On the Antiques Roadshow recently they showed some Armstrong Siddeley cars including this 1956 Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire. This is one of the cars that I really admired as a child – though I preferred it in black (and still do!).
The story behind the Sphinx motif that sits on Armstrong bonnets is that following a ride in one in 1912 a journalist described the car as being as silent and inscrutable as the Sphinx. By the time this car came onto the market the manufacturer was concentrating on jet aircraft engines (called the Sapphire) and as a result the poor Sphinx got jet engine wings!
One of my favourite cars of all time and especially when I was young. My preferred colour was two-tone green. Which has a certain irony as my one area of superstitian is not driving a green car. In fact I have never driven a green car since the day the Ensign (green)was consigned to the great motor heaven.
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