Jeremy Collins - Guest Blog of the Month
Jeremy Collins is a foremost collector of motoring and motor industry ephemera and his photographic archive amounts to several thousands of prints and negatives, the latter comprising both film and glass plates.
‘Veteran racing - when veteran cars were the latest modern innovation’
Jeremy’s background is his career with the RAF where he served his Aircraft Apprenticeship at Halton from 1953 until 1956, whereupon he was appointed as Junior Airman employed as an Armament Fitter before rising to the post of Air Quartermaster. He proudly remembers being a member of the very first, and therefore select, RAF Britannia Crew.
‘Ladies day out’
Training to become a navigator, Jeremy flew on Canberras based in Cyprus but fate dealt a blow when he succumbed to polio. The treatment for the disease was as traumatic as the illness itself. He was offered a discharge from the RAF but was determined, against all medical advice, to follow his career. With great perseverance, he returned to flying and was based at Abingdon and then Aden where he flew Beverleys. Later he joined Air Traffic Control at Fairford and was involved with Concorde before being appointed VIP Navigator.
Motoring and motorcycling were always in Jeremy’s DNA, his father being Competition Manager for Rudge-Whitworth. This background helped him being assigned as a consultant for the famous Christie’s auction house advising on motoring history when he retired from the RAF. Jeremy’s first car was a 1922 Star 11.9hp which he bought in 1957 for £10, and which he still owns. He also has an Alvis TA21 DHC.
An early armoured Car
Over the decades Jeremy has amassed a huge collection of other motoring material, much of which he has kindly allowed to be used for archive purposes by the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain (SAHB) in conjunction with the Richard Roberts Archive. This comprises motoring expeditions to far-flung continents, military subjects, veteran and vintage scenes in addition to motorcycles and commercial vehicles. His photographs include those taken on missions abroad and show a huge diversity of historic vehicles. He has also been instrumental in saving important records and photographs that would have otherwise been destroyed when companies closed or factories awaited demolition. His collection includes company share certificates, as well as a vast file of images rescued from the Caproni works, including commercial vehicles and aircraft.
‘Renault in Paris’
Jeremy’s kindness in allowing the Richard Roberts Archive to have his valuable images ensures that they are available for automotive research, both now and in the future.
