A bit more of the story of " Bugley " the Bugatti Riley or Riley Bugatti - cut down Bugatti chassis from a car that A J Roycroft owned - The car was created by Arthur Dexter R A Dexter, son of Reuben A Dexter in 1938.
Dexter senior was a car dealer as was A J Roycroft.
A photo of the car with " Dexter Motors " notation in 1938 - appears in the book " Flat to the Boards " from Ron Roycroft archives
Photo that my Late Uncle Ed Dowding had of his brother - in - law Jack Boot sitting in his car in 1944 at Huntly Cinder Track where Ron Roycroft raced it for Jack.
A bit of the story of the car and Jack Boots involvement - we [ family ] believe Jack owned it from early 1943, and it was sold to Morrie Proctor " after the war " as Jack passed on 27th February 1945 from " Tb " ( tuberculosis ).
He was only 28 according to family information - born in 1917.
both of these extracts from the " Flat to the Boards " book give some detail of the origins of the car - they are the Postscript in the book entitled " Where are they Now " Page 169.
The Bugatti was a type 23 .. A J Roycroft had also owned a Type 13 and bits from that were used too !
Later of course Ron had the type 35 that is currently the Bugatti-Jaguar with Ron's son Terry Roycroft.
This extract is not correct as " After World War 11 it was sold to Jack Boot " - that would have been when family sold it after Jack's passing in 1945 - we presume to Morrie Proctor
The connection to Northern Sports car Club is the people.
- Jack Boot was a founding member and on the first Committee when he owned Bugley, Ron and A J Roycroft were both early members and my other Uncle A E " Eddie " Dowding [ Oct 1919 - May 2018 ] was the 2nd President in 1945 -46 year.
Vern Clarke the inaugural President 1943 -45, when Ed was Club Captain 1944 - 45 as I understand.
Ron Roycroft was also born in 1917 [ passed away in 2000 ] ;
There is a School connection too Ron went to Bayfield Primary in Herne Bay in 1922, my Father Mac Dowding 1917 - 1999 was there from 1927 as was Eddie Dowding - they may been at the school at the same time. -[
have just established that my Father, Mac and Uncle, Ed, arrived in New Zealand with their mother and her sister on 30th December 1926 in Wellington, and then travelled by train to Auckland arriving in early January 1927 ]
Bayfield was also my Primary school from 1952 to 1955, then we moved to New Lynn.
Ron and family A J and mother were living at 44 Albany Road when Ron was born - the house is still there.
The Roycroft family moved to Helensville, where A J had a garage but I do not know the year [ mid / late 1920's or early 1930's - at the moment ]
The Dowding Boys [ with their mother, my Grandmother - she was widowed in 1919 ] lived at 42 Sentinel Road, from early 1927 on - on the other side [ harbour side ] of Jervois Road, Herne Bay. I lived at No 42 from 1947 to 1955
Their Uncle and Aunt lived at 88 Sarsfield Street from 1923, that house was finally sold from the family by myself in 1995, having lived there from 1981, after my grandmother Dad and Ed's mother passed away in late 1980.
Ed and Jack were good Mates as brothers - in - law, and both heavily involved with cars - Ed taught a young Bruce McLaren at Seddon Technical Institute, when it was still in the City.
