Maidenhead Heritage Centre - Crossley Burney Streamline

A change round of cars, meant a return trip to the Maidenhead Heritage Centres exhibition on the history of automotive manufacture in the town. This time it was the somewhat ugly Crossley Burney Streamline. Originally prototyped and built in the town in the 1920s by the man who designed the R-100 airship it used an Alvis engine and front suspension mounted at the rear to allow for a lower streamlined front end. This version is one of only a handful that survive and was built under license by Crossley Cars. It features a more saloon car style front.





Inside, despite the well worn leather, the cabin is the height of luxury, in the back there are a pair of circular covers, one hides the sparewheel that can be accessed by opening the whole door skin hatch. The other houses a drinks cabinet!





At the very back is the straight six engine and gearbox. Away from the cabin and covered with an aerodynamic cover. Sadly all the weight out the back apparently made the handling a bit interesting.



While I was busy chatting to the curator of the museum and looking round, a couple of Romans and Biggles wandered in.





Steve.

Maidenhead Heritage Centre - GWK

I quite like those little snippets in the bottom corner of the local paper advertising a random exhibition thats coming up. My Dad handed me one the other day for the Maidenhead Heritage Centre and its celebration of 100 years since car production began in the town. The towns Cordwallis Estate was home to three little known makes and a very famous race team. Vanwall was the team that Stirling Moss raced for in the late 1950s when he won the British Grand Prix. The exhibition is running for three months through the summer and each month a different vehicle will be the centre piece. With nothing planned for Saturday morning and with Kim away for the day, Lily and I set off up the A4 on an adventure, parked up outside it was clear the place wasn't that big ( I think our back garden is larger!) Wandering in we had the place to ourselves, lined with display cabinets of local history and the motoring past of the town, the middle of the room was taken over by the basic, but stylish 1921 GWK (Grice, Wood & Keiller)





The car is a sturdy two seater with a twist. Power is from a two cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine, drive is via the GWK friction drive system. A disc driven by the engine rested against a wheel on the back axle, by moving the wheel across the disc the "gearing" was altered speeding up or slowing down the car. Move across the centre line and you got the same in reverse.



This was the perfect place to take Lily on my own, it wasn't very big so she could wander around on her own and there was a massive dressing up box in the corner, she was in her element swapping floaty scarves for flying cap and goggles as I studied the display cases.



After almost an hour of looking around we decided to head off, a date with the planes at White Waltham and a spot of lunch was calling.



So many people never realise the engineering past of the town they live in (or nearby) We will be back a couple more times to see the remaining two cars they are displaying

Steve.