Card of the Day - 2024-03-27

Illingworth motor bonnets
James Illingworth Ltd [tobacco : UK - Kendal] "Motor Car Bonnets" - untitled (1925) - I/2-13

I have never seen this set before and it is great! 

James Illingworth Ltd was founded in Kendal, in the Lake District, in 1867, and a biography appears elsewhere on this site, from when their set of "Cavalry" was featured as our Card Of The Day 

This set is described in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as : 

MOTOR CAR BONNETS (A). Sm. 68 x 36. Nd. (25).

Every card has the logo of the car manufacturer in the top left hand corner of the front, and a biography of them on the reverse. Many of the names would be quite unknown to the general public today, including Arrol Johnson, Cubitt, Darracq, Jowett, and Straker Squire - but there are also many names that are still as familiar, including our Morris, but also Austin, Fiat, Renault, Rover, and Vauxhall, plus the more exclusive Daimler and Rolls Royce.

I am not entirely sure that Illingworth would have agreed with our title though, I think they would have gone along the lines of purely "Motor Cars", it was just coincidence that the fronts of the cars alone are shown. I have also found it listed as "Motor Car Radiators", but this is incorrect because though some of the cars do show such, others do not.