The Thomond motor car
The history of the Thomond motor car.
By Mark Humphrys.
My grandfather Dick Humphreys
was involved in the production of the "Thomond" car,
of which four were built in Dublin between 1925 and 1933.
They were the first cars produced in the Irish Free State.
There are no known remains of any today.
I started researching the Thomond story in 1983.
This
led to researching
my family tree in general,
a lifelong consuming project.
All of my Thomond research is now on this website.
Thomond no.1.
Built 1925.
Photo
think 1926.
Jones and Parsons
James A. Jones (born 1884)
was a motor engineer in Dublin.
The
Jones family
was originally from Co.Limerick.
Jones
set up a
garage on Haddington Rd,
Dublin, in 1914-1915.
This is where the Thomonds were built.
Jones' chief mechanic from the early 1920s was
Ben Parsons (born 1903).
The
Parsons family
was originally from Co.Clare.
The four cars
Jones and Parsons
built four Thomond cars in 1925 to 1933.
The cars were as follows:
-
In 1925, Jones built his own car, Thomond no.1.
2 photos of it survive.
-
Dick Humphreys (born 1896)
was a motorsport enthusiast.
He saw the Thomond on a motor trial in 1926,
and he designed one of his own
for Jones and Parsons to build.
This was Thomond no.2 in 1929.
16 photos of it survive.
-
There was a
Thomond no.3
saloon car in 1930.
There is some thin evidence this may have been built for one of the
McMullan brothers.
No photos of it survive.
- Humphreys' car was rebuilt in 1933,
and this seems to be
Thomond no.4.
12 photos of it survive.
The motorsport enthusiast
Dudley Colley is said to have bought the engine from Thomond no.4.
Other people
See
other mechanics involved.
See
other people involved and interviewed.
Publications
The main
published references to the Thomond are as follows:
- Dick Humphreys wrote an article,
"The Thomond",
in
Motoring Life magazine, 1963.
- I wrote a history of the Thomond,
Ireland's First Car,
Irish Motor Sport Annual 1985.
Thomond no.2.
Built 1929.
Photo about 1929-1930.
Thomond no.4.
Built 1933.
Photo 1935-1936.
Could the Thomond have gone into production?
Jones, Parsons and Humphreys
were the movers behind a very interesting
motoring experiment.
They built some quality cars, and one wonders
could they have gone into production, had they been more high-profile about it.
They were very low key. They did not advertise it.
No ad for the Thomond has ever been discovered.
They never had a profile in
The Motor News,
the contemporary Irish motoring paper which picked up every other scrap
of information.
The Motor News even
listed the Thomond in competition in 1925 and 1926,
but oddly showed no interest in what this car was.
As far as we know, they never covered the Thomond
or interviewed Jones.
-
Tommy O'Brien
said Dick was very modest: He wouldn't pretend he'd done anything.
-
Dick in his
1963 article
said it was a pity the public did not give Jones and Parsons more support.
But it seems more likely that the public never knew about the car.
-
Jim Barr
talked as if Jones was interested in going into production at one point.
He said that the regular dealers were slightly wary of the project,
as at least one of the cars showed itself to be unreliable in the long run.
(This may be no.4.)
The faults he cited include loose doors, and a tendency for the engine to burn oil.
-
[Autocar, 1925]
is ambiguous as to whether Jones was considering going into production.
Their title is:
"First Irish Free State Car".
