Lancia Motor Club

I have in my possession the remaining special tools which were the property of Bob West (London Lancia specialist from Lambda to around Appia time, formerly the West in West & Chittenden the Lambda specialist pre-war). These were passed on to John  Maltby as Bob spent the last few years of his life lodging at John's, and when John in turn died I was his "motoring executor" and in exchange was given the opportunity to buy Lambda BCO 987 at a (very) preferential price.

As to the tools, over the years since John's death I have identified all the ones marked with a model name (kept the Lambda and Aurelia ones for myself, rather naturally) and passed them on to the Club's acknowledged model experts. I am left with a fairly large number of tools which I can't identify: I would hazard a guess that they are mostly Dilambda/Astura, but there may be some which in ignorance I have missed. Some may even date from West & Chittenden days.

They have all led a hard life and many have obviously been involved in spectacular mechanical battles. Quite frankly a scrapman would probably turn his nose up at them. But I can't quite throw them away, as they were all made for a purpose. If I could find out the individual uses then I would be happy to pass them on to a good home. It would be a task for a real mechanical expert with amazing powers of recall to upgrade them from useless scrap to valuable workshop items.

2010 is to be a year of tidying up the Stephens garage. Now having a running B20, a Lambda nearer to completion, and another make of Vintage Light Car, I really need the space.

Any suggestions which will clear them from my garage at a stroke, rasther than dribbling out over the years, or being thrown away? Needless to say, various model experts have already reviewed them and found nothing they felt was useful.
 

Hi Tony,

If you think that they may be Dilambda tools then I would be very interested in having them. I could pass on any Astura items to Morris Parry.

Will you be at the Lambda Lunch 16th Jan?

Robin.

Yes I will be there, Robin, but I can swear that you would no more want to transport them all home than I would to load them all into the car and bring them there. Also, as described, I don't actually know what they are for.

Would you recognise the Dilambda ones?

Oooo...! Tony I wasn't expecting you to bring them along, just that we could have a chat about them and arrange for me to come and look at  them sometime. Would it be possible to bring photos with you?

I have a few Dilambda special tools so would recognise them and also a picture of some others.

Look forward to seeing you on the 16th, weather permitting!

Robin.