The above transfer was used on Garrett products manufactured, sold or repaired between 1924 and 1932. Contrary to popular belief that the animal depicted is a greyhound it is actually a lioness, chosen by Garretts to represent "Strength, Silence and Speed" all purporting to be features of the undertype steam lorry in production at the time. The design of the lioness motif is from a sculpture by Margaret Edith Rope (1891-1988) a stained glass artist whose father farmed at Lower Abbey, Leiston. The lioness sculpture was the outcome of a study she had made of ancient Egyptian bas-reliefs.
The lioness transfer was produced for the company's steam lorries but was applied to many other products including: steam tractors, portable engines, threshing machines, meallie shellers, and electric vehicles. It was also applied to items which returned to the works for overhaul or repair.
I have produced some replica transfers to apply to the cab sides of my undertype lorry. The artwork has been copied from an original which was found on a cover from a threshing machine and can be seen below.
The size of the transfer is approximately 12" wide x 9" high (or for you metric types 300mm x 225mm). The transfers are, like the originals, of the 'varnish fix' type produced by the silk screen printing process. When the transfers were printed I had some extra ones made to enable other Garrett owners the opportunity of having one.
The image shown above does not do full justice to the actual transfer. This is due to the loss of definition and colour changes in converting it into an image suitable for transmission on the internet.
Several other transfer designs were created, including a larger version of the lioness transfer, as originally fitted to my wagon. We are currently investigating creating a reproduction of this transfer, which is approximately 20" wide x 16" high. The artwork that has been created is shown below. This is a draft and an updated version has now been created. We have had some transfers printed on vinyl for our approval and due to the high cost of producing varnish fix transfers this might be the only way we produce them. Please note that vinyl transfers are unlikely to last long if fixed to a steam engine boiler since the vinyl will wrinkle and the adhesive fails. A common way of removing vinyl is to use a hair dryer on a hot setting.
If you are interested in acquiring a transfer of either type please contact me by email: