Coventry saves a piece of WWI history

A rare Maudslay Subsidy A lorry from 1916 has been carefully restored and now takes pride of place at Coventry Transport Museum.

The historic vehicle, produced by Maudslay Motor Company, one of Coventry’s oldest motor manufacturers, played a vital role in supporting the war effort during the First World War.

This year, the lorry served as a centrepiece for the city’s Remembrance Day ceremonies.

The Maudslay lorry’s survival is remarkable. After the war, it was repurposed as a makeshift holiday home in Scotland. The children of the family unwittingly helped preserve its engine by regularly turning the starting handle, preventing the engine from seizing. Later, the vehicle was abandoned, exposed to the elements.

By the time the lorry reached Coventry Transport Museum, only the chassis, engine, wheels, gearbox, axles, and other key mechanical parts remained. As such a rare survivor, the museum decided to recreate the original body based on period photographs, drawings, and written accounts, restoring it as faithfully as possible.

The restoration project was a significant undertaking led by museum staff and supported by Friends of the Museum, who raised much of the funding. Local volunteers, including Peter Goult, Alan Barclay, and Chris Strawbridge, dedicated their expertise and time to piecing the vehicle back together. Their efforts turned the Maudslay into a striking example of Coventry’s industrial and wartime heritage.

This particular lorry, registration SR 1266, was used by the Army as a General Purpose Airfield Vehicle at Montrose airfield in Scotland. This was the first operational military airfield in Great Britain and first military airfield in Scotland.

The story of the Maudslay lorry’s restoration was reported by Conor Knell in the Coventry Telegraph on November 10, 2024.

He gives his impression of the controls in a personal look at the lorry: I got up close with the last Maudslay WW1 lorry in the world right here in Coventry.

You can see the engine being started up for the first time in 40 years in the video below: