of the car. A large box, possibly for tools, resides on the running board, attached to which is a tax or operator's disc. In the background is the same road sign, although clearly the Wolseley has been turned around for this shot.
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My thanks once again to Jenny and her family for sending these pictures over. This isn't the first time that pictures of Wolseley registration XN 254 have appeared on the site, as in this picture of an Austin Seven tourer, it can just be seen, nestling within the family's garage, behind the parked Austin. It also features in this shot of a vintage Rover 8hp (photo no.6 on that page).
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Return to Page 17 in the vintage gallery.
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