My dad wants to know how many, if any, Sheffied Simplex cars are left?

Originally posted by Lucy81
My dad wants to know how many, if any, Sheffied Simplex cars are left?


I think there's one at Kelham Island museum, along with a lot more other things that made the city so great.

Found this here (http://www.compulink.co.uk/~mfw/wortleyrotary/vintage/)

Of the 1,800 or so Sheffield-Simplex cars made, only 3 are known to have survived. One is in a museum in Perth, Australia, one is in Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield and the other is privately owned by John Thring of Pontefract.

My dad says Thanks very much, he had an idea there was 3 but was unsure.

iv'e never heard of these?

were they made in sheffield ? where ?

I recall reading there was either a factory / showroom at the corner of Townhead / Leopold / West Street.

simplex later became sheflex ltd and moved to rutland rd or rutland st--they traded in rufuge motors nyone have any mems on that

Years ago I worked in Grimesthorpe and was told by someone that the Sheffield Simplex cars were originally made in a small factory on Chambers lane.

All those years ago the factory was making scissors, unfortunately I forget the name.

From the top of the lane there was the Bowling Green pub next was a house, then a row of cottages adjacent to the factory.

Happy Days!

As quoted by PopT; All those years ago the factory was making scissors, unfortunately I forget the name.

PopT

Would it have been the Homeric scissor factory on Chambers Lane?

Re Pietro

That's the one - Homeric.

This old brain just doesn't give up the information so quickly.

My Forgetter getting better and my Rememberer is getting worse.

Thanks Pietro

The cars lasted longer than the scissors ........they were cheap and not at all good, but like a lot of other things that dragged the name of Sheffield's cutlery industry down, they sold in their thousands. Mass produced rubbish at it's worst.

Simplex Cars were built at the factory at Tinsley. All that remains of it now is a small section of wall opposite the end of Lawrence Road.(Head towards templeborough from Tinsley roundabout and look on your left) In their day they were a serious rival to Rolls Royce in terms of quality. The oldest one around to the best of my knowledge is the ex Lord Riverdale car. This was restored in Sheffield at Caldwell Engineering in the eighties. The Homeric factory on Chambers Lane was the home of the Hallamshire motor car built by Durham Churchill. If you want to read a good history of the motor industry of Sheffield, try and get hold of a copy of "Cars From Sheffield" by Stephen Myers. This was published by Sheffield City Libraries around 86 and has extensive information on the Simplex and all the other cars we turned out. As to the surviving Simplexes, Kelham Island has one. One is in a museum in Australia, try this http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/opac/B2533.asp . The one in Kelham used to be Known as the Adsetts car after Norman Adsetts, who bought it and donated it to them. As i recall there was a bit of doubt wether or not it was a Sheffield built car or one produced in the last days of production at Kingston. Certainly the Riverdale car was a genuine Sheffield build, I suppose that car is now privately owned since Lord Riverdale died a few years ago. Hope this is some help, like I said earlier, get hold of a copy of Myers' book, it will educate you.

cheers Derek

How much would one of these fetch it went on the open market?

Any ideas?

With something like the Simplex,it is worth what anyone is prepared to pay for it. To one man it is an irreplacable part of history and is priceless, but to someone else it is just an old car.
I wouldn't like to say what it would be insured at.
Why do you ask, have you found another one?

Derek

I was told that after the museum Simplex car had been restored by Caudwell Engineering Lord Riverdale insisted in driving it out onto the road.

He never reached the road as he drove it into a wall causing damage to the front of the Simplex car.

It was immediately taken back into the garage to be restored for a second time.

Happy Days!!

Quite right about Lord R damging the car, though it wasn't on leaving the workshop. It had been hande over to him and had been featured on local TV and press at his home, if my memory is right . He bent it driving on his own drive, I think. The Simplex had a very unusual pedal arrangment. The accelerator pivoted sideways under the right foot and the brake also, I think, operated the clutch. Not surprising really that a driver used to conventional cars occasionally got it wrong and didn't quite stop in time.

In the offices of the Laycock overdrive company which was situated on the site of Sainsburys on Archer Road was a car which I beleived was made in Sheffield not sure about Simplex bit though. It was in the reception area.

Dragon

I remember the car in Laycocks, I used to fill up the works van at the petrol station opposite every day and saw it every time I called. It wasn't a Simplex unfortunately,but it was a Charron Laycock. This was a French designed car built by Laycocks after the first war. I'm not sure what happenned to it when the factory closed down but I've a feeling it went to Kelham Island. Can anyone confirm that?

the oz carwas restored by john sutcliffe, of the cricketing family.
he is also expert in restorimg rolls royces. his uncle was the famous herbert of yorkshire and england fame.

Almost right Hazel, John Sutcliffe worked for Caldwell Engineering and was indeed the man who restored Lord Riverdales car. He was in fact Herbert Sutcliffe's son, not nephew. I know this because he was a neighbour of mine and I worked for him for five years when he set up his own restoration shop in the eighties. It was a pleasure to watch him at work setting and tuning vintage cars, especially Rolls Royces. The touch of a master.

hi derek
my partner would like to know is john still around, he was a drinking friend of his in the royal oak, mosborough, in the late 70''s. known to his friends as sooty.

derek seems to have got the subject sorted. Just a few aditional points. The company that restored Lord Riverdale's was Coldwell Engineering, Coldwell Lane, Sheffield.

The last Simplex to be sold was Lord Riverdale's car - a model La2 45hp so called gearless model. Hammer price at H&H Buxton auction in sep 2001 was £65,000. This was classified as a 1910 model and was brought back to England by Lord Riverdale. He was particularly interested in the marque since his company were later owners of the Sheffield Simplex factory in Tinsley.

Steve Myers

Yes the Charron Laycock is in Kelham Island Museum. It is not on display at the moment but they hope to have the Adsetts Simplex the Charron Laycock and the Richardson, along with 3 locally built motorcycles, on display in a purpose built transport hall sometime next year

Steve Myers

Not checked this thread for a few weeks so a bit late in responding. Are you THE Steve Myers, the man who wrote the book?

Hi Derek,

Yes that's me. Sorry I can't reply to your your message - apparently I need to make 4 more postings to do that. The Riverdale Simplex does come to Sheffield. We had both the Adsetts and the Riverdale (now Thring) cars together at Chatsworth Country fair and at the Wortley car show a couple of years ago. Sadly the Riverdale car was involved in an accident earlier this year and is laid up waiting completion. I have the Adsetts car part dismantled for some engine work at the moment, but hopefully both will be back in action next year.

Hi Steve Myers,
Who's sorting out the LA2? Has it gone back to the cowshed or is it being done elsewhere? I'll send you a pm with my email address, I would appreciate it if you could let me know when the cars are to be seen in public again. The last time I saw them on the road, I followed them from Abbeydale Hamlet to Kelham Island one Sunday morning, that was well over five years ago. As you might have gathered, I have a bit of a liking for the older motor vehicle, but never likely to own one of my own. Still, I have a 78 Suzuki GT 500 in very average condition which I have been told is now a Classic Bike!

Lucy,
Just thought you might like to know that I have the chassis of a 1910 45hp.
A number were in Adelaide in the early days, Lord Riverdales was just one of them.
Tim

TIMR - whereabouts are you?

Sheffield Simplex are still going, kind of. They are now Sheffield-Simplex (Shefflex) on Clubmill Road - although this is the continuation of the name rather than the company as such.

The company has a fascinating history, including some incredible references in government archives to their construction of ambulances and armoured cars around the first world war. One of the armoured cars saw service in the Russian 'civil wars', a picture of which can be seen here, along with other links:

http://projects.lowtech.org/words-n-wheels/simplex1920.html

http://www.gallery.dircon.co.uk/7.sheffield-simp.html

http://www.oldtimersweb.be/treffens/circuitardennes2002/imagepages/image95.htm (what's happened to this one?)

http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/latvia/lat_imanta.jpg (the armoured car)

All the best,

TRW


I don't think this has been mentioned, but a pre 1914 Simplex was sold a couple of years at auction in Buxton. I'll try to find the link. It is commonly thought that the Powerhouse and Kelham Island vehicles were the only survivors, but there seem to be a few others around the world.

simplex later became sheflex ltd and moved to rutland rd or rutland st--they traded in rufuge motors nyone have any mems on that
In 1996 or 1997, Shefflex moved to Club Mill Road in Neepsend, where they manufactured the towing brackets and other stuff for Towsure. Towsure bought the company in 1999, and in the last year moved into the old Samuel Osborne building, just off Rutland Road, but I don't know wether they still use the Shefflex name anymore.

