Background of Eric.
(Please note the site is currently under construction)
Eric Douglas, who was a mechanical draughtsman when he retired, delighted in, what he called, "decently draughted drawings". He described himself as an 'Old School Draughtsman' who puts in all the detail'.
He was inspired by seeing examples of pencil drawings and sketches in museums and thought he could do better than that!
He is fortunate to have early books passed down to him through family connections. His Grandfather was a coachman who became a chauffeur, and his Father drove for a wealthy family, so the interest was innate as he was brought up with cars. He remembers in 1928 (when he was 8yrs old) being driven by his father in a 1913 Napier, from Surrey to Devon, being reminded constantly to keep his feet off of the highly polished brass kick plate.
His earliest recollections are of a garage with a pit and old cars; remember in those days the chauffeur carried out all the maintenance.
His investigations lead him to one inescapable conclusion - that Nothing is New in car development. The pioneers tried every type of technique and what is heralded as new today was first attempted at the turn of the 20th century. Now we benefit from different and better materials and mechanical technology. In the early days they had problems with carburettors and ignition which we have since solved, but their ingenuity was remarkable, as you can see by his drawings.
Each drawing takes weeks of research transferring the detailed information from the books and then 60 to 90 hours to draw them.
He met with the curator of Beaulieu National Motor Museum, England, and was delighted that they could use some as reference material, sadly his wealth of knowledge has passed on in 1977 but his unique collection of 40 detailed technical drawings of early motor carriages, steam car and Lorries remain for our enjoyment and interest.
As well as automobiles his ability to draught precise drawings extended to Motorcycles, Naval Ships and Coastal Artillery, when someone asked, "could you draw me this?"
|
