EPISODE 134: ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A MOTOR CAR CALLED THE LITTLE SKEOCH
(also called The Skeoch Motorcycle Car)
alan skeoch
Nov. 27. 2018
REVISED OCT. 2020 (slightly)
It has now been two years since I touched base with the men rebuilding The Litle Skeoch Motor Car
in Scotland. It is a daunting task. We had planned on a visit to their workshop but sad events
got in the way…and Covid 19 makes such visits difficult today. How the world has changed.
Maybe I can get a progress report from Scotland. Meanwhile I feel this story should be part
of the Episodes (#134) just in case it gets lost.
alan
Maybe we should bring back the LITTLE SKEOCH MOTOR CAR. It was small,, cheap and simple…sort of a 4 wheel bicycle seating two people with a chain drive and small
motorcycle engine. So small that only two very slim people could ride in it since the
car was only 31 inches wide and a little over 8 feet long.
Some of you may think this is some kind of joke. Wrong. In 1920, James Skeoch built his first Little Skeoch, then entered it in a Scottish auto show and sold it
in ten minutes. All told less than a dozen Little Skeoch’s were built in his small factory. Ten were quickly purchased at that auto show. Price? 180 pounds…which was the cheapest car in the show. None have survived. Sadly in 1921 a fire consumed his little factory and as a result the Burnside Motor Company in Dalbeattie, Scotland, ceased to exist.
Pictures of the Skeoch production line were retrieved from Skeoch family albums. Not exactly an automated factory.
But the LITTLE SKEOCHS were real mini cars and seemed about to make a big splash in the booming car market of the 1920’s
until fire ended the enterprise. Everything became a blackened pile of scrap iron.
James Skeoch moved on. His skills were valued. He had a long successful career and died in 1954.
Not many people, by 1954, were even aware that there was such a car as the SKEOCH. Memories are short especially since
none of the Little Skeochs survived. Gone Gone Gone.
Well, not quite.
POSSIBLE REBIRTH OF THE LITTLE SKEOCH
The Skeoch is about to be reborn. All was not lost. By good fortune the motor and gearbox of one of the Little Skeoch’s
has been found. A group of men, largely retired mechanics and carpenters, have decided to rebuild the car and to do so
in the same Scottish town where the originals were built. Dalbeattie.
This is Fiona Sinclair, granddaughter of James Skeoch. Her family records and artifacts gave a big boost the idea of
rebuilding the car. When Ron Skeoch, James Skeoch’s son died, treasures were found in his home… The plans, radiator and other
parts of the Little Skeoch
And this is Geoff Allison of Dalbeattie, Scotland, who is one of the prime movers of the restoration project.. He has founded
the Dalbeattie Men’s Shed which is hardly a glorious name for the little factory where All the bits and pieces
of the Little Skeoch have been assembled along with quite a gathering of men…engineers, mechanics, widowers,…some
men who are just lonely and want something to do in their retired years that seems meaningful.
The brainchild behind the project is Martin Shelley, a car enthusiast, who suggested that the Dalbeattie Men’s Shed might
consider doing something remarkable and then dropped the bits and pieces on to their work benches.
Their job makes me think of
the Nursery Rhyme about Humpty Dumpty. Only this time Humpty Dumpty, i.e. The Little Skeoch, could be put back together again,
HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON THE WALL
HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL
ALL THE KING’S HORSES
AND ALL THE KING’S MEN
COULDN’T PUT HUMPTY TOGETHER AGAIN.
…Then along came GEORGE ALLISON and his men from Dalbeattie, Scotland…who
plan to put Humpty togehter again.
.
i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article12137301.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/Mens-Shed-Dalbeattie.jpg 810w” src=”https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article12137301.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Mens-Shed-Dalbeattie.jpg” alt=”Dalbeattie Men’s Shed members Geoff Thomas, John Forrest, Robin Gilchrist and Geoff Allison with part of the original engine and plans for the Skeoch car.” content=”https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article12137301.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Mens-Shed-Dalbeattie.jpg” class=””>
Dalbeattie Men’s Shed members Geoff Thomas, John Forrest, Robin Gilchrist and Geoff Allison with part of the original engine and plans for the Skeoch car. (Image: Jim McEwan)
Will the Little Skeoch ever see the light of day again nearly a century later? That remains to be seen. The job is demanding and the cost of the right parts is high but
the men are optimistic. And Fiona Sinclair hopes a reborn Little Skeoch will be on the road so her mother, the daughter of James Skeoch will be able to take the first ride.
These four men are only part of the gathering of men devoted to the project…about three dozen strong. Men who wanted something to do and both Shelley and Allison found that
something.
“This is a truly local car, it was the only cycle car ever made in Scotland and it was manufactured right here in Dalbeattie.
“This was a Dalbeattie man building a car the likes of which has never been built since.
“We have already had a lot of interest from visitors staying here.
