A 'buzzing' new acquisition
27 May 2013
We have just had a very special delivery in the form of the Coventry Bees mascot car from 1933, which was driven by Dare Devil Ken Malin at every Coventry Speedway home fixture.
Ken was only 2 yrs old when he first drove the car round the Brandon circuit, that was on the 7th August 1933, and from that night on, he was the Brandon Mascot. In 1936, Ken was presented with Brandon Speedway Supporters Cup by Tommy Farndon in 1936.
At the outbreak of WW2 in 1939, the car was put into storage and stayed in store until 1962, when Ken got it going again for his youngest son – David, who was a sprightly 3 yrs old….a bit of repeated history going on!
The car went back into storage in 1964 until 2008, when Ken took it down to Devon to work on it again, and now its permanent home is Coventry Transport Museum.
Thank you Dare Devil Ken….you’ll make a lot of Coventry Bees fans very happy!
The mascot car is now on display in the Introductory Gallery.
***UPDATE***
Below is an amazing film showing the car the last time it was driven, this time by Ken's older son Brian - what a super piece of history captured on film!