Hanging on my living room wall is an exquisite water color by the late Canadian artist Wentworth Folkins. The subject is a passenger train departing from Toronto's Union Station in the 50's, pulled by CN steamer 6060. Wentworth was "world-famous for his railway paintings" and also a good friend; I commissioned the 6060 work many years ago when I was a well-paid ad writer and Went's paintings were still affordable. What prompted me to mention him here is an item in "Hemmings" newsletter about "Invasion VIII", the annual gathering of the Sunbeam Alpine Owners Club of America, sponsored by the club's Southern Ohio Chapter.
It started me thinking back to the day when Went proudly informed me that he'd just purchased a "Singer Gazelle" convertible. Two-tone in color with discrete fender fins and an upright grille, his Gazelle was a badge-engineered Hillman Minx from the days when England's Rootes had absorbed Sunbeam, Singer and Humber, three once-admired marques that had fallen on hard times. Went loved that car and I did, too, simply because it had style. Few North Americans will remember the Gazelle but it would be a treat to see at least one at "Invasion VIII", which takes place in Dayton, Ohio, August 28-31.
[Photo: oldclassiccar.co.uk]