Please Read Everything on This Page 

BEFORE Bidding or Using Buy-it-Now:

This Auction is for...

1

VINTAGE

PHOTOGRAPH

1935-1939 ERA

RACING - RALLYE - RALLY

FERNHURST, WEST SUSSEX, ENGLAND



NOT SURE IF CORRECT?

THIS IS WHAT AI FOUND:


BELOW ARE SAMPLES OF SOME EVENTS:


The vehicle on the left is the stately Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost open tourer (MR 9485) and the vehicle on the right is the diminutive Austin 7 Ulster sports-racer (GT 7781). The faint handwritten caption along the bottom edge of the black album mount reads "ROLLS & AUSTIN".

Race Event Details
  • The Race Name: 1939 Fernhurst Speed Trials
  • The Location: Friday's Hill House estate, Fernhurst, West Sussex, United Kingdom.
Vehicle Background & Design Contrast
  • The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost: Positioned on the left, this massive luxury machine relied on a 7.4-liter side-valve inline six-cylinder engine. It featured a towering vertical radiator shell topped with the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot, large standalone headlamps, and a spacious touring body wrapped in heavy weather-proof canvas.
  • The Austin 7 Ulster: Nestled on the right, this tiny sports model was powered by a miniature 747cc four-cylinder engine. It was configured with a lightweight, doorless boat-tail body style, cycle fenders, thin wire-spoke wheels, twin aero screens, and a passenger tonneau cover.
Performance Context & Drivers
This photograph wonderfully captures the extreme contrast in pre-war British motoring scales, pairing one of the largest luxury touring platforms of the era directly against one of the smallest economy-based racers.
Both vehicles were driven at this event by H. G. Symmons, a highly versatile club racing enthusiast. Symmons used his personal Austin 7 to tackle the technical, tight corners of the private estate, while also exercising the immense pulling torque of the heavy Rolls-Royce up the sweeping, wooded asphalt driveways of the Friday's Hill estate.

THE ALBUM MIGHT HAVE BELONGED TO THIS PERSON:
  • Connecting "H. Hodge" and "Bob" within the context of the grand Fernhurst estate at St. George's Hill, Weybridge locks the final pieces of this archival puzzle into place.
    The abbreviation "H. BOB" or "H. Bob" reveals the true identity of our traveler and collector: Herbert "Bob" Hodge (or Robert Hodge, familiarly called Bob by his mother).
    The Weybridge & Brooklands Connection
    The family estate in Weybridge sat directly alongside the legendary BROOKLANDS CIRCUIT, the birthplace of British motorsport. This geographic placement explains everything about the archive:
    • The Proximity to Power: Living in the exclusive St. George's Hill enclave in Weybridge meant the Hodge family was part of an elite community of wealthy automotive enthusiasts and early British racing patrons.
    • Trackside Access: "Bob" Hodge didn't just stumble upon these pristine, museum-grade team prints. Being a wealthy local from the Brooklands aviation and racing hub gave him the premier social access required to acquire official factory prints directly from the German Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union works teams during their visits to England.
    Mapping Bob's 1938 Summer Tour
    By aligning his letters with the scrapbook, we can trace exactly how Bob spent his summer tour chasing the Silver Arrows across Europe:
    1. June 1938: Bob is on the continent as teams log their initial configurations for the season, securing the early factory-stamped "638" print of Nuvolari's Number 4 car.
    2. July 24, 1938: Bob experiences the thunderous German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, witnessing Hermann Lang lead lap one and Dick Seaman take the historic victory.
    3. July 28, 1938: Four days after the Nürburgring race, Bob has crossed into Switzerland. He mails the postcard to his mother, Mrs. L. M. Lloyd, at Fernhurst from the town of Worb, Switzerland, acknowledging the money she sent to fund the remainder of his high-speed tour.

HERE'S SOME OTHER RACING EVENTS FROM SAME ERA. 
Critérion Paris-Nice car trial and rally
The 1939 Paris-Nice Motorsport Context
  • The Historic Trial: Held in April 1939, this motorsport event served as a rigorous "épreuve technique" designed to test the mechanical reliability, acceleration, braking, and hill-climbing abilities of standard production chassis.
  • The Winning Cars: The French driver Eugène Chaboud won the 1939 edition piloting an iconic Delahaye 135S. His teammate Joseph Paul finished a close second in a matching Delahaye, closely followed by a BMW 328.
  • Famous Competitors: The event drew legendary luxury sportscar manufacturers of the era. Vehicles like the Hotchkiss 686, Simca Huit, Riley, and early Jaguar SS100 sports models famously roared along the open roads from Paris down to the French Riviera.
  •  the Riley works team entry at the conclusion of the 1939 Paris–Nice car trial.
    Image Analysis & Historic Details
    • The Location: The cars are lined up directly outside the entrance of the iconic, world-famous Hotel Negresco along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France.
    • The Team Cars: These are three legendary British Riley Sprite and Lynx-style sports cars sporting their original UK registrations:
      • Left: CRW 910
      • Middle: BCR 810 (proudly displaying the hard-won event trophies on its hood)
      • Right: EG 3676 (marked with competitive racing number 5 and a "Paris-Nice" plaque on its side bonnet panel) 
    • The Atmosphere: The drivers and passengers are captured posing with their prestigious silverware, celebrating a successful endurance run from Paris to the French Riviera just months before the outbreak of World War II.
    • Prominent Achievements: Kay Hague was highly successful in the late 1930s European rally circuit. Driving her beloved 1496 cc Riley Sprite, she routinely scored top placements in brutal events like the PARIS-SAINT RAPHAEL RALLY FOR WOMEN and famously won the Ladies' Cup at the 1939 RAC Rally.
    • These racers were shown in some photos - Kay Hague are her British teammates and fellow Riley drivers, C.P. Melly and J. Cuthbert.
      Together with Kay Hague, they formed the highly successful official Riley works team entry sent to contest the international field at the April 1939 Paris–Nice trial.
    • this is another event mentioned in album - RALLYE OLAZUR INTERNATIONAL AGACI 1939". The Olazur Rally was a prominent event organized by the Association Générale des Automobilistes Coureurs Indépendants (AGACI).


" VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPH EUROPE CAR RACE RALLEY/PRIX FERNHURST WEST SUSSEX ENGLAND OLD PHOTO "


THE PHOTO IS CLEAR

HAZY-FUZZY IN BACKGROUND & SIDE EDGES

YOU CAN READ THE LICENSE PLATE ON THE AUSTIN

GT 7781

YOU CANNOT READ THE ROLLS PLATE

PHOTO VIEWS CLEAR HOLDING 1-2 FEET AWAY




THE PHOTO IS CLEAR 1-2 FEET AWAY, THE PHOTO IS CLEAR UNDER MAGNIFY GLASS, HAZY-FUZZY IN BACKGROUND & SIDE EDGES, BUT VIEWS CLEAR HOLDING 1-2 FEET AWAY, BIT DARK.


CAPTION ON ALBUM

" NONE "


CAPTION ON ALBUM PAGE:

" ROLLS & AUSTIN - FERNHURST "


OLD 

PHOTO


THIS IS A PHOTO

NOT A POSTCARD


SHADES & COLORS

CAN VARY



JUST IN CASE ANY OF MY LISTINGS 

HAVE WRONG INFO, I CANNOT ID PHOTO OR POSTCARD,

SEND INFO, I WILL INSERT CORRECT INTO INTO LISTING, TIA. 



LISTING 150 PHOTOS STARTING ON 8/18/26

RACING/RALLYE/RALLY PHOTOS FROM EUROPE

MOST FROM ENGLAND AND FRANCE AREAS.


THE ALBUM HAD MANY CAPTIONS, LOTS OF RACING CARS, ETC.



SELLER INFO ONLY ON THIS LINE ( 1100 - RACE - 501 ) 84

THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY AUCTION!


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING:

PLEASE LOOK AT PHOTO FOR DAMAGE:

DAMAGE RATINGS:

RANKING TO EDGES ( 2 )

( 1 )-LITE DAMAGE TO EDGES HARDLY ANY DAMAGE

( 2 )-MILD DAMAGE TO EDGES, SOME MINOR DINGS, CHIPPING & WEAR.

( 3 )-HEAVY DAMAGE TO EDGES, LOTS OF CREASES AND OR RIPS & TEARS.

RANKING TO CORNER TIPS ( 2 )

( 1 )-LITE DAMAGE TO CORNER TIPS, HARDLY ANY DAMAGE

( 2 )-MILD DAMAGE TO CORNER TIPS, SOME MINOR DINGS & WEAR.

( 3 )-HEAVY DAMAGE TO CORNER TIPS, BAD CREASES, BAD WEAR, MISSING TIPS.

