[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Hanno, just as you were posting I was on the phone to Alan. I asked him about the article and the answer is that it was taken and written from original source material: VAUXHALL MOTORIST Magazine, August ?1945 and a piece by Pearsons in COMMERCIAL MOTORIST, 1946. The former was a General Motors official supplement published in Vauxhall Motors' magazine found in Luton by Alan. The problem is that others may have acessed the same original sources.

I believe that all the subsequent articles in HERITAGE COMMERCIALS wer based on original material and one I wrote on Bedford QLs was with the benefit of my copy of AN ACCOUNT OF OUR STEWARDSHIP which was published by Vauxhalls in 1946. The author's son and I dialogue reguarly by coincidence.

So the answer is that we have gone to original source materials and archives because in Alan's justified opinion information on the internet is often wrong. I have spent hundreds of pounds in copying fees for documents from Canadian, British and Australian archives and waded through probably thousands of pages. The photo archive that will be published perhaps in the second book I have been through and there are a huge number of photos some of which make your eyes pop out because they are amazing. I cannot remember how many photos there are but it could be over 250...there was a big pile of them!

I have a personal collection of photos that I have accumulated from company archives that really were being just thrown away. Some have never been revealed before, others have but not in a publication that sets them into correct context. Since I just wrote that I have worked out that I have been privileged to have been through three companies' holdings plus museums, local authorities, and private collections from people who were there. I managed to obtain wartime photos from two gentlemen who should never have had a camera in theory in what was at the time a top secret establishment! It was so Top Secret that they allowed packing cases with say 'JEEP' to be stored outside for the kids to play on!! Also, brand new engines were taken in utmost secrecy from the local railway station to the works piled high on railway handcarts/horsecarts, and were then photo'd!

I personally have tried to go to the original material in public archives but I have to qualify by saying that others may have been there beforehand. This is an adjunct of six years as a PhD student, on top of 30 years as a magazine writer, an editor, and an enthusiast. I have spent man-years going through everything that I could find that was relevant for some of the series of books and have extracted the overall information, boiled it down, and quoted where necessary the references and authorities for the benefit of subsequent researchers.

However I have to defer to experts such as your goodself Hanno, and other MLU friends including our Antipodean friends, for their greater specialist knowledge and if I ever have to use such expertise I shall be delighted to acknowledge the same. I would also qualify what I just said above and add that sometimes original material is simply inaccessible or not available. In those circumstances it may require internet research but whilst my website material is freeware I would always endeavour to extend the courtesy of asking permission to use information, or at the very least acknowledge the source. With the benfit of hindsight and Hanno, this should have been made clear.