With aero-modelling in full-flight, so to speak, a bicycle was proving rather restrictive as a means of transport and so Howard decided to build a car. Just like that! He started by taking a 1 ½ hp two stroke Francis Barnett and cutting it in half. The engine and rear driving wheel were installed in the back of an aerodynamic, fuselage, body made of hardwood and covered with dark blue canvas. The front wheels were ordinary bicycle wheels. The resulting vehicle was licensed as a "Boys Special", registration no. NV 1847.
On Christmas Eve 1931 the car came to a sad end when a Standerwick motor coach from Blackpool ran over it, Howard was not in it, fortunately. The car was rebuilt and one noticeable improvement was wider front wheels, there is some confusion surrounding this and further information will be posted elsewhere.
A second, or rather third, car, NV 6016 was subsequently built, more of which elsewhere.
In 1934 Howard organised a rally of home-made vehicles in Northampton; there was only one other motorised vehicle, the rest being variations of pedal-power but good fun was had by all. Around this time too, Howard attended a technical college in Leicester and the "Leicester Mercury" printed a report on his £4 car. This report, with several others in local and national newspapers aroused interest in places as diverse as India and Illinois, Nigeria and Spain.
During this period Howard was living very frugally, walking or cycling to Daventry to collect his dole money which was principally spent on the car and aero-models. Little or nothing was spent on clothes, his only footwear being a pair of canvas tennis shoes and, although the owner of a pair of flannels, most of the time he wore a pair of khaki shorts, a sartorial touch that stayed with him most of his life. At one time other members of the family suggested Howard should try busking!
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