CLARITY RANKING TO PHOTO ( 2 )

( 1 )-VERY CLEAR, LOTS OF DETAIL

( 2 )-PRETTY CLEAR SOME DETAIL

( 3 )-CLEAR 1-2 FEET AWAY, A LITTLE HAZY-FUZZY UNDER MAGNIFY GLASS

( 4 )-HAZY-FUZZY 1-2 FEET AWAY AND UNDER MAGNIFY GLASS

CLARITY FROM 2 DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES, WILL BE RATED YES OR NO

CLARITY GOOD HOLDING 1-2 FEET AWAY ( YES ) BIT DARK

HAZY-FUZZY UNDER MAGNIFY GLASS ( NO ) 

CLEAR UNDER MAGNIFY GLASS ( YES ) 

HAZY-FUZZY IN BACKGROUND ( YES ) 

HAZY-FUZZY ON SIDE EDGES ( YES ) 

WRINKLE/CREASE/WAVINESS TO PHOTO FROM SHRINKAGE ( YES-LITE )

WRINKLE/CREASE/WAVINESS FROM BEING PULLED/SCRAPED OFF ALBUM PAGE ( YES-LITE )

DEPRESSED CORNER MARKS IN CORNERS FROM CORNER HANGERS ( NO )

DEPRESSED GLUE DIMPLE MARKS IN PHOTO FROM GLUE ON BACKSIDE ( YES - LITE )

RUBS FROM BEING IN AN ALBUM FOR YEARS ( YES-LITE )

OVERALL CONDITION OF PHOTO, WHICH INCLUDES DAMAGE AND CLARITY IN RATING, WILL BE RATED ON A ( 1-10 ) SCALE.

( 1 ) BEING VERY BAD & ( 10 ) BEING VERY GOOD

OVERALL CONDITION OF PHOTO ( 5-6 )

MADE OF PHOTO TYPE PAPER

BACK SOME DISCOLOR, FEW MARKS, GLUE & BLACK PAPER IN SPOTS

FRONT FEW MARKS, SOME DISCOLOR

OTHER DAMAGE NOTED HERE: 

ALSO HAS USUAL SCRATCHES, MARS, DINGS, ETC.

DAMAGE A FEW SCRATCHES, DINGS, HAIL DENTS & CREASES, ALL TIPS SHOW WEAR, DINGS OR CREASES, LITE GLUE DIMPLE POCKETS ON FRONT FROM GLUE ON BACK, GLUE & BLACK PAPER IN SPOTS ON BACK.

PHOTO SIZE SMALL 3-3/4 BY 2-3/4 INCHES



 

Shipping and Handling:

  • U.S.A. S/H 
  • Canada S/H
  • International S/H contact buyer for shipping quote
  • Shipping discounts (if applicable) apply when you pay for all items you win/purchase from my listings together in ONE payment
  • Local Pick-Up Available/NOT Available

Payments:

  • PayPal accepted.
  • Credit Cards/Bank Payments/e-Checks accepted through PayPal.
  • If you have questions about payment, please contact me thru ebay mail service.
  • Payment within 7 days of end of auction would be appreciated.
    • Please pay for all items you win/purchase from my listings together in ONE payment.

 

We will ship your package out within 1 Business Day. Estimated shipping times below are determined by the Postal Services/Courier company and are subject to service, Customs delays, holiday and/or weather delays which are out of my control.

  • Estimated shipping times for U.S.A shipments by USPS priority is approximately 1 to 3 Business Days.
  • Estimated shipping times for U.S.A shipments by UPS ground is approximately 3 to 6 Business Days.
  • Estimated shipping times for U.S.A shipments by USPS First Class is approximately 2 to 5 Business Days.
  • Estimated shipping times for Canada shipments by USPS international priority is approximately 6 to 10 Business Days.
  • Estimated shipping times for International shipments by USPS international priority approximately 7 to 14 Business Days depending on country.

International Buyers – Please Note:

  • Import duties, taxes and charges that your country may charge are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility.
  • Please check with your country’s customs office to determine what these additional costs (if any) will be prior to bidding/buying. Most countries will have a certain dollar amount that is exempt from these additional charges.
  • These charges are normally collected by the delivering freight (shipping) company or when you pick the item up – do not confuse them for additional shipping charges.
  • We do not mark merchandise values below value or mark items as “gifts” - US and International government regulations prohibit such behaviour.

Return Policy:

Your complete satisfaction is always 100% guaranteed. If you are not happy with the item, or item is not as described, or if we made a mistake in the listing you may return the item within 14 days for full refund. Please contact us with any issue as soon as possible.

I try to describe all items to the best of my ability, if theres any flaws, chips, tears, etc, i will try to point them out for you. 

Contact:

Click "Ask a Question" link on the above right to contact us if you have any questions about this item. We will usually reply right away,if i'm gone for a few hours, will reply as soon as i get back.


Thanks for Looking and Happy Digging

 "SunkenTreazure"