EMAIL: CLASSICS.ED@KELSEY.CO.UK
MY CHILDHOOD MOTORING MEMORIES FROM 1948-1955
My earliest motoring memories occurred during my childhood life in Venezuela from 1948-1950. My brother and I were born there, and my father was employed as a tanker captain by the Mene Grande Oil Co., a subsidiary of the Gulf Oil Co., working on Lake Maracaibo. My parents didn't own a car, so my brother and I were chauffeur driven to school in either a big Chevrolet or Ford Sedan. The school was run by the Shell Oil Co. and appeared to be in the middle of a desert-like landscape. Our chauffeur was called Phonso and he became our great friend and confidante; we both adored him.
There were several big American cars in our compound, and one of the other tanker captains had imported an early Hillman Minx. My parents were very friendly with the company CEO, Grady Davis and his family. Grady in later life became Executive Vice President of Gulf Oil and together with John Wyer was responsible for Gulf Oil being successfully involved in Le Mans with first the Ford GT40 and later the Porsche 917. Via a touch of serendipity, I was later able to meet Grady for a chat about old times at the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch in 1972, shortly before his retirement.
My brother and I returned home to Whitley Bay in 1950, and at that time my father owned a pre-war Talbot 105 saloon. The attached photo shows my second eldest brother outside the Caxton Gibbet Hotel on the A428. This famous hotel later burnt down in mysterious circumstances, to be replaced by a hideous McDonald's! I unfortunately have no recollection of being a passenger in the Talbot, which was subsequently replaced by a 1948 Jaguar 1.5 Litre saloon in grey. I believe my father wanted to buy a new Humber Hawk, but new cars were difficult to get hold of owing to the export drive. For some reason, probably instigated by my eldest brother, the grey Jaguar was subsequently repainted in black and became our long-standing and reliable family transport.
Unfortunately I was never old enough to drive this beautiful early Jaguar, but when I eventually got my licence, I hunted down a 3.5 Litre example for a road test just to experience driving a similar model. Much later on in life, when my middle son was married in Graz, Austria, to my surprise they had acquired a Jaguar 1.5 as their wedding car. Sitting in that elegant old Jaguar which was identical to
