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Sean T's Dodge
It's times past that are occupying the attention of some of our correspondents this week. David Gilmour from Dublin is keen to find out more about the American Dodge car used by Sean T O'Kelly when he was President of Ireland.
He thinks the car was later used by President de Valera as an adjunct to his other car, the Rolls-Royce which had the registration mark ZJ 5000. David wonders where the Dodge is now. We put the query to Tom O'Neill who is an authority on the cars of yesteryear.
He referred us to Clare County Council in Ennis where we spoke to the very helpful Peter Beirne. The car in question is actually located in Ennis. It's a 1947 Dodge with the registration number ZH 1333. According to Peter, it originally was used by Sean T as head of state and Eamon de Valera bought it in 1959 for his own personal use.
"On formal state occasions, President de Valera continued to use the state Rolls-Royce. Before purchasing the Dodge, Mr de Valera had a Packard. The Dodge was presented to Clare County Council in 1988 by Dr Eamon de Valera and Ann de Valera under the testamentary wishes of their late sister Margaret. The connection with Clare was because Eamon de Valera was first elected in a 1917 by-election here.
"The car is housed in a specially-built display garage, adjacent to the de Valera library and museum. It is maintained in good working condition and is even used on occasions like St Patrick's Day parades and the opening of the Bunratty bypass."
Ted and Tut
John Gibson from Dundrum, Dublin, isn't really looking for help but he too is in a times past frame, remembering the late Ted Bonner.
Did we know that he was an authority on Tutankhamun and his tomb and lectured on this subject during the 1970s? We did indeed and enjoyed his erudition.
John remembers that he was "dragged along" to one of Ted's lectures in the Burlington Hotel by a girlfriend at a the time.
He dozed and slept through the entire proceedings which included slides, remembering little or nothing of the event."I met Ted maybe a year later when I worked in a garage in Rathmines and I fell in love with his metallic blue Renault 16 TS which he wished to trade in."
After quoting Ted for his new car, he returned to me some days later and gave me the business. "I remember him telling me he was doing the deal with me because I had shown such interest in his King Tut talk and that I must be possessed of some intellectual depth." John Gibson was the subsequent owner of Ted's 16 TS.
Road signs
DK Henderson of Castle Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin, a regular letter-writer to this newspaper, thinks he has help for Mike Silver who recently was looking for line drawings of old road signs. He has unearthed some in two old Dinky Toys catalogues, one of 1953 and the other of 1959. The copies he has sent us are tiny but he says they should be more decipherable with a good electron microscope.
Anybody browsing for old or out-of-print motoring tomes is recommended by D.K Henderson to go to Taney Autojumble, held every November in the Taney Parish centre in Dundrum, Dublin. "Although run by the Irish Veteran and Vintage motor cycle club of which I am a member, the plethora of books on offer covers every available aspect of transport, from aircraft to steam rollers to traction engines, as well as literally thousands of titles on cars and bikes. It's well worth a visit."
Space quest
Jim O'Driscoll from Co Cork is looking for a small estate car with "loads of room that is good value for money." He has already looked at cars promising load-carrying capacity such as the Opel Agila and the Toyota Yaris Verso. "The latter, which I liked a lot, is far too expensive at well over €18,000. The Agila shape didn't attract me: I want something a bit more substantial in appearance."
How about the estate or combi version of the much acclaimed Skoda Fabia? Our latest SIMI list price has the 1.4 litre Classic combi at €14,520 ex-works. At the rear end, the existing 426 litre luggage capacity can be extended to a whopping 1,225 litres when the asymmetrically split back seats are put down. Access is superb to what then becomes a 1.5 metre-long loading bay.
4x4 MPVs
James Doyle from Dublin wants to know if the Renault Scenic RX4 is the only MPV on sale here with 4x4 capability? That indeed, seems to be the case. We have noted a surprising number around on Irish roads. The 2.0 litre 140 bhp petrol-engined RX4 retails at €32,000 ex-works whereas the two-wheel-drive range extends in price from €21,200 to €29,350 ex-works. (Prices again based on the latest SIMI list).