“It’s already attracting a lot of attention and when it is finally road-worthy will really put Dalbeattie on the map.”
Project manager, Men’s Shed member Robin Gilchrist, 73, reckons sufficient local skills exist to do the job “in-house”.
He said: “We will draw in a lot of expertise because some of the work is quite technical in nature.
“There’s enough specialists in Dalbeattie who can help us do the precision engineering work.”
Quotes from an interview with journalist Stephen Norris (Scottish Daily Record, March 6, 2018)
alan skeoch
Nov. 27, 2018
P.S. BELOW IS AN ARICLE ON THE SKEOCH MOTOR CAR WRITTEN
FOR BBC SCOTLAND NEWS , Feb. 27, 2018
Drive to rebuild ‘forgotten’ early car
By Nichola Rutherford BBC Scotland News
Published
27 February 2018
IMAGE COPYRIGHTDALBEATTIE MUSEUM
image captionThe Skeoch Utility Car was built using parts normally used to manufacture motorcycles
When James Skeoch designed and built one of Scotland’s firstaffordable cars, he must have dreamed of huge success.
With a price-tag of just £180, the first Skeoch Utility Car was the cheapest on display at the Scottish Motor Show in 1921.
It sold within 10 minutes and a further nine were quickly snapped up by customers keen to join the automobile revolution.
But within months Skeoch’s business was in ruins. His uninsured workshop in Dalbeattie, Dumfries and Galloway, burned to the ground.
Since then the Skeoch Utility Car has been largely forgotten by all but keen historians of Scotland’s motor industry.
Now, almost 100 years later, plans are are being drawn up to recreate the so-called “cycle car” in the town where it was manufactured.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTDALBEATTIE MUSEUM
image captionThe Skeoch car was the cheapest on show at the Scottish Motor Show in 1921 and apparently sold within 10 minutes
The ambitious project has been taken on by a group of mainly retired local men, known as Dalbeattie Men’s Shed.
Using some of the original parts and working from the original drawings, they hope to build a working Skeoch car in time to mark its centenary.
Motoring enthusiast Martin Shelley approached the Men’s Shed with the idea for the project after reading about the group on the BBC Scotland website last year.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTDALBEATTIE MUSEUM
image captionBurnside Motor Works in Dalbeattie, where the Skeoch was manufactured, was devastated by fire in December 1921
image captionThe Skeoch radiator badge was among the original parts found in the home of Mr Skeoch’s son following his death last year
image captionDalbeattie Men’s Shed have also been given an original engine and gearbox with which to build a Skeoch car
Mr Shelley said: “After World War One, the ordinary working man was much more used to the idea of riding a motorcycle or driving a car so they knew about the technology and now they wanted to try and build their own cars.
“In the early 20s, there was a huge flowering of people making these cars. As it turned out, Skeoch in Dalbeattie were the only people in Scotland to ever attempt to make these things commercially.”
The original drawings and parts – including the radiator badge – were found in the Wishaw home of Ron Skeoch, James Skeoch’s son, after he died last year.
Mr Shelley said he hoped they could be used to capture the “spirit” of the 1920s vehicle.
“You could make a replica of the car which would pass muster, using a modern engine and a modern gear box and using modern parts. But the spirit of the car is very much based on the parts that were available in 1920,” he said.
“This project will be very like the original car and that to me is what the joy of the whole thing is.”
image captionFiona Sinclair hopes to be able to sit in one of her grandfather’s cars
image caption“It’s going to be something for posterity,” said Geoff Allison of Dalbeattie Men’s Shed
The granddaughter of James Skeoch, Fiona Sinclair, is also involved in the project.
She never knew her grandfather – he died in 1954 – but she hopes that her mother – Skeoch’s daughter – will get the chance to ride in one his cars.
“I think it’s going to mean a lot to my family,” she said. “It’s tragic that the fire put an end to his ambition.
“I’m actually rather hoping I can physically get to sit in the car, I’m not quite sure I could be trusted with driving it.
“It’s only got two gears apparently but I think it would be rather wonderful. What I really hope is that my mother gets the opportunity to actually sit in the car as well.”
The project is “immensely exciting”, said Geoff Allison, the secretary of the Dalbeattie Men’s Shed, which has members with engineering and mechanical skills.
“It’s engineering-rich, it’s Dalbeattie-rich, it’s community-rich, it fills so many of our requirements,” he added.
“It’s big, it’s going to be eye-catching, it’s going to be something for posterity. It’s got a lot to recommend it.”
i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article12137301.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/Mens-Shed-Dalbeattie.jpg 810w” src=”https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article12137301.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Mens-Shed-Dalbeattie.jpg” alt=”Dalbeattie Men’s Shed members Geoff Thomas, John Forrest, Robin Gilchrist and Geoff Allison with part of the original engine and plans for the Skeoch car.” content=”https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article12137301.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Mens-Shed-Dalbeattie.jpg” class=””>
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