1939 Dennis Ace Dropside Lorry (Registration HUM 231)
‘The Flying Pig’
I recently took a display of vintage motorcycles and bicycles to the Goodwood Breakfast Club and got chatting to a local chap who had a Cymota cyclemotor engine for sale. My friend in France wanted one, so I called round on the way home to buy it. While there, we discussed his lovely old 1939 Dennis Ace Dropside Lorry and agreed that, as he did not use ebay, I’d sell it for him. Here it is.
This Dennis was totally restored in the late 1980s, being fitted with a new professionally built rear body.
It has a V5C registration document and was last taxed in 1989. The current owner bought it 1989 at a vintage commercial vehicle show in Hampshire (see the description below) and it has been in dry storage since.
The engine is fired up regularly, and the owner reports that it’s currently misfiring on one cylinder. Though it might be a sticky valve, it’s more likely to be the distributor cap. The brakes will need attention, but otherwise it’s in very good order throughout.
Very little work is needed to bring this wonderful old truck back into circulation.
Pre-war historic commercial vehicles are sought-after now. It’s high time this Flying Pig was brought out, dusted off, serviced and put back on the road.
Please contact me as below if you have any questions, to arrange to view it, etc.
**************************
DENNIS BROS LTD
Guildford, England
Founded in 1895 by John and Raymond Dennis, Dennis Brothers Ltd originally manufactured and sold the ‘Speed King’ and ‘Speed Queen’ bicycles. The brothers expanded into motor tricycles, and by 1900 were making motor quadricycles.
In 1901 Dennis Bros. Ltd moved into a factory designed for the production of their motor vehicles on the corner of Onslow Street and Bridge Street, in Guildford. (This building was later known as Rodboro Buildings, after the Rodboro Boot and Shoe Company who bought the building from Dennis in 1917). The brothers launched their first motor car in 1902, buses in 1903, followed by vans and lorries, and fire engines, the most famous of Dennis Vehicles, from 1908. Dennis vehicles, especially fire engines, were exported around the world, including to the fire services of Singapore, Athens, Brisbane, Barbados, Cairo, Penang and Shanghai. Car production ceased in 1913.
After the First World War, when production flourished thanks to orders from the military, Dennis Bros continued to expand, with innovations like the low-framed forward control E-type chassis of 1925, featuring pneumatic tyres, a monoblock engine with unit-mounted gearbox and an underslung worm axle.
Dennis built their first fire engine based on the smaller Ace chassis in 1934, a year after it had been introduced as a bus. The compact frame, with the 3770cc four-cylinder engine mounted well forward, was nicknamed the ‘Flying Pig.’
In 1985 the company was re-named Dennis Specialist Vehicles and moved to a new factory on the Slyfield Industrial Estate in 1991.
**************************
The orginal Dennis instruction book is included in the sale.
*********************************************************************************
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE BIDDING
LOCATION: Chichester, United Kingdom
DELIVERY is not included in this auction. This website contains details of recommended delivery services.
PAYMENT: Paypal is okay for cheap items; otherwise deposit only on paypal please.
International purchasers – I do not use paypal.
AFTER PURCHASE: Please email me your phone numbers; I prefer to speak to all purchasers personally.
FEEDBACK: I do everything I can to make your purchase a pleasurable experience. But I only leave feedback when someone has taken the trouble to leave it for me.
VEHICLE CONDITION: Vintage vehicles are wonderful beasts – but each has an individual personality and they sometimes have bad days just like you and me.
You will need basic mechanical skills (or a local mechanic) to use one on a regular basis.
These are rare vehicles whose values are not necessarily based on running order.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE ABOVE, PLEASE DO NOT BID.
*
********************************************************************************************
If you have any questions about this (or any other vehicle in these BuyVintage Online Auctions),
you can contact Colin in our Customer Service Department between 9am and 7pm daily:
By Phone – (UK 0044) 07866-126469
By email – Buyvintage@mac.com
The Auction Catalogue is our website -
*************************
to see what’s currently being sold
PLEASE CLICK HERE – http://buyvintage.co.uk/
