This is not just another pretty flower car. It's a 1932 Hillman Minx Sunshine Coupé, driven by Margaret Salmons of Salmons & Sons, the famous coachbuilders from Newport Pagnell. The picture comes from a new book written by Dennis C. Mynard. The book digs deep into the history of this famous coachbuilding firm, from the early days of the company up to the moment it was taken over by Aston Martin in 1954. The book is subtitled "The Tickford Coachbuilders" and that is precisely why the company became famous. Many pre-war cars have a Tickford Winding Hood that could easily be lowered and raised by one person from the inside as well as from the outside.








Salmons had their own sawmill, where planks were cut up in various shapes to make up the complex set of woodwork for the car body. These parts were later assembled in the body shop on a jig.






The book is literally filled with hundreds of these interesting pictures and the text proves that the author knows his subject very well. In our opinion a well-worth buy, and not only for the Tickford owner! The book is called: "Salmons & Sons, The Tickford Coachbuilders"; it is written by Dennis C. Maynard and published by Phillimore & Co. LTD. The ISBN is 13 978-1-86077-422-5 and it is available from any good bookstore.

August 2007