Awarded annually, The Bill Boddy Trophy consists of a mounted tankard originally to Bill Boddy (editor of Motor Sport from 1936 to 1991) by the Lea-Francis Owners’ Club in 1987.
Our annual rally was held for many years at Stanford Hall and Bill Boddy attended in 1987 when we celebrated our 25th year of visiting. Following Boddy’s death in 2011, the Club had the opportunity to buy the tankard back.
The Bill Boddy Trophy is now awarded each year to the best article written by an LFOC member and published in the LeaFlet from the previous calendar year.
In the past this has been voted for by members at the club dinner at the annual rally in June. This year the Committee has decided to reinstate this tradition as well as allow those members unable to vote at the dinner to vote on the Club forum. Registered Club members can click here to vote.
The committe
e have selected our favourite two articles for you to pick from, they are as follows:
- V-Type to Hyper Tourer – a Difficult Re-birth Part 1&2 by Ray Cowan – February and April 2023. LeaFlet Nos 249&350.
- Taking the Low Road by Barny Creaser – April 2023. LeaFlet No 350.
We have selected them early, so you have time to refresh your memory by giving them another read. If you can’t find your LeaFlets from last year, panic not! Club Members who have registered on the website can access all previous LeaFlet under Digital LeaFlets once you have logged on.
The Club Chairman and Pre’37 Registrar took their S-Type to the West Berks Cars and Coffee (WBCC) event at Renegade Brewery, Yattendon, West Berkshire, on March 3 March 2024.
A cold, frosty, early morning run through some great Berkshire roads (despite the pot holes) followed by a rather good cooked breakfast and time spent with like-minded car enthusiasts.
WBCC is ran by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, designed to bring people from the area together no matter the vehicles age, condition or style. The range of vehicles present is extremely diverse. With the LeaF being probably the oldest car present this month.
West Berks Cars and Coffee is a monthly event and details can be found on their website, where you can buy tickets for future events, here: https://www.westberkscarsandcoffee.com/
The venue is excellent, with a lot of hard standing on which to park, although it does fill up early, and Renegade Brewery Tap Room is open for breakfast/brunch. Details of the brewery, which is always worth a visit for the great beer and very good food served in the Tap Room, can be found here: https://www.renegadebrewery.co.uk/
Well worth the visit. Lots of very interesting cars, very friendly people and great coffee.
@marcswhite has some videos on YouTube to give an idea of the event, his latest, from March is here: https://www.youtube.com
Lea-Francis clearly didn’t believe in producing workshop manuals to go with their products. However, thanks to much painstaking work by Steve Chittock, the Clubs General Secretary, we now have a very thorough and well-illustrated procedure for dismantling the 14hp engine. This is perhaps the most commonly used engine is surviving Lea-Francis cars and manual will be essential reading whether you are stripping the engine down for the first time or are a seasoned rebuilder.
The manual is available to all members of The LFOC who have registered to gain access to the members' sections of this website and is available here: Much Park Street Technical
If you are a member of the Lea-Francis Owner's Club and have not yet registered to use the members' sections of the website, you may do so here: Member Registration