Het wereldwijde magazine en verkoopplatform voor liefhebbers van klassieke auto’s, door liefhebbers.
Het wereldwijde magazine en verkoopplatform voor liefhebbers van klassieke auto’s, door liefhebbers.
The photograph of this silver-grained Salmson looks like it comes out of an early motion picture. We don’t know the year the photo (click for enlargement) was made, but we do know this lovely young lady. Her name is Miss M.D. Patten and she won the Class V.A. Coachwork Competition at the Torquay Rally with her British Salmson, a S6D 20/90 six-cylinder two-seater sports. But who was Miss Patten? Was she a rally driver? Did she own this Salmson? We surely would like to know. Maybe someone from the British Salmson Owners Club can tell us? (Salmson advert from the collection of Jim Duncan). (RB)
Update I: Bas de Voogd checked his collection of late thirties Rally Program’s (Blackpool Rally, Land's End, RAC Rally, Brooklands Rally and Brighton Rally) but can’t find miss Patten’s name among the competitors.
Update II by Chris Draper: “Miss Patten acquired the first of the twelve 20/90 British Salmsons built. In the photo it still has the French Salmson wheels and cable brakes. These were later changed to hydraulics and Jordan knock on wheels (who knows about these??). She apparently took up motor sport after an unhappy love affair. Her partner was Count Dorndorf and they rallied and raced the car extensively. There is a good write up called Womans Whirl published in Collector's Car August 1981. The car itself was sold to East Africa where it was last heard of in around 1948. It may still be sitting somewhere forgotten in that part of the world as there cannot be much demand for scrap metal there. Out of the twelve cars built 8 are still in circulation. Some of her achievements are...”