Shefflex are still going and are still on Clubmill Road - I think the plans for them to move were put on hold.

Almost right Hazel, John Sutcliffe worked for Caldwell Engineering and was indeed the man who restored Lord Riverdales car. He was in fact Herbert Sutcliffe's son, not nephew. I know this because he was a neighbour of mine and I worked for him for five years when he set up his own restoration shop in the eighties. It was a pleasure to watch him at work setting and tuning vintage cars, especially Rolls Royces. The touch of a master.
John Sutcliffe is alive and well.

Is your Dad still interested? I have Lord Riverdale's car and could post some answers if there is any interest. p.s. I have only just found this forum. JT

My father told me that he assembled alternators for the Sheffield Simplex around WW1 but the job was stopped and he was put onto filling hand grenades instead.

The Sheffield Simplex gets a mention and a picture in the book 'Black Diamonds', the history of the Fitzwilliam family of Wentworth Woodhouse. One of the earls invested heavily in the development of the Simplex and even sold the military the idea of pulling field guns with them instead of horses.
Just imagine the spectacle on the battlefields of the Somme in 1914, with the Simplex disappearing into the mud.

can anyone send a photo of the simplex? ive never seen 1

Simplex Cars were built at the factory at Tinsley. All that remains of it now is a small section of wall opposite the end of Lawrence Road.(Head towards templeborough from Tinsley roundabout and look on your left) In their day they were a serious rival to Rolls Royce in terms of quality. The oldest one around to the best of my knowledge is the ex Lord Riverdale car. This was restored in Sheffield at Caldwell Engineering in the eighties. The Homeric factory on Chambers Lane was the home of the Hallamshire motor car built by Durham Churchill. If you want to read a good history of the motor industry of Sheffield, try and get hold of a copy of "Cars From Sheffield" by Stephen Myers. This was published by Sheffield City Libraries around 86 and has extensive information on the Simplex and all the other cars we turned out. As to the surviving Simplexes, Kelham Island has one. One is in a museum in Australia, try this http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/opac/B2533.asp . The one in Kelham used to be Known as the Adsetts car after Norman Adsetts, who bought it and donated it to them. As i recall there was a bit of doubt wether or not it was a Sheffield built car or one produced in the last days of production at Kingston. Certainly the Riverdale car was a genuine Sheffield build, I suppose that car is now privately owned since Lord Riverdale died a few years ago. Hope this is some help, like I said earlier, get hold of a copy of Myers' book, it will educate you.

cheers Derek
That building at Tinsley sounds very close to where they had a Neracar in the reception area in the late 1970,s or early 1980,s.Was it Balfours or Darwins?

can anyone send a photo of the simplex? ive never seen 1
If you go to picturesheffield.com and enter 'simplex' in the search bar,
there are quite a few photos.
This is one of Lord Riverdale in his Simplex car (http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/picturesheffield.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.refno=v00143)

I am in Adelaide, South Australia

That building at Tinsley sounds very close to where they had a Neracar in the reception area in the late 1970,s or early 1980,s.Was it Balfours or Darwins?

It was Balfour Darwins. The company split in 1980 to become Darwins Magnets International and Darwins Alloy Castings. D M I closed in Nov 1980 but Darwins Castings is still in business.I had the job of emptying the DMI site.Some of the contents were transferred to the parent company in Swindon and the remainder sold. The Neracar however had mysteriously disappeared some weeks earlier.

I wonder if JG Graves had a Simplex, I know he had three or four cars and employed a chauffeur.

.