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"The research
for this book was an
agonising process, that took
over 10 years, with long
periods of inactivity when
nothing new was forthcoming. My
starting point was when I
came into possession of the
correspondence between former
company directors Allan
Gaspar, Bill Francis-
James, and journalist
Brian Woolley.
They had made the first
attempts to write a book on the
Vale Motor Company in the early
80's, and got as far as writing
a 1500 word synopsis, before
ill health and death
intervened. With the letters
came about a dozen photos, some
of which were from
Gaspar’s
collection.
My initial approach
was to contact the families of
those known to have been at the
company, and trawling through
Westminster archives, and
various libraries, but
the real breakthroughs came
from interviews
with Ian Connell, the
‘works’ supported
racing driver in 1935, Guy
Griffiths (who bought the
defunct company in late 1936),
and Pownoll
Pellew’s girlfriend
of 1931-36, the actress Kay
Walsh. I caught all
of these people very late in
their lives, and they were
happy to recall the colourful
goings on at the Vale
company.
Three people should be
particularly thanked for their
help at different times in the
books gestation period –
Mike Worthington
Williams, who encouraged
and prompted me two or three
times a year, Tom
Pellew, who proof read the
book numerous times, and
offered many sensible
suggestions (some of which I
ignored!), and David
Nelms who generously gave
his time and support in getting
the book from manuscript
to publication. He could also
be charmingly impatient and
blunt , and never spared me an
arse kicking when it was
most needed to get the job
done!." -
David Cox, the
Author.
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